ROBERT RENÉ KILLICK-KENDRICK MPhil, PhD, DSc, FSB  20 June, 1929 – 22 October, 2011         

                                                              

 

Early Years    
Robert René Killick-Kendrick, son of Reginald Robert Killick and his wife Ellen Irene Elsie, née Newberry, was born on 20 June, 1929 in Hampton, UK. He died in France, where he had lived since 1998, following a relatively rapid illness due to a particularly aggressive form of cancer. Bob held joint Franco-British nationality. He is survived by his wife Mireille, and his three children Anne, Jacqueline and Timothy from his first marriage, in 1950, with Jean, née Warrington. ‘Bob’, as he was known to all his friends and colleagues and as we shall refer to him below, had a sister Una Adelaide, and a brother Anthony, now aged 85.  

At the age of 17, Bob spent one year as a Laboratory Assistant in the Biochemistry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Weybridge, Surrey. He then spent his military service in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), during which he underwent a six month course of training in Anatomy, Physiology and Laboratory Techniques at York Military Hospital in order to gain the position of Grade III Laboratory Technician. This achieved, he was posted to the RAMC Medical College in London to work with a senior technician who organized the practical training of military doctors who were studying for their Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (DTM&H). Bob found the subject of Parasitology so interesting that he answered an advertisement for the post of Laboratory Technician in the Department of Parasitology in the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). To his delight he was invited to an interview with Colonel HE Shortt FRS, then Head of the Department of Parasitology and a renowned research worker on malaria. In Bob’s own words ‘the interview was very brief’: ‘When do you leave the RAMC, Killick?’ – ‘September the 5^th, Sir’ – ‘Then start work here on the 6^th!’ 

On joining the Department of Parasitology, Bob was promptly assigned to work at the LSHTM field station at Winches Farm, St Albans where he was to help the first faltering steps of several PhD students (including the present writers). Here his previous training was of immense use to these students, whom he not only instructed in all the basic laboratory techniques required to carry out their research but also provided constant, good-humoured assistance in their field-work. He was a keen and proficient photographer and supplied excellent illustrations for many their early publications.

Under constant pressure from the writers and others to obtain a University Degree in order to use his expertise as a research worker rather than as a laboratory technician, Bob somehow found time, with great determination, to study for a number of Diplomas and Degrees, eventually culminating in his Doctor of Science (DSc, the highest academic qualification offered by London University). As far as we are aware, for much of the time this was without financial aid.  

Before briefly discussing some of the more important publications among nearly 300 that were written or co-written by Bob [see the Appendix below for a selection of these], the following abbreviated curriculum vitae indicates both the meteoric acquisition of his academic qualifications and his extensive activity in the field of Parasitology.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Robert René KILLICK-KENDRICK

Degrees & Diplomas

Fellow, Institute of Biomedical Sciences (FIBMA), 1970

Diploma of Imperial College, London (DIC), 1970

Master of Philosophy, London University (MPhil), 1970

Doctor of Philosophy, London University (PhD), 1972

Doctor of Science, London University (DSc), 1978

Chartered Biologist (CBiol), 1979

Fellow of the Society of Biology (FSB), 1979

 

Honours

Hon. Member, Algerian Society of Parasitology, 1985

Hon. Member, Società Italiana de Parasitologia, 1991

Hon. Member, American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 2005

Hon. Fellow, Royal Entomological Society, 2007

Hon. Member, Turkish Society for Parasitology, 2011

Sir Rickard Christophers Medal, Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, 1991

Emile Brumpt International Prize, Société de Pathologie Exotique, 2007

Academician, l’Académie des Hauts Cantons (Artes, Sciences et Belles Lettres), 2008

 

Professional Career

1946-47   Laboratory Assistant, Biochemistry Dept., Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Weybridge, Surrey, UK

1947-49   Medical Laboratory Assistant, Royal Army Medical Corps

1949-55   Laboratory Technician, Dept of Parasitology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK

1955-63   Senior Laboratory Superintendent, West African Institute for Trypanosomiasis Research, Nigeria

1963-69   Chief Technician, then Senior Technical Officer, Dept of Parasitology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK and part-time Lecturer at Sir John Cass College, London

