Rebecca Craighill Lancefield was a prominent American microbiologist.
20 Facts About Rebecca Lancefield
2.
Rebecca Lancefield joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in New York in 1918, and was associated with that institute throughout her long and outstanding career.
3.
Rebecca Lancefield is responsible for the serological typing of Group A Streptococci.
4.
Rebecca Lancefield was born at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York.
5.
Rebecca Lancefield's father was an officer in the US Army Engineer Corps.
6.
Rebecca Lancefield accepted a scholarship to Teachers' College, Columbia University, and continued to study bacteriology.
7.
Rebecca Lancefield's first co-authored paper was published in 1919 when she was a technician, an unusual recognition at the time.
8.
Rebecca Lancefield now aimed to identify the biological components of surface antigens located on the bacteria.
9.
In 1928, Rebecca Lancefield reported that the type-specific antigen of streptococci was a protein.
10.
Rebecca Lancefield named this protein the M-protein because a matt colony occurs when the bacteria is exposed to the antigen.
11.
Rebecca Lancefield discovered that the group-specific antigen of streptococci was composed of carbohydrates, which she named the C-carbohydrate.
12.
Rebecca Lancefield initially designated group A for human streptococcal infections and group B for bovine streptococcal infections.
13.
Rebecca Lancefield discovered two additional group A streptococci surface proteins: the T-antigen, in 1940, and the R-antigen, in 1957.
14.
Rebecca Lancefield's research revealed that group B streptococci lacked the M-protein.
15.
Rebecca Lancefield discovered that, instead, surface polysaccharides were responsible for their virulence factor.
16.
In 1946, Rebecca Lancefield was promoted to associate member at Rockefeller University.
17.
Rebecca Lancefield was promoted to full member and professor at Rockefeller in 1958.
18.
Rebecca Lancefield was a long-time collaborator of Maclyn McCarty and a mentor of Emil Gotschlich, two recipients of the notable Lasker Prize.
19.
Rebecca Lancefield was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1970.
20.
Rebecca Lancefield was formally honored by Wellesley College, her alma mater, in 1976.