| Authorised form of name | Muir; Isabella Helen Mary (1920 - 2005); biochemist |
| Dates | 1920 - 2005 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Naini Tal, India, Asia |
| Date of birth | 20 August 1920 |
| Place of death | Her home, Langlands House, Hornby, near Bedale, Yorkshire, England. |
| Date of death | 28 November 2005 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial: Local church at Hornby, near Bedale, Yorkshire, England. |
| Occupation | Biochemist |
| Research field | Biochemistry |
| Arthrology |
| Activity | Education:
boarding schools in Montreux, Switzerland and Downe House, Berkshire, England; Somerville College, Oxford (1943); DPhil (1947); Dunn School of Pathology in Oxford (1947–8)
Career:
Dunn's School of Pathology, Oxford; National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill (1948-1954) (carrying out research into porphyrin synthesis with Prof Albert Neuberger); Pearl Assurance Arthritis Fellow, St Mary's Hospital, London,(1954-1966) (research into arthritis, in particular the extracellular matrix of cartilage); Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Hammersmith (1966-1990), Director (1977-1990) (established the molecular principles which form the foundation of the cartilage function and set in motion the molecular and cellular study of osteoarthritis); Honorary Professor, Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (1979-1990).
Prizes:
Feldberg Foundation Award, 1977; Neil Hamilton Fairley Medal of the Royal Society of Physicians, 1981; Steindtler Award of the American Orthopedic Society, 1993
Honours:
CBE 1981 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 17/03/1977 |
| Age at election | 56 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1982-1983 |
| Relationships | Parents: G. B. F. (Basil) Muir, a member of the Indian Civil Service, and Gladys Helen Mary, née Stack. |
| OtherInfo | Distinguished for her contributions to knowledge of the macromolecular structure of cartilages and of the changes that take place in articular cartilage as a result of ageing or arthritic disease.
Collaborative work on collagen demonstrated that an extra-cellular component isolated from the fraction of skin soluble in phosphate buffers was a collagen precursor in a state of rapid turnover.
She studied the effects of proteolytic enzymes and hyaluronidases on cartilage constituents and was the first to realise that seurine was concerned in the protein linkage of proteoglycans.
She demonstrated the essential heterogeneity of cartilaginous structures in relation to growth degradation, mechanical wear and the function of the tissues. Her most recent work on the critical role of hyaluronic acid in the structure and properties of specialised cartilages may prove to be her most important contribution and extends her concept of the interactions of tissue proteoglycans and collagen in response to functional demand. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Image | 
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| Source | Sources:
Obituary in 'The Daily Telegraph' (15 December 2005) |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/47416547 |
| Code | NA3992 |