June Almeida
June was a Scottish virologist & electron microscopist, and identified the first Coronavirus in the 1960’s.
Featuring artwork by Miler Ximeno Lopez & words by Dr. Sumbul Jawed Khan, Sci-Illustrate Stories. Set in motion by Dr. Radhika Patnala.
Beauty of scientific discovery lies in its serendipity. Often when scientists are making observations they are oblivious to the ramifications it will have in the future. When Newton gave the theory of gravity in the1700’s, he could not have imagined it will lead to space travel one day. When June Almeida peaked through her microscope and saw the coronaviruses in the 1960’s, hardly did she realize that she was making history in discovering a pathogen that will torment humanity almost six decades later.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has brought June Almeida’s (1930–2007) scientific achievements to the forefront, which remained neglected till now. Her story is one of determination, hard work and passion for the pursuit of science.
Early life and humble beginnings
June Dalziel Hart was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Harry Leonard Hart and Jane Dalziel (nee Steven). She was the older of two siblings and was brought up in a modest family her father was a bus driver and mother was a shop assistant. Unfortunately, her younger brother succumbed to diphtheria when he was 6 years old, a loss that motivated June to pursue biology.
Because of financial constraints she couldn’t attend college and dropped out of school at the age of 16. She started working as a lab technician in histopathology at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. At the age of 22 she moved to London with her family and joined the St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. There she met Enrique (also called Henry) Almeida, a Venezuelan artist, and they were married in 1954. They decided to move to Canada for better prospects, where their daughter Joyce was born in 1960.
Distinction without degrees
June started working at the Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto, as an electron microscopy technician. She had never used an electron microscope (EM) before, but was excited at the opportunity. In no time she gained mastery over the machine and established herself as a sought after expert to image and analyze viral particles.
June pioneered the extensive use of immune electron microscopy (IEM) technique, which made it possible to see the virus structures in better contrast and greater detail. IEM utilizes antibodies to clump virus particles together, as a result they are easy to identify from the surrounding in a sample. Combining this with negative staining of viruses, June was able to enhance the capability of EM’s. This eliminated the need to purify the viruses as they could be imaged in situ in the infected material.
In Toronto June flourished as a scientist. She published many papers and her virus micrographs appeared in many prominent publications. The Canadian system had less stringent requirement for a formal academic degree to get a scientist position. This helped June as she was promoted to a Junior Scientist position, and later to the position of an Assistant Lecturer. This meant she could pursue her own independent research and publish papers as a lead author. In 1963 she published a paper discussing the classification of viruses based on morphological features as discerned from their electron micrographs.
Expertise in imaging brings international fame
June’s technical prowess gained her the recognition of virologist Dr. Tony Waterson who was visiting Toronto in 1964. Waterson offered her the job of his scientific assistant at the St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, London. Her return to London turned out to be successful professionally, but her personal life suffered a setback. Initially it was Enrique’s idea to come back to London, but he soon started regretting the decision. June’s career was taking off, so she refused to go back to Canada and the couple divorced in 1967. In addition to managing her experiments, she was now also raising her daughter as a single parent.
June flourished as a scientist thereon. Using the IEM technique she produced the first images of the Rubella virus in 1967. Rubella was known for 25 years, usually the infection results in mild rashes, but if contracted during pregnancy it can lead to severe birth defects. There was urgency for rubella treatment in the early 60’s as it became a pandemic in parts of Europe and America between 1963–1965. The detailed micrographs of Rubella that June and her colleagues produced were instrumental in understanding the disease mechanism.
She moved with Waterson to the Royal Post Graduate Medical School (RPGMS) in 1967. She dedicated her time to uncover the somewhat controversial Hepatitis B virus structure. By tweaking the experimental protocol for better resolution and applying IEM she was able to resolve the detailed structure. She showed that Hepatitis B virus is composed of two immunologically distinct parts, an inner core and an outer component.
Realizing that a formal degree would be essential for her career, June enrolled for M.Phil. degree. On the basis of her publications she was awarded a D.Sc. (Doctor of Science) degree from the University of London in 1971. In 1972, she moved to the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Beckenham, Kent, and started working on viral diagnostics and vaccine development.
The discovery of Coronavirus- history in the making
When June was working at the St. Thomas’s Hospital, David Tyrell, Director of the Common Cold Research Centre in Salisbury, reached out to her. Tyrell’s research focus was to identify the causes of common cold. At the Salisbury labs he was studying nasal wash and throat swab samples from volunteers to identify the nature of the virus. His group was successful in cultivating the virus in organ cultures. One particular sample, called the B814, which was a nasal swab from teenage schoolboys in Surrey, was sent to June Almeida for identification. This virus was causing some unexplained symptoms, such a respiratory tract problems.
