Leone Norwood Farrell was a Canadian biochemist and microbiologist who identified microbial strains of industrial importance and developed innovative techniques for the manufacture of vaccines and antibiotics. Her inventions enabled the mass production of the polio vaccine.
Early life and education
Farrell was born in Monkland, Ontario in 1904 and moved to Toronto as a child. She completed her MA on the chemistry of fermentation in 1929 at the University of Toronto. She obtained a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1933, which was rare for women at the time.
Research
Farrell studied yeasts found in honey at the National Research Council of Canada and worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine following her PhD. She was recruited to Toronto's Connaught Research Laboratories in 1934. At Connaught, she worked on a team focused on developing toxoid vaccines for staphylococcus. Upon turning her attention to the pertussis vaccine, she developed a method of rocking bacterial cultures to stimulate growth of the bacteria and increase yield. She began studying dysenterytoxin in 1941 for use as a vaccine due to the wartime rise in infections. In 1943, Connaught undertook a research program to increase penicillin production for the war effort and Farrell identified a strain of penicillium that allowed increased yield of antibiotic. Following the war, she continued her efforts to improve penicillin production. In 1953, she and her team undertook the challenging task of producing live virus for the polio vaccine in bulk quantities. After months of experimentation, she adapted her rocking method to greatly increase the yield of live virus. The live polio virus was then shipped to the United States to be killed for use in Jonas Salk's field trials, as the Toronto team was the only one that could produce the virus in large enough quantities. She retired in 1969. Her colleagues describe her as "a very serious person" possessed of "knowledge and mental fertility"; "She was a classic researcher and disciplined in her work to the extent that she knew you laid out a plan and followed it carefully for things to get done."
Personal life
Farrell was remembered as 'very much a lady' by her colleagues and as "a thoroughly charming and pleasant person" by her family. She lived by herself and died in hospital in the presence of family in 1986.
