Biography:Marianne Fillenz
Marianne Fillenz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1924 |
| Died | 2012 |
| Alma mater | University of Otago University of Oxford |
| Employer | University of Oxford |
Marianne Fillenz (1924 - 2012) was a Neuroscientist at the University of Oxford.
Early life and education
Fillenz was born in Timișoara, Romania. Her mother was Viennese and her father was Hungarian Jewish. To avoid the rise of the Nazis in Eastern Europe, her family moved to New Zealand in 1939 and settled in Christchurch.[1] Fillenz studied medicine at the University of Otago from 1943 - 1949.[2] Here she met John Eccles, a Professor of Physiology at the University of Otago who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.[1] Eccles inspired her to research physiology alongside her pre-clinical medicine studies. During her time in New Zealand she also met Karl Popper.[2] She published her first paper whilst still a medical student, on acetylcholine and the skeletal muscle.[3] Fillenz moved to the University of Oxford to complete a DPhil in physiology at Somerville College in 1950, under the supervision of Sybil Cooper and David Whitteridge.[1] Her PhD focussed on the receptors that stretch eye muscles. During her first term she met John Clarke, a reproductive physiologist from Australia, and married him sixth months later.[4]
Research
Fillenz remained at Oxford for her entire life. Her research progressed to the physiology of the autonomic nervous system, where she pioneered the use of voltammetry to measure catecholamine and dopamine release.[5][1] She was a lecturer at St Hilda's College until 1963, when we was awarded a tutorial fellowship at St Anne's College. Fillenz had a remarkable impact on the medical students she taught.[6] In 1990 she published Noradrenergic Neurons (Problems in the Behavioural Sciences).[7] In 2003 she published Neuroscience: science of the brain: an introduction for young students.[8] She published her final paper, "Memories of John Eccles", in 2012.[9] She died later that year of cancer.[10] From 2018 the University of Oxford have held a lecture series to honour her memory.[11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Marianne Fillenz Lecture Series — Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics" (in en). https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/about-us/marianne-fillenz-lecture.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "College Report 2012-13" (in en). Issuu. https://issuu.com/somervillecollege/docs/somerville_college_report_2012-13/106.
- ↑ Fillenz, Marianne (May 1947). "ACETYLCHOLINE AND NEURO-MUSCULAR TRANSMISSION". Journal of Neurophysiology 10: 3. https://www.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jn.1947.10.3.189?journalCode=jn.
- ↑ Eric; Karen; Clarke, Sue (2010-07-08). "John Clarke" (in en). https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/jul/08/john-clarke-obituary.
- ↑ O'NEILL, ROBERT D.; FILLENZ, MARIANNE (1986-12-01). "Microcomputer-Controlled Voltammetry in the Analysis of Transmitter Release in Rat Brain" (in en). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 473 (1 Neurochemical): 337–348. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1986.tb23627.x. ISSN 1749-6632. https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1986.tb23627.x.
- ↑ "Obituary Notices | Physiological Society" (in en). http://www.physoc.org/obituary-notices.
- ↑ Marianne., Fillenz, (1990). Noradrenergic neurons. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521287804. OCLC 20263163. https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20263163.
- ↑ Association, British Neuroscience; Fillenz, Marianne; Brain, European Dana Alliance for the; Morris, R. G. M. (2003) (in English). Neuroscience: science of the brain: an introduction for young students. Liverpool: British Neuroscience Association. ISBN 9780954520403. http://capitadiscovery.co.uk/derby-ac/items/791243.
- ↑ Fillenz, Marianne (March 2012). "Memories of John Eccles". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences: 214-226. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2011.595630.
- ↑ "Physiology News - Winter 2013 PN93 digital edition". http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?eid=b2a4f7f3-6043-441c-a6a2-28f03fb9c7f4&pnum=52.
- ↑ "Marianne Fillenz remembered at inaugural lecture — Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics" (in en). https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/news/famous-department-physiologist-remembered-at-named-lecture.
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