Leone N. Farrell

Leone Norwood Farrell (1904 – 1986) was a Canadian biochemist and microbiologist who identified microbial strains of industrial importance and developed innovative techniques for the manufacture of vaccines and antibiotics. Her inventions enabled the mass production of the polio vaccine.[1]

Leone N. Farrell
Born1904 (1904)
Monkland, Ontario
Died1986 (aged 81–82)
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
Known forVaccines
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
Microbiology

Early life and education

Farrell was born in Monkland, Ontario in 1904 and moved to Toronto as a child. She attended Parkdale Collegiate Institute, earning academic prizes in English and history and a science scholarship.[2] She completed her MA on the chemistry of fermentation in 1929 at the University of Toronto.[3] She obtained a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1933, which was rare for women at the time.[3][4]

Research

Farrell studied yeasts found in honey at the National Research Council of Canada[4] and worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine[3] following her PhD. She was recruited to Toronto's Connaught Research Laboratories in 1934. At Connaught, she worked on a team focused on developing toxoid vaccines for staphylococcus.[3] Upon turning her attention to the pertussis vaccine, she developed a method of rocking bacterial cultures to stimulate growth of the bacteria and increase yield.[5]

She began studying dysentery toxin in 1941 for use as a vaccine due to the wartime rise in infections.[6] In 1943, Connaught undertook a research program to increase penicillin production for the war effort and Farrell identified a strain of penicillium that allowed increased yield of antibiotic.[7] Following the war, she continued her efforts to improve penicillin production.[8]

In 1953, she and her team undertook the challenging task of producing live virus for the polio vaccine in bulk quantities.[9] After months of experimentation, she adapted her rocking method (now termed the Toronto Method)[3][10] to greatly increase the yield of live virus.[4][5] The live polio virus was then shipped to the United States to be killed for use in Jonas Salk's field trials,[9][10] as the Toronto team was the only one that could produce the virus in large enough quantities.[3][4][5] When Salk travelled to Toronto to meet the team, Farrell was not allowed to attend the reception because it was held in a room reserved for men only.[2]

A prototype of Farrell's "rocking bottle" equipment was later included in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute about polio.[11]

Farrell continued to lead her team, making improvements to the vaccine and its use, as well as developing a method of increasing the production of penicillin.[2][12] She conducted research and wrote scientific papers about diseases and vaccines, and retired in 1969.[4][13] Her colleagues describe her as "a very serious person" possessed of "knowledge and mental fertility"; "She was a classic researcher and disciplined in her work to the extent that she knew you laid out a plan and followed it carefully for things to get done."[5]

Personal life

Farrell was remembered as 'very much a lady' by her colleagues[5] and as "a thoroughly charming and pleasant person" by her family.[14] She never married, and lived by herself. Near the end of her life she suffered from dementia;[2] she died in hospital in the presence of family in 1986.[14][15]

References
  1. "Leone N. Farrell Biochemistry". science.ca
  2. Black, Karen, "Making a vaccine is not the same as mass-producing it. This Canadian scientist solved the problem for the polio vaccine — then she was largely forgotten". Toronto Star, Nov. 29, 2020
  3. "Dr Leone N Farrell (1904-1986)". PolioPlace.
  4. "Leone Norwood Farrell, PhD". Museum of Health Care at Kingston.
  5. Daly, Rita (April 17, 2005). "Toronto's Unknown Polio Soldier". Toronto Star. p. D1.
  6. Defries, Robert (1968). The First Forty Years 1914-1955; Connaught Medical Research Laboratories. University of Toronto Press. p. 116.
  7. Defries, Robert (1968). The First Forty Years 1914-1955; Connaught Medical Research Laboratories. University of Toronto Press. p. 193.
  8. Farrell, L. (1953). "Induced variation and strain selection of Penicillium chrysogenum in relation to titer of natural penicillins". Canadian Journal of Medical Sciences. 31 (6): 512–522. ISSN 0316-4403. PMID 13116058.
  9. Farrell, L. N.; Wood, W.; Macmorine, H. G.; Shimada, F. T.; Graham, D. G. (1955). "Preparation of poliomyelitis virus for production of vaccine for the 1954 field trial". Canadian Journal of Public Health. 46 (7): 265–272. ISSN 0008-4263. PMID 13240557.
  10. Rutty, Christopher J. ""Herculean Efforts" Connaught and the Canadian Polio Vaccine Story".
  11. Harry Black (2008). Canadian Scientists and Inventors: Biographies of People who Shaped Our World. Pembroke Publishers Limited. pp. 64–. ISBN 978-1-55138-222-7.
  12. Monin, Gene. "Canada’s key role in mass producing a vital vaccine". Sault Star, August 10, 2020.
  13. McLeod, Susanna. "Biochemist rocked poliovirus into vaccine". The Kingston Whig-Standard, July 16, 2020
  14. Daly, Rita (December 4, 2005). "To 'Toronto's unknown polio soldier,' April 17; Footnote". Toronto Star. p. D12.
  15. "Pioneering female scientist to be commemorated". Toronto Star. December 2, 2010.
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