1969-76       Research Fellow, Dept of Zoology and applied Entomology, London

1976-94       Scientist and then Senior Scientist, Special Appointments Grade, Medical Research Council External Scientific Staff

1994-97       Visiting Professor & Leverhulme Scholar, Dept of Biology, Imperial College, London

1997-07       Senior Research Fellow, Dept of Biological Sciences, Imperial College, London

2007-11       Honorary Research Fellow, Division of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College, London 

 

World Health Organization Appointments

1967 & 1970   Consultant (Malaria) Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Sierra Leone

1978 & 1979   Chairman, Scientific Working Group (Leishmaniasis), TDR, Geneva

1979-1983      Principal Investigator (Sleeping Sickness), Zambia

1980 & 1982   Chairman, Steering Committee (Leishmaniasis), TDR, Geneva

1980, 1984, 1985, 1988 & 1990 Consultant (Leishmaniasis), USSR, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia

1981             Consultant (Blood meal identification), Germany, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia

1982             Chairman, Expert Committee Meeting (Leishmaniasis), Geneva

1989 & 2010  Temporary Adviser, Expert Committee Meetings (Leishmaniasis),  Geneva

1988-2011     Member, WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Parasitic Diseases (Leishmaniasis)

2009            Invited speaker on control of Visceral Leishmaniasis, Global Health Histories Series: Tropical Diseases: Lesson from History

2009             Temporary Adviser, First Stakeholders’ Meeting on Integrated Vector Management

Professional Societies

   Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene:

   Councillor 1975-1978

   Honorary Secretary, 1979-1986

   Chairman, Meetings Committee, 1975-1979

   Chairman, Editorial Board, 1979-1986

   Chairman, Garnham Fellowship Committee, 1996-3004

    American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene

    Royal Entomological Society, London

    Institute of Biology (later the Society of Biology)

    Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences

    Algerian Society of Parasitology

    Société Française de Parasitologie

    Società Italiana di Parassitologia

    Turkish Society for Parasitology

    Honorary Secretary, British Section of Society of Protozoologists, 1972-1975

    Académie des Hauts Cantons (Arts, Sciences et Belles Lettres)

 Scientific achievements

The Genus Plasmodium. As virtually the personal laboratory technician of Professor PCC Garnham FRS during 1963-69, Bob assisted in much of the research of Garnham and his team on the exoerthrocytic development of a variety of Plasmodium species of humans, non-human primates and rodents, and was frequently included as a co-author in the resulting publications. 

 Malaria parasites of rodents. Bob’s interest in these parasites led to his later collaborative work with Irène Landau on the detection of Plasmodium species in African rodents and demonstration of their exoerythrocytic development. With the mammalogist Louis Bellier he discovered and named two new Plasmodium species in ‘flying squirrels’ of the Ivory Coast, and numerous other publications were made on the malaria parasites of rodents. In review papers he indicated field and laboratory techniques for the detection and isolation of these organisms and their taxonomy, zoogeography and evolution. All this led to the production of the book ‘Rodent Malaria’ edited by Professor W Peters & R Killick-Kendrick in 1978.     

A malaria parasite of the orang-utan. In 1972, Bob played a major role during his participation in Garnham’s expedition to Peninsular Malaysia in order to isolate and redescribe the poorly studied Plasmodium pitheci of this primate. The parasite was successfully isolated, and its development described in the blood and liver of a splenectomized chimpanzee that had been inoculated with sporozoites from experimentally infected mosquitoes.  

The ‘hypnozoite’ – the latent stage of the malaria parasite in the liver Much later, in 1983, Bob’s technical skills were again to play an important role in Krotoski and Garnham’s investigations on the earliest development of the sporozoites of a Plasmodium species when they reach the liver following their inoculation into the vertebrate host by the mosquito. These studies involved the inoculation of rhesus monkeys with millions of sporozoites obtained by the dissection of a large number of infected mosquitoes, taking liver biopsies at different times, the preparation of sections stained by a special technique, and patient work at the microscope to detect the tiny hypnozoites in the parenchyma cells of the liver. The discovery of these latent sporozoites at last explained the relapses of patients apparently recovered from malaria.

