Birgit Ann-Marie Margareta Nordbring-Hertz, (16 May 1923 – 16 March 2020 in Lund, Sweden) was a Swedish scientist at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

known for her work on the interactions between

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

and

nematodes The nematodes ( or ; ; ), roundworms or eelworms constitute the phylum Nematoda. Species in the phylum inhabit a broad range of environments. Most species are free-living, feeding on microorganisms, but many are parasitic. Parasitic worms (he ...

Education

Nordbring-Hertz graduated with a medical licentiate degree with a thesis on the opportunistic human pathogenic fungus, '' Candida albicans'', 1956 at

, and received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

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 ...

in 1974 at the same university, working on nematode-trapping fungi. After her doctorate she took over responsibility for the department of

microbial ecology Microbial ecology (or environmental microbiology) is a discipline where the interaction of Microorganism, microorganisms and their environment are studied. Microorganisms are known to have important and harmful ecological relationships within t ...

, a position she held from 1975 until 1989. In 1987, she was promoted to professor at Lund University, and in 1989 she transitioned to an

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

position. She was the first female professor at the natural science faculty at Lund University.

Research

Nordbring-Hertz's research mainly dealt with a type of

microfungi Microfungi or micromycetes are fungi—eukaryotic organisms such as molds, mildews and rusts—which have microscopic spore-producing structures. They exhibit tube tip-growth and have cell walls composed of chitin, a polymer of ''N''-acetylgluco ...

, so-called nematophagous fungi, that infect and digest nematodes. She concentrated on the nematode-trapping fungus '' Arthrobotrys oligospora''. Nordbring-Hertz used

scanning electron microscopy A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a type of electron microscope that produces images of a sample by scanning the surface with a focused beam of electrons. The electrons interact with atoms in the sample, producing various signals that ...

to study the trapping organs of ''A. oligospora.'' Her early research was concentrated on how trapping organs were induced, apart from nematode touching the

hypha A hypha (; ) is a long, branching, filamentous structure of a fungus, oomycete, or actinobacterium. In most fungi, hyphae are the main mode of vegetative growth, and are collectively called a mycelium. Structure A hypha consists of one o ...

e also chemically by small

peptide Peptides are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. A polypeptide is a longer, continuous, unbranched peptide chain. Polypeptides that have a molecular mass of 10,000 Da or more are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty am ...

s will induce trap formation. Her work was later focussed on specific recognition mechanisms, e.g. by

lectin Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that are highly specific for sugar Moiety (chemistry), groups that are part of other molecules, so cause agglutination (biology), agglutination of particular cells or precipitation of glycoconjugates an ...

s (

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

-binding

glycoprotein Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide (sugar) chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known a ...

s) on the trap surface that recognise specific carbohydrates on the nematode surface and start the infection process. Her research also examined volatile exudates from nematodes, the fungal plant pathogen '' Verticillium dahliae'', and quantifying the presence of the fungus in soil ecosystems.

Selected publications

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Personal life

Nordbring-Hertz married in 1953 to a professor in electrical measurement technology, Hellmuth Hertz, and they had two sons, Thomas and Hans Hertz.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nordbring-Hertz, Birgit 20th-century Swedish women scientists 1923 births 2020 deaths Ecologists Microbiologists Lund University alumni Academic staff of Lund University