David Dane

Dane joined the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Adelaide, in 1951 supported by a grant from National Health and the Medical Research Council.[7] He was instrumental in an extensive investigation of an undiagnosed outbreak of acute meningitis and isolated a potential cause. It was inevitable that as a field virologist he would also become involved in the avian/human zoonosis of psittacosis work led by John Miles, head of the Medical Research Division in the early 1950s.[8] Dane continued to work to improve diagnostic methods and published on avian and human psittacosis.[9]

On returning to the UK, in 1955, Dane was appointed lecturer in microbiology at Queen's University Belfast,[7] where he worked with Professor George Dick on the recently developed attenuate and killed poliovirus vaccines.[10] Through their research they established that the early live polio vaccines developed by Hilary Koprowski were unsafe because they could return to virulence when excreted by people given the vaccine.[11] Professor Dick’s team also initiated studies of combined diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus vaccines.[12]

In 1966, Dane left Belfast to become the head of the Virology Department, Bland Sutton School of Pathology at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London. At that time this was one of the very few medical schools to have an electron microscope, donated by Polio charities in recognition of his work in this field. Very much in character, he developed productive collaborations with senior colleagues within the medical school and hospital. Together with Dr Duncan Catterall, head of the sexually transmitted disease clinic in James Pringle House at Middlesex Hospital, Dane quickly demonstrated the usefulness of the electron microscope for the rapid diagnosis of herpes simplex virus infection (HIV).[13] Close collaborations with two senior colleagues in the haematology field, James Wallace "Jimmie" Stewart, Professor of Haematology at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School (MHMS), and Tom Cleghorn, director of the North London Blood Transfusion Centre (NLBTC) at Edgware led to ground-breaking work in the emerging field of transfusion transmitted infection and particularly that of post-transfusion hepatitis.[14]

Dane's determination to improve the accuracy of detecting the hepatitis B surface antigen protein, HBsAg, and his keen interest in blood transfusion led him to accept an honorary consultancy at NLBTC which he continued to hold after his retirement in 1982, until his death.[1] Through this association with the blood services Dane went on both to improve current assays and to develop more sensitive screening methods. A close collaboration with Ian Cayzer in Wellcome Diagnostics produced the haemagglutination assay for HBsAg, "Hepatest".[18] Turkey red blood cells, coated with antibody to HBsAg agglutinate (clump together) in the presence of HBsAg, a sensitive test which was widely used diagnostically.[19] Not content with that, he and his laboratory colleagues produced in collaboration with Brian Combridge at the Blood Products Laboratory the first UK-based RIA for HBsAg, the BPL RIA.[20] They also developed specialised equipment for its use. His colleague Sam Cameron produced the iodinated label and with John Barabara of NLBTC, merged this with microplate technology and multichannel gamma counters. Methods for selecting high-titre antimicrobial antibodies in donors, investigation and surveillance of post transfusion infections became established routine activities.

Dane identified sexual transmission of the hepatitis B and the role of the persistently infected person as a reservoir of infection in the community, identifying the individual whose plasma contained large amounts of virus, coining the term "super-carriers".[21] He also described the dynamics of the virus particle in acute infection.[22]

Dane was a strong advocate of self sufficiency for the manufacture of blood products in Britain from freely donated blood, rather than from imported blood from the US where donors were paid.[23] The consequences of not following this advice, and Britain’s failure to be self-sufficient for treatment of haemophiliacs made the UK reliant upon importation of the then "new" treatment of factor VIII concentrate. Potentially disastrous for groups such as haemophiliacs, who early on became infected with HIV, his advice to James Wallace "Jimmie" Stewart to reserve concentrate use to those whose management absolutely depended on it saved many from HIV infection. He also was early to recognise the occurrence of hepatitis other than hepatitis A and B following treatment with the anti-haemophiliac concentrate.[24][25]

Dane retired in 1982, just before major rates of HIV infection emerged. He continued as an advisor after retirement, including offering pro bono advice against the importation of blood from the USA.[1] In the 1990s he advised in legal cases relating to haemophiliacs’ treatment with contaminated blood, and on other matters. He remained resolutely opposed to the trend among research scientists to seek commercial gain from their discoveries by patenting them.

After his retirement Dane did not to return the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. However his legacy of pushing diagnostic development and collaboration with the diagnostic industry continued with Middlesex Hospital Medical School, Virology developing the first UK HIV diagnostic assay, the Wellcozyme HIV test which led to the Wellcome Research Laboratories receiving the Queen's Award for British Industry.[26] His enduring demand for precision, accuracy and objectivity influenced many in the field of Clinical Virology to this day.