Jacques Miller | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jacques Francis Albert Pierre Meunier (1931-04-02)2 April 1931 (age 94) Nice, France |
| Citizenship | Australia |
| Alma mater | The University of Sydney |
| Known for | Discoveries of the function of thethymus and theT cell andB cell subsets of mammalianlymphocytes |
| Awards | Gairdner Foundation International Award (1966) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Immunology |
| Institutions | The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research,Melbourne |
Jacques Francis Albert Pierre MillerACFRSFAA (born 2 April 1931) is a French-Australian research scientist. He is known for having discovered the function of thethymus and for the identification of mammalian species of the two major subsets oflymphocytes (T cells andB cells) and their function.
Miller was born on 2 April 1931 inNice,France, as J.F.A.P. Meunier, and grew up inFrance,Switzerland andChina, mostly inShanghai. After the outbreak ofWorld War II, in anticipation ofJapan's entry into the war, his family moved in 1941 toSydney,Australia, and changed their last name to "Miller". He was educated atSt Aloysius' College in Sydney, where he met his future colleague,Sir Gustav Nossal.[1]
Miller studied medicine at theUniversity of Sydney, and had his first experience of laboratory research in the laboratory of Professor Patrick de Burgh where he studied virus infection.[1]
In 1958, Miller travelled to the United Kingdom on a Gaggin Research Fellowship from the University of Queensland. He was accepted to the Chester Beatty Research Institute of Cancer Research (part of theInstitute of Cancer Research,London) and as a PhD student at theUniversity of London.[2] Miller chose to study the pathogenesis oflymphocytic leukemia in mice, expanding on the research ofLudwik Gross intomurine leukemia virus. Miller showed that experimental animals without athymus at birth were incapable of rejecting foreign tissues and resisting many infections, thus demonstrating that the thymus is vital for the development and function of the adaptive immune system. Prior to this, the thymus was believed to be a vestigial organ with no function.[3] His discovery has led many to describe Miller as the "world's only living person who can claim to have been the first to have described the functions of a human organ".[4] In 1963, Miller continued his work into the function of the thymus at theNational Institutes of Health.
In 1966, Miller returned toAustralia to become a research group leader atthe Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research inMelbourne, at the invitation of its new directorSir Gustav Nossal, the successor ofSir Macfarlane Burnet. There, with student Graham Mitchell, he discovered that mammalian lymphocytes can be separated into what were later called T cells and B cells, and that these interact to allow normalantibody production (T cell help). Miller went on to show that the thymus produces the T cells, that it removes autoreactive T cells (central T cell tolerance) and several other landmark findings inimmunology. These are considered crucial to understanding diseases such as cancer,autoimmunity and AIDS, as well as processes such astransplant rejection,allergy and antiviral immunity.[1] Miller was also the first to provide evidence that thymus-derived immune cells are important for the defense against certain tumors,[5] which forms the basis for moderncancer immunotherapy.
Semi-retired since 1996, Miller is still involved in immunological research.[4]
Miller has had a longstanding interest in art, and studied art in the 1980s. His art has been exhibited at venues in Melbourne.[6]
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