Trypanosomes – Trypanosomiasis of humans and their livestock

In 1955, Bob started to work for the Colonial Research Service at the West African Institute of Trypanosomiasis Research (WAITR) in Nigeria, and in the Field Survey Unit of the late David Godfrey. After many observations on the best methods of diagnosing infections of different trypanosomes in all manner of animals, they made a 28-day trek of 415 miles accompanied by 28 uninfected cattle from a trypanosomiasis-free area to a distant locality where this disease of livestock was of common occurrence.  Technical staff made a daily check for symptoms of infection developing in the cattle, examination of stained, thick blood films from each animal to detect possible trypanosomes, and a search for the tsetse-fly vectors of the trypanosomes. In this way the precise areas of infection-risk for livestock and humans were clearly pin-pointed.

Leishmania species, leishmaniasis and the phlebotomine sand fly vectors  

On his return from Nigeria, Bob resumed his work in the Department of Parasitology at the  LSH&TM once more principally on malaria parasites, but when Garnham ‘retired’ and  moved to the Imperial College’s premises in Ascot,  Bob soon followed his mentor and took up the position of Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology  & Applied Entomology; his grant for his work on Plasmodium species of rodents had expired and he was anxious to embark on further studies. As he was particularly fascinated by the life-cycles of digenetic parasites in their invertebrate vectors he decided to set up a closed colony of a phlebotomine sand fly [Bob was insistent that the common name should be written as two unhyphenated words] in order to follow the development of species of Leishmania in the insect host. He obtained a grant from the Wellcome Trust and paid a visit to the Instituto Evandro Chagas in Belém, Pará, Amazonian Brazil, to discuss his idea with Ralph Lainson’s group of workers who also had a Wellcome-sponsored programme to investigate the eco-epidemiology of leishmaniasis in the Amazon Region.

He was advised that the best species of sand fly with which to produce a closed self- perpetuating colony was Lutzomyia longipalpis, the major vector of American visceral leishmaniasis. Brazilian workers in the State of Minas Gerais had raised a laboratory colony of this insect for several generations and could show him where to collect specimens. Bob duly went to Belo Horizonte where he collected a large number of engorged female Lu. longipalpis from a local cave; these he took back alive to Ascot   and produced a thriving closed colony.

During this and subsequent visits to Ralph Lainson’s laboratory Bob was shown the unusual behaviour of some Amazonian species of Leishmania that undergo luxuriant multiplication while attached to the surface of the hindgut of the sand fly vector before migration of the flagellate stages to the midgut, foregut and biting mouthparts, from where they are inoculated into the skin of their vertebrate host. He also accompanied the Belém group to a transmission area of Leishmania braziliensis in primary forest, where the sand fly vectors were captured using human bait (a method now severely frowned on by WHO). Bob returned to UK not only with infected sand flies for further study but also as a patient with a lesion due to L. braziliensis – luckily successfully treated! His subsequent study of the hindgut developmental stages of L. braziliensis and L. guyanensis showed the attached forms to be principally paramastigotes, and a few promastigotes, attached to the gut wall by the insertion of the unusually short, stumpy flagellum into a crevice on the gut wall. Hemidesmosomes produced from the flagellum then securely anchor the parasite to the gut wall .  These hindgut forms were clearly not degenerate parasites, as supposed by most observers, but an integral part of the parasite’s life cycle. This finding amply warranted the decision of the Belém workers to place all neotropical Leishmania species having this hindgut development into the new subgenus Viannia Lainson & Shaw, 1985.

Leishmania, leishmaniasis and phlebotomine sand flies were to remain Bob’s major scientific interests for the rest of his life. His collaborative studies with Professor JA Rioux and his team in Montpellier on the eco-epidemiology of L. (L.) infantum and role of Phlebotomus ariasi as the vector of visceral leishmaniasis in France and neighbouring countries, resulted in a number of fascinating papers concerning the sand fly-parasite relationship, mechanism of sand fly bite transmission, ecology and wind dispersal, and the need of the sand fly vector not only to take blood but also certain types of  sugars from plants and ‘honey-dew’ from aphids. For almost thirty years, several collaborative studies with scientists working on vectors of leishmaniasis took Bob (and Mireille, with her uncanny magic in rearing the most difficult species of sandflies) to work in foci of the disease in many countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and  also in Africa, the Middle-East, Asia, and North and South America.  Finally, Bob was largely responsible for demonstrating the effectiveness of insecticide impregnated dog collars in killing or repelling sand fly vectors attempting to bite the major, canine reservoir host of L. infantum.

