Margaret Sabine (1928–2011) was the pioneering virologist for Australian veterinary schools. She conducted studies on viruses in cats and horses, with her characterisation of different equine viruses being her most significant scientific contribution. Other achievements include becoming head of the department of veterinary pathology and bacteriology, being chairwoman of the NSW Animal Welfare Advisory Council, an honorary Veterinary Science degree at the University of Sydney, and being a co-discoverer of viral interference.
Early life
Sabine was born on 29 October 1928, in
Castlemaine, Victoria and named Jean Margaret Edney.[1] She attended Mac.Robertson Girls High in Melbourne.[1] She attended
Melbourne University, studying biochemistry and graduated with a master's degree in science in 1948.[1][2]
Career
Margaret Sabine (née Edney) began her career working as an assistant to Sir
MacFarlane Burnet at the
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.[1][3][4][5] Sabine collaborated on research into the viral interference phenomenon with
Alick Isaacs during the year he spent in Burnet's laboratory in 1956.[6][7] Sabine later switched her research interests from human virology to virology in animals.[8] Sabine was awarded her doctorate from University College Hospital Medical School in London.[9]
She married Terry Sabine, a physicist, in 1956.[1]
From 1973 she was a member of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the
University of Sydney, where she was the first virologist appointed to a veterinary school in Australia[1] and in 1991 and 1992 she was Head of the Department of Veterinary Pathology.[10][11] In 1976 her lab discovered and characterised the different equine herpes viruses which affected racehorses.[1]
Sabine, Margaret; Spradbrow, Peter; University of Queensland. Post-Graduate Veterinary Science Committee (1992),
Virology for Australian veterinarians (2nd ed.), Veterinary Science Post-Graduate Committee, University of Queensland, retrieved 16 January 2017
^Burnet, FM; Edney, Margaret (September 1951). "Recombinant Viruses Obtained from Double Infections with the Influenza a Viruses Mel and Neuro-Ws". Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science. 29 (5): 353–362.
doi:
10.1038/icb.1951.41.
PMID14895467.
^Lindenmann, Jean; Schleuning, Wolf-Dieter, 1944-; SpringerLink (Online service) (1999), Interferon : the dawn of recombinant protein drugs, Springer,
ISBN978-3-662-03787-4{{
citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^Isaacs, Alick; Edney, Margaret (1950). "Interference between inactive and active influenza viruses in the chick embryo. IV. The early stages of virus multiplication and interference". Australian Journal of Experimental Biology and Medical Science. 28 (6): 635–645.
doi:
10.1038/icb.1950.66.
PMID14838788.
^Doherty, Peter; Doherty, Peter (2012), Sentinel chickens : what birds tell us about our health and our world, Melbourne University Press,
ISBN978-0-522-86110-5
^"Vale"(PDF). Together: The Journal of the Women's College within the University of Sydney. 27 (1): 14. 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
^Sabine, Margaret (1984),
"Friends and mentors", Against the Odds: Fifteen Professional Women Reflect on Their Lives and Careers (1984): 186–201, retrieved 16 January 2017