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Jacques Miller

{{Short description|French-Australian research scientist}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Jacques Miller

| honorific_suffix = AC FRS FAA

| image =

| image_size = 150px

| caption = Jacques Francis Albert Pierre Miller

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1931|04|02|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Nice, France

| birth_name = Jacques Francis Albert Pierre Meunier

| death_date =

| death_place =

| residence =

| citizenship = Australia

| nationality =

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| field = Immunology

| work_institutions = The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne

| alma_mater = The University of Sydney

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| known_for = Discoveries of the function of the thymus and the T cell and B cell subsets of mammalian lymphocytes

| author_abbrev_bot =

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| prizes = {{no wrap|Gairdner Foundation International Award (1966)}}

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}}

Jacques Francis Albert Pierre Miller AC FRS FAA (born 2 April 1931) is a French-Australian research scientist. He is known for having discovered the function of the thymus and for the identification of mammalian species of the two major subsets of lymphocytes (T cells and B cells) and their function.

Early life and education

Miller was born on 2 April 1931 in Nice, France, as J.F.A.P. Meunier, and grew up in France, Switzerland and China, mostly in Shanghai. After the outbreak of World War II, in anticipation of Japan's entry into the war, his family moved in 1941 to Sydney, Australia, and changed their last name to "Miller". He was educated at St Aloysius' College in Sydney, where he met his future colleague, Sir Gustav Nossal.{{cite journal |title=A scientific odyssey: unravelling the secrets of the thymus |url=http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/183_11_051205/mil10893_fm.html |journal=The Medical Journal of Australia |year=2005 |volume=183 |number=11/12 |pages=582–584 |author=Miller, Jacques|doi=10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb00041.x |pmid=16336136 |s2cid=40679566 }}

Miller studied medicine at the University of Sydney, and had his first experience of laboratory research in the laboratory of Professor Patrick de Burgh where he studied virus infection.

Career

In 1958, Miller travelled to the United Kingdom on a Gaggin Research Fellowship from the University of Queensland. He was accepted to the Chester Beatty Research Institute of Cancer Research (part of the Institute of Cancer Research, London) and as a PhD student at the University of London.{{cite web |author=Mellor, Lise |year=2008 |title=Miller, Jacques F A P |work=Faculty of Medicine Online Museum and Archive |publisher=The University of Sydney |access-date=12 February 2012 |url=http://sydney.edu.au/medicine/museum/mwmuseum/index.php/Miller,_Jacques_F_A_P }} Miller chose to study the pathogenesis of lymphocytic leukemia in mice, expanding on the research of Ludwik Gross into murine leukemia virus. Miller showed that experimental animals without a thymus at birth were incapable of rejecting foreign tissues and resisting many infections, thus demonstrating that the thymus is vital for the development and function of the adaptive immune system. Prior to this, the thymus was believed to be a vestigial organ with no function.{{cite journal |title=The golden anniversary of the thymus |author=Miller, Jacques F. A. P. |journal=Nature Reviews Immunology |volume=11 |issue=7 |pages=489–495 |date=July 2011 |doi=10.1038/nri2993 |pmid=21617694 |s2cid=21191923 |postscript= (Full text requires subscriber login or payment) }} His discovery has led many to describe Miller as the "world's only living person who can claim to have been the first to have described the functions of a human organ".{{cite interview |last=Miller |first=Jacques |subject-link=Jacques Miller |last2=Slattery |first2=Robyn |interviewer=Dr Norman Swan |title=Celebrating a scientific breakthrough |url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2011/3318481.htm |type=Interview: audio |work=Health Report |publisher=ABC Radio National |location=Australia |date=19 September 2011 |access-date=12 February 2012 }} In 1963, Miller continued his work into the function of the thymus at the National Institutes of Health.

