Record

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
Research field	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
Source	Sources: Obituary in 'The Daily Telegraph' (15 December 2005)
Virtual International Authority File	http://viaf.org/viaf/47416547
Code	NA3992

Archives associated with this Fellow

RefNo	Title	Date
IM/003209	Muir, Isabella Helen May	nd
JV/11/7/149	Letter from Helen Muir to Sir John Vane	12 January 1984
EC/1977/24	Muir, Isabella Helen Mary: certificate of election to the Royal Society	1974

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