During the period of so-called ‘retirement,’ Bob and Mireille spent many very active and happy years in their home Sumène in the Cevennes mountains in the south of France, which they loved so much.    

As close friends since 1953, we will greatly miss Bob; and we are sure that all past students and colleagues of this remarkable man will share with us in this sad loss.

Appendix: published scientific works

Books (as editor)     

 Killick-Kendrick, R & Peters, W. (eds).  Rodent malaria.  Academic Press, London & New York, 406 pp.

Garnham, PCC & Killick-Kendrick, R (eds) (1979).  Festschrift in honour of CA Hoare FRS.  Protozoology 3, 199 pp.

Peters, W & Killick-Kendrick, R (eds) (1987).  The Leishmaniases in Biology and Medicine. 2 Vols. Academic Press, London & New York.

Killick-Kendrick, R (ed.) (1999).  Canine Leishmaniasis:  an update.  Proceedings of the International Canine Leishmaniasis Forum, Barcelona, Spain.  Wiesbaden Hoechst Roussel Vet, 103 pp.

Killick-Kendrick, R (ed.) (2002).  Canine Leishmaniasis: moving towards a solution.  Proceedings of the 2^nd International Canine Leishmaniasis Forum, Sevilla, Spain.  Boxmeer:  Intervet international, 100 pp.

Peer-reviewed papers

Of nearly 300 publications written or co-written by Bob, the following have been selected as of major interest or importance in the fields of Malaria, Trypanosomiasis, and Leishmaniasis.

Landau, I., & Killick-Kendrick, R. (1966). Rodent plasmodia of the Republique Centrafricaine:  the sporogony and tissue stages of Plasmodium chabaudi and P. berghei yoelii; Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 60: 633-649.

Krotoski, WA.,  Garnham, PCC.,Bray, RS., Krotoski, DM.,Killick-Kendrick, R., Draper, C, et al. (1982).. Observations on early and late post-sporozoite tissue stages in primate malaria.  I. Discovery of a new latent form of Plasmodium cynomolgi (the hypnozoite), and the failure to detect hepatic forms within the first 24 hours after infection.  Am J Trop Med Hyg 31: 24-35.

Godfrey, DG., Killick-Kendrick, R., Ferguson, W. (1965). Bovine trypanosomiasis in Nigeria.  IV. Observations on cattle trekked along a trade-cattle route through areas infested with tsetse fly. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 59: 255-269.

Killick-Kendrick, R.  (1968). The diagnosis of trypanosomiasis of livestock:  a review of current techniques. Vet Bull 38: 191-197

Killick-Kendrick, R (1979).  Biology of Leishmania in Phlebotomine Sandflies.  In: WHR Lumsden, DA Evans (eds).  Biology of the Kinetoplastida Vol 2 : 395-460

Killick-Kendrick, R., Rioux, JA., Bailly, M., Guy, MW., Wilkes, TJ., Guy, FFM., et al. (1984). Ecology of leishmaniasis in the South of France 20.  Dispersal of Phlebotomus ariasi Tonnoir, 1921 as a factor in the spread of visceral leishmaniasis in the Cévennes   Ann Parasitol Hum Comp 59: 555-572.

 

                                                                                           Ralph Lainson

                                                                                           John R. Baker

Boston University and the University of Warwick are organizing a conference titled “Socially Responsible Licensing: Achieving Social Equity through Voluntary Licensing” to be held at the University of Warwick’s Conference Center on November 19^th and 20^th, 2011.  The conference will examine how the needs of the developing world for access to innovation can be reconciled with the global intellectual property system, which primarily operates through patent-based monopolies and the resultant high prices.  The conference will look at policy issues, their application to healthcare, agriculture and cleantech and will look at specific case studies.  More details can be found at www.srltvl.org

 

Locum Managing Editor

(Maternity cover for a minimum of 9 months)

up to £40,000 per annum pro rata (depending on experience)

Part-time (21 hours per week)

Start date March/April 2012

RSTMH is an international development charity that promotes and advances the study, control and prevention of disease in the tropics. It plays a leading role globally in increasing awareness of advances in, and issues related to, tropical medicine and international health.

