Iain MacIntyre 1924–2008 (2008)

Iain MacIntyre was born in Glasgow on August 30, 1924 and passed away after a long illness on September 18, 2008. He will be remembered for his many contributions to the endocrinology of calcium and bone metabolism, for the innovation, vitality, and competitiveness of his research, and for his leadership both in developing young investigators and enhancing interactions in our field. He received the Elsevier Award from the ICCRH (IBMS) at the XIth Conference in Florence in 1992. He participated in many of the IBMS meetings, going back to the original Parathyroid Conferences, and he was a notable participant over many years in the Gordon Conferences on Chemistry, Physiology, and Structure of Bones and Teeth, as well as developing his own series of endocrine conferences. After graduating in medicine (University of Glasgow, 1947), Iain trained in pathology in Sheffield from 1948 to 1952, during which time his experience as a Biochemistry Demonstrator in Hans Krebs' department set him out on his subsequent career choice, moving to Chemical Pathology at the (later Royal) Postgraduate Medical School (RPMS) in 1953. His early research was noted for the emphasis on precision and care in chemical methods, initially in the study of the regulation of magnesium metabolism, but it was in calcium homeostasis that he made his major impact. In the early 1960s, his laboratory was setting out to study the regulation of magnesium metabolism, having developed high temperature flame photometric methods for the precise and accurate measurement of magnesium and calcium. They had also developed methods to perfuse the thyroid/parathyroid in goats and dogs for this purpose. With the discovery by Copp of a calcium lowering principle thought to be of parathyroid origin, the MacIntyre laboratory quickly confirmed the existence of calcitonin, but showed it to be of thyroid origin, coming from the parafollicular (or “C” cells) of the thyroid, and lowering calcium by inhibiting bone resorption. A key set of experiments involved perfusion of the intact goat parathyroid after removal of the thyroid gland. At the same time the group of Munson and Hirsch at Harvard independently established that calcitonin came from the thyroid. Together with AGE Pearse, Iain showed that calcitonin was produced by the “C” cells of the thyroid, whose embryological origin was different from that of the follicular cells. He was responsible for purification and sequencing first of pig calcitonin and then human calcitonin, isolated from medullary carcinoma of the thyroid, and he pioneered the use of calcitonin clinically in patients with Paget's disease. With HR Morris, he isolated and sequenced CGRP. His career at the RPMS was outstanding for its laboratory and research contributions at a time when clinical endocrinology had been strong under Russell Fraser. Iain was Professor of Endocrine Chemistry and Chemical Pathology and was appointed as Director of the Wellcome Endocrine Unit at the RPMS, extending research in the 1970s to seminal contributions on the regulation of vitamin D metabolism. He continued to play an important part in the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, taking up Chairmanship of the Academic Board in 1986. After his 1990 retirement from Hammersmith he continued as a research Director at the William Harvey Institute, where he showed the involvement of nitric oxide in controlling bone cell metabolism. His work on studying nitric oxide synthesis regulation by hormones continued until the last very few years. Many of the students and Fellows who trained with Iain Macintyre went on to their own successful careers, and his influence has been a major one throughout the world of bone and calcium endocrinology. He made a great impact on endocrinology through the eight biennial conferences on endocrinology that he held in the 1970s and 1980s, centered on his Unit at the RPMS and usually held at the Royal College of Physicians. These were memorable occasions, at which calcium and bone metabolism featured strongly, but so too did the latest topics in endocrinology. They featured outstanding national and international speakers from many fields, and pushed the participants to think beyond the narrow confines of their immediate interests. The published proceedings of those Conferences are well worth rereading, with much content that was prophetic and much that provides genuinely valuable history. Iain's meetings regularly featured subjects that were contentious, with all views liberally represented. Iain, the host and chairman, worked with skill, charm, and infectious humor to ensure the best academic outcome. The sometimes fierce but open debates at scientific sessions were blended with graceful social evenings that put controversy in perspective and encouraged collegiality. For his many research contributions, Iain was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1996, and, in 2006, he received the Buchanan Medal from the Royal Society in recognition for distinguished contribution to the medical sciences generally. His academic career was a most distinguished one, with leadership in research, graduate education, and administration. He was certainly a leader in our field of bone and mineral metabolism, a great competitor in all that he did, and possessed of a charm and humor that made him a great companion and collaborator. He was above all an intensely loyal friend to his students, fellows, and colleagues. He was greatly supported throughout his career by his wife, Mabs, who died in 2003. Iain is survived by his daughter, Fiona, and grandson, James, to whom we offer sincere sympathy.