Robert Harry Purcell (born 19 December 1935 in

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

) is an American

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...

and former co-chief of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the U.S.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's ...

. He is known for his work on

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

viruses, and was involved in identifying

hepatitis A virus Hepatitis A is an infectious disease of the liver caused by ''Hepatovirus A'' (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them ...

hepatitis D virus Hepatitis D is a type of viral hepatitis caused by the hepatitis delta virus (HDV). HDV is one of five known hepatitis viruses: hepatitis A, A, hepatitis B, B, hepatitis C, C, D, and hepatitis E, E. HDV is considered to be a Satellite (biology), s ...

, and

hepatitis E virus The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of hepatitis E. It is of the species ''Orthohepevirus A.'' Globally, approximately 939 million corresponding to 1 in 8 individuals have ever experienced HEV infection. About 15–110 million ind ...

, developing an animal model for

hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the ''Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. Fo ...

, and developing the

hepatitis A vaccine Hepatitis A vaccine is a vaccine that prevents hepatitis A.Lay summary
...

Education and career

Robert Purcell was born in 1935 in

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

. He completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Chemistry from

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

in 1957 and a master's degree in biochemistry from

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

in 1960. He then on to medical training, completing his MD from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

in 1962, and an internship in Pediatrics at

Duke University Hospital Duke University Hospital is a 957-acute care bed academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health System, a network of physicians and hosp ...

. In 1963, Purcell joined the U.S.

Epidemic Intelligence Service The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a program of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The modern EIS is a two-year, hands-on post-doctoral training program in epidemiology, with a focus on field work. History Creation ...

where he investigated respiratory viruses and mycoplasma. He then moved to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he rose to chief of the hepatitis viruses section of the Laboratory of Infectious Disease, and co-chief of the Laboratory of Infectious Disease with Brian R. Murphy. He retired from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2013. Purcell was elected to the U.S.

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1988. In 1998, he was granted the

King Faisal Prize The King Faisal Prize ( ar, جائزة الملك فيصل, formerly King Faisal International Prize), is an annual award sponsored by King Faisal Foundation presented to "dedicated men and women whose contributions make a positive difference". T ...

along with John L. Gerin for "Control of Communicable Diseases".

Research

Purcell is known for his extensive work on hepatitis viruses. In 1972, he was involved in the group that developed the first

animal model An animal model (short for animal disease model) is a living, non-human, often genetic-engineered animal used during the research and investigation of human disease, for the purpose of better understanding the disease process without the risk of ha ...

for hepatitis B. In 1973, Purcell,

Albert Kapikian Albert Zaven Kapikian (1930–2014) was an Armenian-American virologist who developed the first licensed vaccine against rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhea in infants. He was awarded the Sabin Gold Medal for his pioneering work on ...

, and

Stephen Feinstone Stephen Mark Feinstone is a virologist who, together with Albert Kapikian and Robert Purcell, co-identified the Hepatitis A virus (HAV) in 1973. He completed his undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins University graduating in 1966, and complete ...

discovered and characterized hepatitis A virus. In 1978, Purcell showed that hepatitis C virus is transmissible through blood, and that it remains in the body for life. In the early 1980s, Purcell's group discovered a fourth hepatitis virus, hepatitis D virus. In the 1990s, they discovered Hepatitis E virus. Purcell also helped to develop the first licensed vaccine against hepatitis A virus, and was also involved in developing a vaccine against hepatitis B and D viruses, and a vaccine candidate for protection from hepatitis E virus. The same team who co-identified the

Hepatitis A Hepatitis A is an infectious disease of the liver caused by ''Hepatovirus A'' (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them ...

virus (HAV) developed the first

assay An assay is an investigative (analytic) procedure in laboratory medicine, mining, pharmacology, environmental biology and molecular biology for qualitatively assessing or quantitatively measuring the presence, amount, or functional activity of a ...

s that could measure the virus antigen and antibody, and using those assays, the group along with

Harvey J. Alter Harvey James Alter (born September 12, 1935) is an American medical researcher, virologist, physician and Nobel Prize laureate, who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the former chief of the i ...

demonstrated through the serologic exclusion of

and

Hepatitis B Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the ''Hepatitis B virus'' (HBV) that affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. It can cause both acute and chronic infection. Many people have no symptoms during an initial infection. Fo ...

that a third, previously unrecognised form of viral hepatitis existed, originally named non-A, non-B hepatitis (NANBH). Michael Houghton's laboratory at

Chiron Corporation Chiron Corporation ( ) was an American multinational biotechnology firm founded in 1981, based in Emeryville, California, that was acquired by Novartis on April 20, 2006. It had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents. C ...

ultimately identified the agent associated with NANBH, now known as

Hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection people often have mild or no symptoms. Occasionally a fever, dark urine, a ...

, in 1989.

Notable publications

*Farci T, Shimoda A... Purcell RH (1996). Prevention of hepatitis C virus infection in chimpanzees by hyperimmune serum against the hypervariable region 1 of the envelope 2 protein. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences''. 93(26): pgs. 15394-15399 *Farci P, Alter HJ... Purcell RH (1992). Lack of protective immunity against reinfection with hepatitis C virus. ''Science''. 258(5079): pgs. 135-140 *Ogata N, Alter HJ... Purcell RH (1991). Nucleotide sequence and mutation rate of the H strain of hepatitis C virus. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences''. 88(8): pgs. 3392-3396 *Farci P, Alter HJ... Purcell RH (1991). A long-term study of hepatitis C virus replication in non-A, non-B hepatitis. ''New England Journal of Medicine''. 325(2): pgs. 98-104 *Miller RH, Purcell RH (1990). Hepatitis C virus shares amino acid sequence similarity with pestiviruses and flaviviruses as well as members of two plant virus supergroups. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences''. 87(6): pgs. 2057-2061 *Feinstone SM, Kapikian AZ, Purcell RH (1973). Hepatitis A: detection by immune electron microscopy of a viruslike antigen associated with illness. ''Science''. 182(4116): pgs. 1026-1028

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purcell, Robert H. 1935 births Living people University of Oklahoma alumni Baylor University alumni Duke University School of Medicine alumni American virologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy