Tony Trinci | |
|---|---|
| Born | Anthony Peter John Trinci 1936 (1936) |
| Died | (2020-10-07)October 7, 2020 |
| Education | St Bonaventure's |
| Alma mater | Durham University (BSc, MSc, PhD) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Marjory Stephenson Prize (1994) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Microbiology Botany Mycology |
| Institutions | Queen Elizabeth College University of Manchester |
| Thesis | Studies of the growth and tropisms of Aspergillus giganteus and other fungi (1965) |
| Doctoral advisor | Geoffrey Howard Banbury |
| Doctoral students | Keith Gull[1] |
Anthony Peter John Trinci (1936,Swindon – 7 October 2020) was a Britishmicrobiologist,mycologist andbotanist who was a leading expert onfilamentous fungi.[2] He served as aProfessor,Dean andPro-vice-chancellor at theUniversity of Manchester.[1][3]
Trinci's parents, both born inItaly, had a troubled marriage and separated before his birth inSwindon. His father, a builder, lived in Italy, and Trinci did not meet his father until he was 11 years old. Trinci grew up inBarking, London. DuringWorld War II, aV-1 flying bomb passed through his bedroom (while he was absent), brought down the ceiling, but failed to explode until it landed about 100 yards down the road and killed several people.[1]
Educated atSt Bonaventure's Catholic School, Trinci studiedBotany atDurham University in 1959.[1] He was a member ofSt Cuthbert's Society, Durham.[4] He stayed on to complete aMaster of Science (MSc) degree, where his research focus was fungalphysiology.[5]
Trinci served as asecondary school science teacher inRayleigh, Essex before returning to Durham forPhD research supervised by Geoffrey Howard Banbury (1920–1983) and completed in 1965 on the physiology andtropisms of tallconidiophores of the fungusAspergillus giganteus.[5][6]
In 1964 Trinci was appointed alecturer in themicrobiology department ofQueen Elizabeth College (QEC). At QEC he did research on fungal growth kinetics and physiology.[5] He developed new methods involvingtime-lapse photography[7] that enabled "direct observation of colony growth and organisation of the mycelium byhyphal tip growth and branch initiation".[5]
He moved from QEC in 1981 after being appointed as chair ofcryptogamicbotany at theUniversity of Manchester. There he contributed to the development of the first integrated school ofBiological sciences. This innovation was subsequently adopted in most of the UK's universities. At the University of Manchester he became adean and then pro-vice-chancellor.[1]
Trinci's knowledge of mycology was applied to commercial applications offilamentous fungi.[8] He made substantial contributions to the development ofQuorn[1] and toDupont's addition of fungal enzymes to commercial animal feed.[1] His work with DuPont was the outcome of a decades-long collaboration with Michael K. Theodorou, a rumen microbiologist.[9] Their collaboration elucidated the life cycles of anaerobic fungi in the gastrointestinal tracts of large, mammalian herbivores. Aphytase enzyme, isolated fromPenicillium species, is useful in releasingphosphate inanimal feeds.[5]
Trinci served aspresident of theBritish Mycological Society for the academic year 1991–1992 and was elected the president of theMicrobiology Society in 1994. He was awarded theMarjory Stephenson Prize in 1994. He served an editor of theJournal of General Microbiology from 1990 to 1994, after which the journal was renamedMicrobiology.[10]
Trinci supportedDavid Denning's creation of the University of Manchester's ManchesterFungal Infections Group, an international centre for fungalinfection biology. Trinci served as atrustee of the Fungal Infection Institute from September 2006 to January 2011.[5][11]
His former PhD students includeKeith Gull who worked on theantifungal agentGriseofulvin.[1][12][13]
Trinci's publications[2] include:
In January 1961 Trinci married Margaret Doherty, whom he met at Durham University. Upon his death in 2020 he was survived by his widow, their three children, John, Sarah and Rachel, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.[3][5]
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