Amédée Marie Vincent Borrel (1 August 1867 – 14 September 1936) was a French

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...

born in

Cazouls-lès-Béziers Cazouls-lès-Béziers (, literally ''Cazouls near Béziers''; Languedocien: ''Càsols de Besièrs'') is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. Geography The town of Cazouls lès Béziers is situated 15 kilometres north of th ...

Hérault Hérault (; , ) is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault (river), Hérault River, its Prefectures in France, prefecture is M ...

Biography

Borrel studied

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

s and

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

at the

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier () is a public university, public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous opera ...

, where he earned his degree in 1890. From 1892 to 1895, Borrel worked in the laboratory of Ilya Ilyich Metchnikoff (1845–1916) at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (, ) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Here he performed research of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, and with

Alexandre Yersin Alexandre Émile John Yersin (22 September 1863 – 1 March 1943) was a Swiss- French physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer (1894) of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague or pest, which was later named in ...

(1863–1943) and Léon Charles Albert Calmette (1863–1933), he worked on a

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...

against

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

. With Yersin and Calmette, he co-published the treatise ''Le microbe de la peste à bubons'' concerning the plague

bacillus ''Bacillus'', from Latin "bacillus", meaning "little staff, wand", is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-sh ...

. He is also credited for pioneer investigations on the viral theory of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. From 1896 to 1914 he served as laboratory chief of the

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

course at the Pasteur Institute. In 1919 he attained the chair of

bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the Morphology (biology), morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the iden ...

at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

. A genus of

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

called ''

Borrelia ''Borrelia'' is a genus of bacteria of the spirochete phylum. Several species cause Lyme disease, also called Lyme borreliosis, a zoonotic, vector-borne disease transmitted by ticks. Other species of ''Borrelia'' cause relapsing fever, and are ...

'' is named after him, as is borreliosis (i.e., Lyme disease). Moreover, "Borrel bodies", which are tiny virus-containing granules that cluster to form "Bollinger bodies", are found in tissue cells of

fowlpox Fowlpox is the worldwide disease of poultry caused by viruses of the family ''Poxviridae'' and the genus '' Avipoxvirus''. The viruses causing fowlpox are distinct from one another but antigenically similar, possible hosts including chickens, tu ...

. (Bollinger bodies are named after German

pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

Otto Bollinger Otto Bollinger (2 April 1843 – 13 August 1909) was a German pathologist born in Altenkirchen, Kusel, Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1868, he obtained his doctorate in Berlin and two years later received his habilitation. He taught classes at the ...

843–1909. In 1900 Borrel became a member of the ''

Société de biologie The Société de biologie () is a learned society founded in Paris in 1848. The society was conceived during the French Revolution of 1848. The members of the society held regular meetings and published the proceedings in a new scientific journal. ...

''. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Borrel developed one of the earliest known

gas mask A gas mask is a piece of personal protective equipment used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft ...

References

External links

''Amédée Borrel''
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

Portail Institut Pasteur
chronological biography 1867 births 1936 deaths Cancer researchers French virologists People from Hérault French microbiologists Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg University of Montpellier alumni {{France-biologist-stub