Gabriella Morreale de Escobar
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Gabriella Morreale de Escobar (19304 December 2017) was an Italian-born Spanish
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...
who specialised in the
thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thy ...
. She and her husband showed that thyroid hormones cross the placenta during pregnancy and are essential for fetal brain development. She established a national
newborn screening Newborn screening (NBS) is a public health program of screening in infants shortly after birth for conditions that are treatable, but not clinically evident in the newborn period. The goal is to identify infants at risk for these conditions e ...
program for
congenital hypothyroidism Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is thyroid hormone deficiency present at birth. If untreated for several months after birth, severe congenital hypothyroidism can lead to growth failure and permanent intellectual disability. Infants born with con ...
in Spain and helped to introduce
iodised salt Iodised salt ( also spelled iodized salt) is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the element iodine. The ingestion of iodine prevents iodine deficiency. Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is t ...
to prevent thyroid problems caused by iodine deficiency.


Biography

Morreale was born in 1930 in
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Italy. Her father, Eugenio Morreale, was a Sicilian biologist and diplomat, and her mother, Emilia de Castro, was a biologist and a curator for the
Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano (Milan Natural History Museum) is a museum in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1838 when naturalist Giuseppe de Cristoforis donated his collections to the city. Its first director was Giorgio Jan. ...
(Milan Natural History Museum). She attended schools in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, Austria and
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, United States, before finishing the
Baccalaureate Baccalaureate may refer to: * ''Baccalauréat'', a French national academic qualification * Bachelor's degree, or baccalaureate, an undergraduate academic degree * English Baccalaureate, a performance measure to assess secondary schools in England ...
in Málaga, Spain. She studied chemistry at the
University of Granada The University of Granada ( es, Universidad de Granada, UGR) is a public university located in the city of Granada, Spain, and founded in 1531 by Emperor Charles V. With more than 60,000 students, it is the fourth largest university in Spain. Ap ...
, earning a doctoral degree. Her doctoral thesis showed that the incidence of
endemic goitre Endemic goiter is a type of goitre that is associated with dietary iodine deficiency. Cause Some inland areas where soil and water lacks in iodine compounds and consumption of marine foods is low are known for higher incidence of goitre. In such ...
in the
Alpujarras The Alpujarra (, Arabic: ''al-bussarat'') is a natural and historical region in Andalusia, Spain, on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley. The average elevation is above sea level. It extends over two provinces, ...
region was closely linked to
iodine deficiency Iodine deficiency is a lack of the trace element iodine, an essential nutrient in the diet. It may result in metabolic problems such as goiter, sometimes as an endemic goiter as well as congenital iodine deficiency syndrome due to untreated cong ...
. In 1953, she married Francisco Escobar del Rey, with whom she would collaborate for the rest of her scientific career. Morreale and Escobar travelled to
Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
, the Netherlands, to perform post-doctoral research on thyroid hormone metabolism using
radioisotopes A radionuclide (radioactive nuclide, radioisotope or radioactive isotope) is a nuclide that has excess nuclear energy, making it unstable. This excess energy can be used in one of three ways: emitted from the nucleus as gamma radiation; transferr ...
of iodine. They returned to Spain in 1958 and began working in the
Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council ( es, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote res ...
. From 1963 to 1975, she led the thyroid studies division of the Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute in Madrid. In 1974, Morreale and Escobar became employed by the
Autonomous University of Madrid The Autonomous University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; UAM), commonly known as simply la Autónoma, is a Spanish public university located in Madrid, Spain. The university was founded in 1968 alongside the Autonomous Univers ...
, where they co-founded the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas. Morreale's early research demonstrated through
animal studies Animal studies is a recently recognised field in which animals are studied in a variety of cross-disciplinary ways. Scholars who engage in animal studies may be formally trained in a number of diverse fields, including geography, art history, ant ...
that
thyroxine File:Thyroid_system.svg, upright=1.5, The thyroid system of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 rect 376 268 820 433 Thyroid-stimulating hormone rect 411 200 849 266 Thyrotropin-releasing hormone rect 297 168 502 200 Hypothalamus rect 66 216 386 25 ...
(T4) is converted to
triiodothyronine Triiodothyronine, also known as T3, is a thyroid hormone. It affects almost every physiological process in the body, including growth and development, metabolism, body temperature, and heart rate. Production of T3 and its prohormone thyroxine ...
(T3), and she developed sensitive
radioimmunoassay A radioimmunoassay (RIA) is an immunoassay that uses radiolabeled molecules in a stepwise formation of immune complexes. A RIA is a very sensitive in vitro assay technique used to measure concentrations of substances, usually measuring antigen conc ...
s for the detection of T3 and T4. She showed that, in pregnant women, maternal thyroid hormones are transferred via the
placenta The placenta is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate mate ...
to the fetus and maternal-fetal transfer of T4 is important for fetal brain development. She implemented a national
newborn screening Newborn screening (NBS) is a public health program of screening in infants shortly after birth for conditions that are treatable, but not clinically evident in the newborn period. The goal is to identify infants at risk for these conditions e ...
program for
congenital hypothyroidism Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is thyroid hormone deficiency present at birth. If untreated for several months after birth, severe congenital hypothyroidism can lead to growth failure and permanent intellectual disability. Infants born with con ...
in Spain and her research led to the introduction of
iodised salt Iodised salt ( also spelled iodized salt) is table salt mixed with a minute amount of various salts of the element iodine. The ingestion of iodine prevents iodine deficiency. Worldwide, iodine deficiency affects about two billion people and is t ...
in Spain to prevent endemic goitre caused by iodine deficiency. Morreale was a co-founder of the European Thyroid Association and served as its president from 1978 to 1980. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in medicine from the University of Alcalá in 2001 and became an honorary member of the European Society of Endocrinology in 2008. She died on 4 December 2017 at 87 years old.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morreale de Escobar, Gabriella 1930 births 2017 deaths Spanish chemists Spanish women chemists Spanish medical researchers Italian emigrants to Spain University of Granada alumni University of Alcalá alumni Academic staff of the Autonomous University of Madrid