Robin Coombs

Robin Coombs

Robert Royston Amos ("Robin") Coombs, (January 9 1921 – February 25 2006), was a British immunologist, co-discoverer of the Coombs test (1945) used for detecting antibodies in various clinical scenarios, such as Rh disease and blood transfusion.

Biography

He was born in London and studied veterinary medicine at Edinburgh University. In 1943 he went up to King's College, Cambridge where he commenced work on a doctorate, which he gained in 1947. Before finishing his doctorate, he developed and published methods to detect antibodies with Dr Arthur Mourant and Dr Rob Race in 1945.cite journal | author=Coombs RRA, Mourant AE, Race RR | title=Detection of weak and "incomplete" Rh agglutinins: a new test | journal=Lancet | year=1945 | volume=246| pages=15–6 | doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(45)90806-3] . This, his first discovery is the test now referred to as the Coombs test, which according to the legend he first devised while travelling on the train.cite journal | author=Pincock S | title=Robert Royston Amos (Robin) Coombs | journal=Lancet | year=2006 | volume=367 | pages=1234 | doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68528-0]

Coombs became a professor and researcher at the Department of Pathology of University of Cambridge, becoming a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and a founder of its Division of Immunology. He was appointed the fourth Quick Professor of Biology in 1966 and continued to work at Cambridge University until 1988

He received honorary doctoral degrees by the University of Guelph, Canada, and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of the United Kingdom (1965), a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

He was married to Anne Blomfield, his first graduate student. They had a son and a daughter.

Works

The Coombs test, which he developed and published together with Dr Arthur Mourant and Dr Rob Race in 1945, has formed the base of a large number of laboratory investigations in the fields of hematology and immunologycite journal | author=Coombs RR | title=Historical note: past, present and future of the antiglobulin test | journal=Vox Sang | year=1998| volume=74 | pages=67–73 | pmid=9501403 | doi=10.1159/000030908] .

Together with Professor Philip George Howthern Gell, he developed a classification of immune mechanisms of tissue injury, now known as the "Gell-Coombs classification", comprising four types of reactionscite book | author=Gell PGH, Coombs RRA | title=Clinical Aspects of Immunology | location= London| publisher=Blackwell| year=1963] .

Together with W.E. Parish and A.F. Wells he put forward an explanation of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) as an anaphylactic reaction to dairy proteins.cite book | author=Coombs RRA, Parish WE, Walls AF | title=Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Could a healthy infant succumb to inhalation-anaphylaxis during sleep leading to cot death? | publisher=Cambridge Publications Ltd | year= 2000 | isbn=0-9540081-0-3]

References

External links

* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article349469.ece The Independent] 6 March 2006
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27coombs.html New York Times]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Robin Coombs — Robert Royston Amos „Robin“ Coombs (* 9. Januar 1921 in London; † 25. Februar 2006 in Cambridge) war ein britischer Arzt und Immunologe. Er war Mitentdecker des Coombs Tests, der die Anwesenheit von Antigenen (Antiglobulinen) bei der Rh… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Robin Coombs — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Coombs. Robert Royston Amos ( Robin ) Coombs, (Londres, le 9 janvier 1921 – 25 janvier 2006) est un médecin immunologiste britannique connu pour sa participation à la mise au point du test de… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Coombs test — Diagnostics MeSH D003298 Coombs test (also known as Coombs test, antiglobulin test or AGT) refers to two clinical blood tests used in immunohematology and immunology. The t …   Wikipedia

  • Coombs — can refer to: Coombs test, a test for the presence of antibodies or antigens Coombs reagent, the reagent used in the Coombs test Coombs method, a type of voting designed by the psychologist Clyde Coombs Coombs, British Columbia, a small community …   Wikipedia

  • Coombs-Test — [ku̱mß...; nach dem engl. Pathologen Robin Coombs, geb. 1921]: Antiglobintest (zur Diagnose hämolytischer Anämien) mit Hilfe von Kaninchenserum, das durch Menschenblut ↑sensibilisiert wurde und bestimmte, gegen ↑Globuline wirksame Antikörper… …   Das Wörterbuch medizinischer Fachausdrücke

  • COOMBS — Robert Royston Amos „Robin“ Coombs (* 9. Januar 1921 in London; † 25. Februar 2006 in Cambridge) war ein britischer Arzt und Immunologe. Er war Mitentdecker des Coombs Tests, der die Anwesenheit von Antigenen (Antiglobulinen) bei der Rh… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Coombs — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Patronymie Claire Coombs (1974 )est une princesse de Belgique. Ernie Coombs (1927 2001) est un acteur et scénariste canadien. Pat Coombs (1926 2002) est… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Coombs-Test —   [ kuːmz ; nach dem britischen Pathologen Robin C. Coombs, * 1921], Antiglobulintest, Antihumanglobulintest, Abkürzung AHG Test, wichtiges serologisches Verfahren zum Nachweis inkompletter (unvollständiger) Antikörper, die sich an menschlichen… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Coombs test — kümz n an agglutination test used to detect proteins and esp. antibodies on the surface of red blood cells Coombs Robert Royston Amos (b 1921) British immunologist. Coombs, along with A. E. Mourant and R. R. Race, devised in 1945 the test now… …   Medical dictionary

  • Coombs — Robin R.A., English veterinarian and immunologist, *1921. See Gell and C. reactions, under reaction, C. serum, C. test, direct C. test, indirect C. test. Carey F., English physician, 1879–1932. See Carey C. murmur, C. murmur …   Medical dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”