In 1966, Miller returned to Australia to become a research group leader at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, at the invitation of its new director Sir Gustav Nossal, the successor of Sir Macfarlane Burnet. There, with student Graham Mitchell, he discovered that mammalian lymphocytes can be separated into what were later called T cells and B cells, and that these interact to allow normal antibody production (T cell help). Miller went on to show that the thymus produces the T cells, that it removes autoreactive T cells (central T cell tolerance) and several other landmark findings in immunology. These are considered crucial to understanding diseases such as cancer, autoimmunity and AIDS, as well as processes such as transplant rejection, allergy and antiviral immunity. Miller was also the first to provide evidence that thymus-derived immune cells are important for the defense against certain tumors,{{Cite journal|last=Miller|first=JF|date=1963|title=Effect of thymectomy on the induction of skin tumours by 3,4-benzopyrene.|journal=Nature|volume=199|issue=4896|pages=920–2|doi=10.1038/199920a0|pmid=14079914|bibcode=1963Natur.199..920M|s2cid=39669302}} which forms the basis for modern cancer immunotherapy.

Semi-retired since 1996, Miller is still involved in immunological research.

Miller has had a longstanding interest in art, and studied art in the 1980s. His art has been exhibited at venues in Melbourne.{{cite web |title=Jacques Miller: Authentic Australian Art |url=http://www.jacquesmiller-art.com/about.html |year=2008 |access-date=12 February 2012 |publisher=Jacques Miller |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402203627/http://www.jacquesmiller-art.com/about.html |archive-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}

Awards and honours

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{cite interview |last=Miller |first=Jacques |subject-link=Jacques Miller |last2=Slattery |first2=Robyn |interviewer=Dr Norman Swan |title=Celebrating a scientific breakthrough |url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2011/3318481.htm |type=Interview: audio |work=Health Report |publisher=ABC Radio National |location=Australia |date=19 September 2011 |access-date=12 February 2012 }}
  • {{cite press release |url=http://www.wehi.edu.au/site/latest_news/institute_hosts_quintuple_anniversary_to_celebrate_science_legends |title=Institute hosts quintuple anniversary to celebrate science legends |publisher=Walter and Eliza Hall Institute |date=2 June 2011 |access-date=12 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324183249/http://www.wehi.edu.au/site/latest_news/institute_hosts_quintuple_anniversary_to_celebrate_science_legends |archive-date=24 March 2012}}
  • {{cite web|url=http://www.wehi.edu.au/about_us/history/wehi_revisited/ |title=WEHI Revisited: Professor Jacques Miller |author=Darmondy, Louise |publisher=Walter and Eliza Hall Institute |format=streaming audio |access-date= 21 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110407134357/http://www.wehi.edu.au/about_us/history/wehi_revisited/ |archive-date= 7 April 2011 }}

Seminal publications

  • {{cite journal |author=Miller J. F. |title=Immunological function of the thymus |journal=Lancet |date=30 September 1961 |volume=2 |issue=7205 |pages=748–9|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(61)90693-6 |pmid=14474038 }}
  • {{cite journal |author=Miller J. F. |title=The thymus and the development of immunologic responsiveness |journal=Science |date=26 June 1964 |volume=144 |issue=3626 |pages=1544–51|doi=10.1126/science.144.3626.1544 |pmid=14169340 |bibcode=1964Sci...144.1544M }}
  • {{cite journal |author1=Miller J. F. |author2=Mitchell, G. F. |title=The thymus and the precursors of antigen reactive cells |journal=Nature |date=18 November 1967 |volume=216 |issue=5116 |pages=659–63|doi=10.1038/216659a0 |pmid=6082462 |bibcode=1967Natur.216..659M |s2cid=4282516 }}
  • {{cite journal |author=Miller J. F. |author2=Sprent J. |title=Cell-to-cell interaction in the immune response. VI. Contribution of thymus-derived cells and antibody-forming cell precursors to immunological memory |journal=J Exp Med |date=1 July 1971 |volume=134 |issue=1 |pages=66–82|doi=10.1084/jem.134.1.66 |pmid=5105057 |pmc=2139027 }}

{{Copley Medallists 2001-2050}}

{{Japan Prize}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Jacques}}

Category:1931 births

Category:Living people

Category:Companions of the Order of Australia

Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:French emigrants to Australia

Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences

Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research

Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal

Category:Sydney Medical School alumni

Category:WEHI alumni

Category:People educated at St Aloysius' College (Sydney)

Category:Academics of the Institute of Cancer Research