Leslie Harold Collier (9 February 1921 – 14 March 2011) was a scientist responsible for developing a freeze-drying method to produce a more heat stable

smallpox vaccine The smallpox vaccine is the first vaccine to be developed against a contagious disease. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner demonstrated that an infection with the relatively mild cowpox virus conferred immunity against the deadly smallpox ...

in the late 1940s. Collier added a key component,

peptone Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. A p ...

, a soluble protein, to the process. This protected the virus, enabling the production of a heat-stable vaccine in powdered form. Previously, smallpox vaccines would become ineffective after 1–2 days at ambient temperature. The development of his vaccine production method played a large role in enabling the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

to initiate its global smallpox eradication campaign in 1967.

Publications

Collier was a co-editor of the eighth edition and editor-in-chief of the five-volume ninth edition of the "microbiologist’s bible", Topley and Wilson's ''Principles of Bacteriology and Immunity'' (now Topley and Wilson's ''Microbiology and Microbial Infections''), which won the Society of Authors' 1998 award in the advanced edited book category.
He was also joint editor of ''Developments in Antiviral Chemotherapy'' (1980).
He was a co-author of ''Human Virology'' (1993).Human Virology

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Leslie H. 1921 births 2011 deaths Smallpox vaccines British scientists British virologists People educated at Brighton College Alumni of the UCL Medical School