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic individual to provide maternity cover for the role of Managing Editor. The position will involve driving the development of our two peer-reviewed journals, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and International Health.

The successful candidate will have a science background, ideally with a PhD in an allied area of medical research, coupled with significant editorial experience and very strong management skills.

Based in Holborn, the post offers a salary of up to £40K pro rata together with attractive pension and holiday entitlements and the opportunity for flexible work arrangements.

Please send your CV and covering letter to the Managing Editor, Alexandra Hay alexandra.hay@rstmh.org to arrive by 5 pm on Monday 6 February 2012. Interviews will take place on Monday 13 February 2012.

Research in Progress 14 December 2011

Research in Progress was a great success and we would like to thank everybody who came along to the meeting and helped make the day so enjoyable. We were inundated with submissions this year and they were such a high calibre it made judging extremely difficult so thank you to everybody who submitted and to the judging panel for all of their time and hard work.

We are pleased to announce the 2011 prize winners below, please join us in congratulating them on their winning presentations.

Oral prize winners

1st place	Naomi Walker Imperial College	Matrix metalloproteinases drive immunopathology in TB-HIV co-infection.
2nd place	Inthira Yamabhai London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Do patents lead to higher prices? A case study of oncology medicines in Thailand.

Poster prize winners

1st place	Hector Maxwell-Scott London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Plasmodium ovale species: what’s the difference?
2nd place (joint)	Victor Mobegi London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine	Population genetic structure of Plasmodium falciparum on a transmission gradient in West Africa.
2nd place (joint)	Meghan Perry University of Dundee	Is arsenic exposure contributing to antimonial treatment failure of visceral leishmaniasis in India?
3rd place (joint)	Rosie Crane KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme	Paediatric population immunity to Haemophilus influenzae type b in Kilifi, Kenya
3rd place (joint)	Sarah Leong University of Manchester	Cloning enterovirus 71 components into modified vaccinia Ankara for use in a multi-pathogen vaccine.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very prosperous New Year.

After a recent review RSTMH has increased its subscription rates with effect from 01 April 2012. This will be the first increase since 2008 and we have done our best to keep the increase as low as possible and in-line with other similar institutions.

For your information our new 2012 fellowship rates are:

Electronic plus print access     £95

Electronic access only            £80

Low income country               £30

Student (max 3 years)              £20

Below are just a few benefits of RSTMH Fellowship;

• Our peer-reviewed journals, Transactions and International Health.
• A calendar of scientific and academic meetings across the UK throughout the year
• An educational grants programme and a range of bursaries

Should you have any queries regarding our new price structure please email us at info@rstmh.org

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine are offering a Travel Health and Expedition Medicine Course 14-18 February 2011. For more information on this exciting course please click here here

RSTMH is delighted to be the main sponsor of EuWHO, Europe's first simulation of a WHO World Health Assembly, where several hundred delegates will come together from across Europe to discuss current topics of importance in health worldwide in plenary and regional sessions from the point of view of a designated UN member state. the theme is  'the right to health and access to essential medicines and vaccines'. Regional blocks will include Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, the pharmaceutical industry and NGOs.

EuWHO is a rare and exciting opportunity for all delegates to develop key public speaking skills and contribute to a declaration that will be submitted to the WHO in Geneva. Certificates will be offered to all delegates.

Speakers will include Professor Peter Piot, Director LSHTM and past Executive Director of UNAIDS and Permanent Undersecretary of the United Nations; Professor Paul Hunt, the first Special Rapporteur on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health (2002-08); Professor Sir John Tooke, UCL Vice Provost (Health) and Head of UCL School of Life and Medical Sciences and Dr Carole Presern, Managing Director, Special Projects at the GAVI Alliance and previously Councellor at the UK Mission in Geneva and member of the UK Delegation to the World Health Assembly

For further information and to book your place on this exciting event, please visit www.rsm.ac.uk/euwho