Sonja Buckley
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Sonja Buckley (June 13, 1918 – February 2, 2005) was a
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
-born
virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, the ...
. She was the first person to culture
Lassa virus Lassa virus (LASV) is an Arenaviridae, arenavirus that causes Lassa hemorrhagic fever, a type of viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), in humans and other primates. Lassa virus is an Emerging infectious disease, emerging virus and a select agent, requi ...
, the causative agent of
Lassa fever Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever, is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus asymptomatic, do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, wea ...
, a potentially deadly disease that originated in Africa.


Biography

Sonja Grob was born in
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, Switzerland. In 1941, she married Dr. John J. Buckley, a pathologist who was also studying in Zürich. Sonja Buckley was awarded her medical degree in 1944 from the
University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
, and she was later a microbiology instructor there. With her husband, she emigrated to the United States in 1947, as both of them had already arranged to work at
Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...
in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
. Her first research "assignment was to study the spread of the polio virus in East Baltimore neighborhoods". After working as a research assistant at Johns Hopkins for a short time, she joined the
Sloan-Kettering Institute Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...
in New York City where she was chosen to head the solid tumor program in 1949. In 1957, she joined the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
to work in the foundation's virus laboratories. In 1964, those labs were transferred to
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
, and became known as the Arbovirus Research Unit. Buckley became interested in
Lassa fever Lassa fever, also known as Lassa hemorrhagic fever, is a type of viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus. Many of those infected by the virus asymptomatic, do not develop symptoms. When symptoms occur they typically include fever, wea ...
('' Lassa mammarenavirus)'' after an outbreak of the unknown virus occurred in
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
in Africa in 1969 that was responsible for outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever. Specimens were sent to four different laboratories, including the Arbovirus Research Unit, where virologists attempted to isolate the causative agent, but Buckley was the first to do so, working with her team, which included Wilbur Downs and Jordi Casals-Ariet, Sonja Buckley retired from Yale in 1994, and died on February 2, 2005, at the age of 86. A daughter, Sonja Mary Buckley, died as a young child in 1943, and her husband died in 1987.


Selected publications

* Buckley, Sonja M., Elinor Whitney, and Fred Rapp. "Identification by fluorescent antibody of developmental forms of psittacosis virus in tissue culture." ''Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine'' 90.1 (1955): 226-230. * Buckley, Sonja M. "Propagation, Cytopathogenicity, and Hemagglutination-Hemadsorption of Some Arthropodborne Viruses in Tissue Culture." ''NYASA'' 81.1 (1959): 172-187. * Buckley, Sonja M. "Susceptibility of the Aedes albopictus and A. aegypti cell lines to infection with arboviruses." ''Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine'' 131.2 (1969): 625-630. * Buckley, Sonja M., and Jordi Casals. "Lassa fever, a new virus disease of man from West Africa." ''The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene'' 19.4 (1970): 680-691. * Buckley, Sonja M., Jordi Casals, and Wilbur G. Downs. "Isolation and antigenic characterization of Lassa virus." ''Nature'' 227.5254 (1970): 174-174. * Cunningham, Ann, et al. "Isolation of chikungunya virus contaminating an Aedes albopictus cell line." ''Journal of General Virology'' 27.1 (1975): 97-100. * Buckley, Sonja M. "Arbovirus infection of vertebrate and insect cell cultures, with special emphasis on Mokola, Obodhiang, and kotonkan viruses of the rabies serogroup." ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'' 266 (1975): 241-250.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckley, Sonja 1918 births 2005 deaths Scientists from Zurich Swiss virologists Rockefeller University people Swiss emigrants to the United States 20th-century Swiss women scientists