Bruce A. Stone

{{Short description|Australian biochemist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}

Bruce Arthur Stone AM (4 December 1928{{sndash}}29 June 2008) was an Australian biochemist and the foundation Professor of Biochemistry at La Trobe University.{{Cite web |title=Bruce Stone - CAZypedia |url=https://www.cazypedia.org/index.php/Bruce_Stone |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=www.cazypedia.org |language=en-CA}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Bruce A. Stone

| image = Stone 1972.jpg

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1928|12|04}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2008|06|29|1928|12|04}}

| nationality = Australian

| fields = Cereal chemistry

Polysaccharide research

| workplaces = University of Melbourne, La Trobe University

| education = University of Melbourne

University College, London

| doctoral_advisor = Eric Crook

| notable_students = Marilyn Anderson

| awards = F. B. Guthrie Award for Cereal Chemistry, Royal Australian Chemical Institute (1985)

Philippine Biochemical Society Award (1991)

Thomas Burr Osborne Award of the American Association of Cereal Chemists (2004)

Member of the Order of Australia (2008)

| signature = Bruce A Stone signature.jpg

}}

Born in 1928, Stone earned a B.Sc. from the University of Melbourne in 1948, majoring in chemistry and biochemistry. In 1951, he received training in mycological taxonomy at the Commonwealth Mycological Institute in Kew, UK, which he disliked.{{Cite journal |last=Whelan |first=William |date=2008-12-24 |title=Obituary: Bruce A. Stone |url=https://iubmb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/iub.157 |journal=IUBMB Life |language=en |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=84 |doi=10.1002/iub.157 |issn=1521-6543|url-access=subscription }} He pursued his Ph.D. studies at University College, London, graduating in 1954. He held postdoctoral positions in Ottawa and London. He then joined the Russell Grimwade School of Biochemistry, University of Melbourne, in 1958 and later became the first Professor of Biochemistry at La Trobe University, where he served from 1972 until his official retirement in 1995.{{Cite web |last=Centre for Transformative Innovation |first=Swinburne University of Technology |title=Stone, Bruce Arthur - Person - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation |url=https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P004733b.htm |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=www.eoas.info |language=en-gb}} Nick Hoogenraad wrote of him: “Bruce built his department with a strong focus on research and from his staff demanded nothing but the best. A comment to a staff member seen arriving at work at 9:30am of 'did you bring the Herald' was taken as more than a throw away line."{{Cite book |last=Hoogenraad |first=Nick |url=https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/1007790/Biochemistry-at-LTU.pdf |title=Biochemistry at La Trobe University: A Proud History |publisher=La Trobe University |year=2017 |location=Bundoora}}

Stone's primary research interest was in the chemistry and biochemistry of plant polysaccharides, particularly in cereals and grasses. His work had applications in agriculture, horticulture, cereal grain quality, and human and ruminant nutrition. His special focus on the plant cell wall polysaccharide callose and related (1–3)-beta-D-glucans dates back to his Ph.D. studies and continued at the University of Melbourne under Victor Trikojus from around 1960.{{Cite book |last=Humphreys |first=Leonhard Ross |title=Trikojus: a scientist for interesting times |date=2004 |publisher=Miegunyah Press |isbn=978-0-522-85095-6 |location=Carlton, Victoria}}

Stone died after a protracted battle with cancer in 2008. His legacy continues through the B.A. Stone Award for Excellence in Plant Polysaccharide Biochemistry.