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Robin Coombs

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Robin Coombs
FRSFRCPathFRCP
Robin Coombs
Born(1921-01-09)9 January 1921
London,England
Died25 January 2006(2006-01-25)(aged 85)
Cambridge,England
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
King's College, Cambridge
Known forCoombs test;
Gell–Coombs classification
AwardsGairdner Foundation International Award(1965)
Scientific career
FieldsImmunology
InstitutionsCorpus Christi College, Cambridge

Robert Royston Amos CoombsFRSFRCPathFRCP(9 January 1921 – 25 January 2006)[1]was a Britishimmunologist,co-discoverer of theCoombs test(1945) used for detectingantibodiesin various clinical scenarios, such asRh diseaseandblood transfusion.[2]

Biography[edit]

He was born inLondonbut attendedDiocesan CollegeinCape Town.Subsequently he returned to Britain and studiedveterinary medicineat theUniversity of Edinburgh.In 1943 he enteredKing's College, Cambridge,where he commenced work on a doctorate, which he gained in 1947. Before finishing his doctorate, he developed and published methods to detect antibodies withArthur MourantandRobert Russell Racein 1945.[3]This is the test now referred to as theCoombs test,which, according to the legend, was first devised while Coombs was travelling on the train.[4]

Coombs became a professor and researcher at the Department of Pathology ofUniversity of Cambridge,becoming a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and a founder of its Division of Immunology. He was appointed the fourthQuick Professor of Biologyin 1966 and continued to work at Cambridge University until 1988.[4]He is reported to have said that "[r]ed blood cells were primarily designed by God as tools for the immunologist and only secondarily as carriers of haemoglobin".[5]

In November 1956, Coombs founded theBritish Society for ImmunologyalongsideJohn H. Humphrey,Bob White, andAvrion Mitchison.He was an honorary member of the British Society for Immunology.[6]

He received honorary doctoral degrees by theUniversity of GuelphCanada,and theUniversity of Edinburghand was aFellow of the Royal Societyof the United Kingdom (1965), a Fellow of theRoyal College of Pathologistsand an Honorary Fellow of theRoyal College of Physicians.

Coombs was married to Anne Blomfield, his first graduate student. They had a son and a daughter.[4]

Works[edit]

TheCoombs test,which he developed and published together withArthur MourantandRobert Russell Racein 1945, has formed the base of a large number of laboratory investigations in the fields ofhematologyandimmunology.[3][4][7]

Together with ProfessorPhilip George Howthern Gell,he developed a classification of immune mechanisms of tissueinjury,now known as the "Gell–Coombs classification",comprising four types of reactions.[8]

Together with W.E. Parish and A.F. Wells he put forward an explanation ofsudden infant death syndrome(SIDS) as an anaphylactic reaction to dairy proteins.[9]

Awards[edit]

Coombs was awarded theJames Spence Gold Medal,Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Healthin 1967 for developing theCoombs test.[10]

References[edit]

  1. ^Lachmann, P.;Waldmann, H.(2009). "Robert Royston Amos (Robin) Coombs. 9 January 1921 -- 25 January 2006".Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.55:45–58.doi:10.1098/rsbm.2008.0021.
  2. ^"Robert Royston Amos Coombs".Munks Roll – Lives of the Fellows.XII.Royal College of Physicians: Royal College of Physicians: 584. 6 June 1967.Retrieved2 February2018.
  3. ^abCoombs RR, Mourant AE, Race RR (1945). "Detection of weak and" incomplete "Rh agglutinins: a new test".Lancet.246(6358): 15–6.doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(45)90806-3.
  4. ^abcdPincock S (2006)."Robert Royston Amos (Robin) Coombs".Lancet.367(9518): 1234.doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68528-0.S2CID53296550.
  5. ^Kasfiki, Eirini; et al. (2019).250 cases in clinical medicine.Elsevier. p. 879.
  6. ^"Honorary members".immunology.org.British Society for Immunology.
  7. ^Coombs RR (1998). "Historical note: past, present and future of the antiglobulin test".Vox Sang.74(2): 67–73.doi:10.1159/000030908.PMID9501403.S2CID202655555.
  8. ^Gell PG, Coombs RR (1963).Clinical Aspects of Immunology.London: Blackwell.
  9. ^Coombs RR, Parish WE, Walls AF (2000).Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Could a healthy infant succumb to inhalation-anaphylaxis during sleep leading to cot death?.Cambridge Publications Ltd.ISBN0-9540081-0-3.
  10. ^"Robert Royston Amos Coombs".Munks Roll – Lives of the Fellows.XII.Royal College of Physicians: Royal College of Physicians: 584. 6 June 1967.Archivedfrom the original on 28 December 2017.Retrieved24 December2017.

External links[edit]

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