Margaret Tisdale (née Breeze; 10 September 1950 – 29 April 2015) was a Welsh-born clinical virologist known for her studies of

antiviral Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Unlike most antibiotics, antiviral drugs do no ...

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and

influenza virus ''Orthomyxoviridae'' (from Greek ὀρθός, ''orthós'' 'straight' + μύξα, ''mýxa'' 'mucus') is a family of negative-sense RNA viruses. It includes seven genera: ''Alphainfluenzavirus'', ''Betainfluenzavirus'', '' Gammainfluenzavirus'', ...

, and for coordinating the development of the anti-

influenza Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...

drug

zanamivir Zanamivir is a medication used to treat and prevent influenza caused by influenza A and influenza B viruses. It is a neuraminidase inhibitor and was developed by the Australian biotech firm Biota Holdings. It was licensed to Glaxo in 1990 and ap ...

Biography

Born in

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

, Tisdale was educated at Trefnanney School and Welshpool Comprehensive, before attending Guildford University. Tisdale spent 33 years as a researcher at the

Wellcome Research Laboratories Wellcome Research Laboratories was a site in Beckenham, south-east London, that was a main research centre for pharmaceuticals. Until 1965, this laboratory site was situated in Kent. History In 1894 Henry Wellcome set up a laboratory in central L ...

, GlaxoWellcome and

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...

, where she eventually became head of clinical virology. She was an expert in

HIV drug resistance HIV drug resistance occurs when microevolution causes virions to become tolerant to antiretroviral treatments (ART). ART can be used to successfully manage HIV infection, but a number of factors can contribute to the virus mutating and becoming re ...

and in optimising

antiretroviral therapy The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple Antiviral drug, antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV/AIDS, HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life- ...

. Tisdale headed the development of the

neuraminidase inhibitor Neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs) are a class of drugs which block the neuraminidase enzyme. They are a commonly used antiviral drug type against influenza. Viral neuraminidases are essential for influenza reproduction, facilitating viral budding from ...

, which Glaxo licensed from Biota in 1990. She established the global Neuraminidase Inhibitor Susceptibility Network in 1999 to track resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors in clinical strains of influenza virus. She also published on antiviral drugs against

rhinovirus The rhinovirus (from the grc, ῥίς, rhis "nose", , romanized: "of the nose", and the la, vīrus) is the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is the predominant cause of the common cold. Rhinovirus infection proliferates in tem ...

, which causes the

common cold The common cold or the cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract that primarily affects the respiratory mucosa of the nose, throat, sinuses, and larynx. Signs and symptoms may appear fewer than two days after exposu ...

. She died aged 64 in

Wrestlingworth Wrestlingworth is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley, in the Central Bedfordshire district of the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England about east of the county town of Bedford. Wrestl ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

Selected publications

*M Tisdale, SD Kemp, NR Parry, BA Larder (1993). Rapid in vitro selection of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 resistant to 3'-thiacytidine inhibitors due to a mutation in the YMDD region of reverse transcriptase. ''

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...

'' 90: 5653–56 *M Tisdale, T Alnadaf, D Cousens (1997)
Combination of mutations in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase required for resistance to the carbocyclic nucleoside 1592U89.
''

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy ''Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Society for Microbiology. It covers antimicrobial, antiviral, antifungal, and antiparasitic agents and chemotherapy. The editor-in-chief is C ...

'' 41: 1094–98 *M Tisdale (2000). Monitoring of viral susceptibility: new challenges with the development of influenza NA inhibitors. ''Reviews in Medical Virology'' 10: 45–55

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tisdale, Margaret Welsh scholars and academics Welsh women scientists British virologists Women virologists HIV/AIDS researchers Influenza researchers 2015 deaths 1950 births 20th-century Welsh scientists 21st-century Welsh scientists People from Welshpool People from Wrestlingworth