Once June looked at the virus through her microscope she noted the spike-like projections on the surface of the virus. This was reminiscent of some hepatitis liver inflammation in mice and bronchitis infection in chicken she had observed before. (In fact, she tried to publish these observations, but was rejected by journals as they considered it to be poor quality images to be of the influenza virus!) She knew then that this is a new group of previously unknown virus.
June along with Tyrell and Waterson came up with the term ‘Coronavirus’, owing to the crown-like (corona = crown in Latin) appearance of the virus outer membrane.
They published the first images of human Coronavirus in 1967 in the Journal of General Virology. Once this discovery was made, June moved on to investigate other viruses, as the coronaviruses were the cause of the milder common colds.
Pursuits outside science
June was always interested in photography, perhaps this keen sense of imaging translated into her career as a microscopist. June was creative and had a sense of humor, which is evident from the following lines she wrote in her paper (Almeida JD. 1963;89(16))-
“Virus, Virus, shining bright,
In the phosphotungstic night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fivefold symmetry.”
(With apologies to William Blake [1757–1827])
June took early retirement from the Wellcome Research Laboratory in 1984. Along with her second husband and fellow virologist Phillip Samuel Gardner, she moved to the seaside town of Bexhill and spent a peaceful time there. She dedicated her time to new pursuits, such as teaching yoga, restoring fine china, being an antiques dealer, and later to taking care of her two granddaughters.
A Lasting Legacy in Imaging
Not only did June make significant discoveries through imaging, she also gained worldwide renown in her field and trained many scientists on the IEM technique to visualize viruses. These scientists went on to make their own discoveries ans detect different kinds of viruses, including the Norovirus that was the cause of gastroenteritic infection outbreak in schools of Norwolk, Ohio in 1972.
Even after retirement she was called back to St. Thomas in late 1980’s as an advisor to train scientists. In her second stint she published papers, including the first high quality electron micrograph image of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS.
June’s contribution also lies in enabling the use of EM’s for diagnostic purposes through virus imaging in clinical samples, which was otherwise restricted to more academic use. Her contributions were largely ignored until the recent Covid-19 pandemic generated widespread interest in coronaviruses. Her story reminds us how science often progresses not by blockbuster results, but small observations that build over time.
Timeline:
1930-Born on 5th October in Glasgow, Scotland, to Harry Leonard Hart & Jane Dalziel
1945- Joined Glasgow Royal Infirmary as a laboratory technician in histopathology
1950- Obtained technical qualification of Associate of the Institute of Medical Laboratory Technology (A.I.M.L.T)
1952- Moved to London and started working in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital
1954- Married Enrique (Henry) Rosalio Almeida
1964- Joined St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School, London, in A. P. Waterson’s lab
1967- Published the first picture of Human Coronavirus in collaboration with David Tyrell
1967- Moved to Royal Post Graduate Medical School (RPGMS), London
1970- Submitted M.Phil thesis from London University
1971- Obtained D.Sc. degree from the University of London
1972- Joined the Wellcome Research Laboratories in Beckenham, Kent
1982- Married her second husband Phillip Samuel Gardner, a fellow virologist
1984- Retired from Wellcome Research Laboratory & moved to Bexhill
2007- Passed away
References and Further Reading:
Author’s Note:
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of Dr. Joyce Almeida in shaping this article in its current form. I am extremely grateful to Joyce for giving me the permission to use the pictures of her mother, June Almeida, from her personal collection. These and other pictures have appeared in a previously published biographical article on June Almeida.
About the author:
DR. SUMBUL JAWED KHAN
Content Editor,Women In Science, Sci-Illustrate Stories.
Dr. Khan received her Ph. D. in Biological Sciences and Bioengineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, where she studied the role of microenvironment in cancer progression and tumor formation. During her post-doctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Khan investigated the gene regulatory networks that are important for tissue regeneration after damage or wounding. Dr. Khan is committed to science outreach activities, to make scientific research understandable and relatable to the non-scientific community. She believes it is essential to inspire young people to apply scientific methods to tackle the current challenges faced by humanity.
About the artist:
MILER XIMENA LÓPEZ
Contributing Artist Women in Science, Sci-Illustrate stories
Expressing myself graphically has always been a source of great satisfaction for me. With my work, I can provide many things to others in different positive ways, as well as get a lot in return, because in every goal achieved, in every process, there is a lot to learn.
About the series:
Not enough can be said about the amazing Women in Science who did and continue to do their part in moving the world forward.
Every month, through the artwork & words of the Sci-Illustrate team, we will bring to you profiles of women who touched our hearts (and brains) with their scientific works, and of many more who currently hold the flag high in their own fields!
— Dr. Radhika Patnala, Series Director
