Alison Brading (26 February 1939 - 7 January 2011) was a British scientist who studied the physiology and pharmacology of smooth muscle, particularly in the urinary tract.

Education and early life

Alison Brading was born in

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

and educated at The Maynard School,

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, where she excelled academically and in sport, winning the '' Victor ludorum''. While visiting her parents in Nigeria as a teenager, she acquired poliomyelitis, the side effects of which she lived with throughout her life. She was only saved by an iron lung, introduced to Nigeria by her father Brigadier Norman Brading. An 18-month period of recovery in the Wingfield Hospital (Oxford; now Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre) from the acute phase of her illness meant that she was unable to accept a position to study Medicine at the University of Oxford. Instead, she studies Zoology at the University of Bristol, graduating with a 1st class honours degree. She continued in Bristol, gaining a PhD exploring the function of muscle in the tapeworm ('' Ascaris lumbricoides''), under the supervision of Peter Caldwell.

Research and career

In 1965 she moved to the University of Oxford to work with

Edith Bülbring Edith Bülbring, FRS (27 December 1903 – 5 July 1990) was a British scientist in the field of smooth muscle physiology, one of the first women accepted to the Royal Society as a fellow ( FRS). She was professor of pharmacology at the Unive ...

, being appointed as fellow and tutor in physiology at

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located on the banks of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The college is more formall ...

in 1968,

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

in 1972 and a professor in 1996. Her research focussed on the function of smooth muscle, particularly that which controls the contraction of the urinary bladder and urethra. Her early work focussed on the role of ions (particularly chloride) in the regulation of smooth muscle, developing new ways to measure the concentration of ions inside cells. In mid-career, she studied the function of drugs that relax smooth muscle, particularly potassium channel activators, moving on to develop important ties with Urological surgeons in Oxford to form the Oxford Continence Group. Her later work was on the treatment of the unstable urinary bladder, bladder outflow obstruction, anal sphincter function (particularly the role of nitric oxide), the role of the pelvic floor in maintaining urinary continence and the role of Interstitial Cells (of Cajal) in the urogenital tract.

Role in training and education

In the laboratory, Professor Brading was instrumental in training a generation of Urological surgeons in laboratory techniques, and also inspired basic science research. She was particularly proud of her contributions to the study of smooth muscle in Japan, where three of her former DPhil students, postdoctoral researchers or fellows subsequently became professorial heads of department (including Hikaru Hashitani (Nagoya) and Noriyoshi Teramoto (Saga)). She continued regular work in the Oxford Department of Pharmacology until just before her final illness. Her contributions are recognised in at Lady Margaret Hall through a scholarship fund.

Awards and honours

In 2006 she was awarded the St Peter's Medal of the British Association of Urological Surgeons. She was awarded the title of honorary member of the Physiological Society (2008) and honorary Fellowship of the British Pharmacological Society.

Engagement with professional societies

She was an editor for the '' Journal of Physiology'' and served on the governing council of the Physiological Society.

Books

* ''Smooth muscle'', with Edith Bülbring, T. Tomita, and A.W. Jones. * ''Autonomic Nervous System and Its Effectors''

Personal life

In her later life she lived next to the canal in Thrupp, Oxfordshire, where she captained her own

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commerc ...

, assisted by family, friends and colleagues. Alison developed post-polio syndrome meant that she had trouble standing unaided and had breathing problems that progressed as she aged. While still active in scientific research, she acquired pneumonia in September 2010, which, through many months in hospital, she unable to conquer, arguable due to her ongoing post-polio syndrome weakness. As a biographer wrote,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brading, Alison 1939 births 2011 deaths British pharmacologists British physiologists Women physiologists Women pharmacologists British expatriates in Nigeria 20th-century British women scientists Recipients of the St Peter's Medal Polio survivors