Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Noel Warner Ph.D.

2023; Wiley; Volume: 104; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/cyto.b.22112

1552-4957

Frederic I. Preffer, Jack Dunne, Diether Recktenwald, Andrew Blidy, Lewis L. Lanier, Joe William Trotter, Michael J. Daley,

Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics

Noel Warner Ph.D. This past year the flow cytometry community lost a hero and intellectual giant in our field. Dr. Noel Warner passed peacefully on April 28, 2022. His family, friends and colleagues celebrated his life in his home, and we and many others all continue his work. Noel may certainly be considered among one of the pioneers that brought flow cytometry to both the research and clinical communities. While many people contributed to this written appreciation, we will also identify those whose personal recollections merit specific identification. As an example of Noel's ‘long reach,’ when I arrived [F.P.] at Massachusetts General Hospital as a post-doc in 1982, I quickly heard of Noel's impressive scientific expertise and leadership from both Janis Giorgi and Jerome Zawadski, both of whom I met as we were then all working at the same institution. Both Janis and Jerome previously worked with Noel at the University of New Mexico [UNM], prior to Noel's involvement with Becton-Dickinson [BD]. I always acknowledged Jerome as the individual who ‘introduced’ me to flow cytometry those many years ago, and as the catalyst for what became my professional career. Jerome worked as a volunteer undergraduate student at UNM directly with Noel which ‘…gave me a connection’ to Noel upon my finally meeting him in person, in subsequent years. After meeting Noel I realized if anything, he was far more impressive than the glowing impressions that Jerome and Janis imparted to me! [from J.D.] Noel surfaced as a dedicated and skilled immunologist in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Sir Macfarlane Burnett in Australia, concerned with the genetic and cellular nature of antibody development. He ran a groundbreaking lab of his own at UNM, where he and his several brilliant graduate students and postdoctoral fellows developed the notion of B-cells (per a personal communication from Lee Herzenberg, the very discovery of the “B-cell” comes from Noel and Max Cooper). Noel's pioneering spirit is exemplified by his next move, leaving academia at UNM to establish the BD Monoclonal Center in Mountain View, CA. In parallel with others, principally Len Herzenberg at Stanford and Bernie Shoor at BD, Noel championed BD's investment in flow cytometry, and the synergy of these two technologies is the story of our community. If this was all that Noel did, that would be sufficient, but in fact his work had just begun. The vast portfolio of BD monoclonal reagents, their chemistries, quality and related molecular biology did not happen by chance. Noel's hand, heart and durable curiosity drove the continuous development of these extraordinary tools that many of us at the present time take for granted. In a world often prioritized by market value, he made sure that what was made was well understood and appreciated. Maybe it would have all happened without him, but maybe not so relentlessly. And he was genuine; Noel knew and respected his colleagues and their work. Leading by example, never coercion, he made our world better place, and he is missed. [from D.R.] Noel provided me the support and the environment (e.g. coworkers, laboratory and budget) to perform independent research and development at BD. As the manager of the physical sciences laboratory, this gave me the means (with the support from outside collaborations some of which Noel initiated) to show the feasibility for commercial products. For BD's reagent products my group with Chia Huei Chen and John Kimura contributed to phycobiliprotein use, tandem conjugates and the peridinin chlorophyll protein for multicolor fluorescence analysis, demonstrating a selection of dyes for six-color immunofluorescence with single-laser excitation. For a reticulocyte counting product Linda Lee developed a new dye, Thiazole Orange. This work became the basis for numerous related dyes developed by Linda and several other outside groups. For BD's instrument products Brian Woodhouse showed the superior performance of fluorescence excitation with low-power argon ion lasers, leading to the development of the FACScan rather than developing an improved mercury arc- based version of the FACSAnalyzer. For the software product line, Morgan Conrad developed the Paint-a-Gate software, which along with management support by Noel and Tom Reichert became a product in record time. All of this was only possible with Noel managing his scientists like academic groups, delegating decisions widely but demanding excellent science approaches for the work. The group he had put together, with Lewis Lanier, Mike Loken, Skip Maino, David Buck, Ann Jackson, myself and others also provided the environment to discuss new ideas and their value for the field. In addition to being a leader, who set high standards but facilitated independent work, Noel also demonstrated great generosity. I remember supporting him as an early BD scientist during an immunology course at a NY state university with running the FACSAnalyzer flow cytometer for the course. He shared 50% of his honorarium with me. Many years later, after I did not work with him directly, we traveled together by air from San Jose to a meeting with a San Diego company. When I checked into the airport, I found out that he had upgraded my ticket to first class with his accumulated miles. In summary, Noel was the perfect leader for the start-up intrapreneurial research group of BD, leading to rapid progress and a leadership position for BD in immunocytometry, including flow cytometry. [from A.B.] I had the privilege of working with Noel L. Warner daily for many years at BD; Noel put together the BD Monoclonal Center team, which consisted of Lewis L. Lanier, Joe Phillips, Diether Recktenwald, Anne Jackson, Skip Maino, Mike Loken, Dave Buck, Chuck Metzler, Betty Evans and Vernon Oi. My particular lab's function was to label monoclonal antibodies with a variety of fluorochromes, tandems and biotin for subsequent manufacturing. Anne Jackson had the responsibility of monoclonal antibody evaluation; if a product or system/software was going to the scientific community it was going through Anne Jackson for verification and validation. Anne was the ‘Queen of Quality’ at BDMC and Noel's prescient perspective was that if it is good enough for Anne it was good enough for the rest of the world! Noel worked so hard all the time, which had a way of challenging the team, such that we did not want to let him down. The tools of his trade were our instruments, software and monoclonal antibodies, although Noel's passion was the science of Immunology. Under his leadership, we made scores of inroads and breakthroughs in the understanding of T & NK cell immunobiology, stem cells and dendritic cells, which were directed towards our greater understanding of HIV, hematopoietic malignancies and autoimmunity. These diseases were addressed with immunotherapies and opened the doors to contemporary practices using bone marrow transplantation. Scores of products that BD commercialized that were realized under his leadership. But ultimately to me he was a mentor; I will never forget his kindness when my Dad died in 1984. Rest in peace, Noel. Thank you for all you done for mankind, myself, and my family. [from L.L.] When I completed my Ph.D. studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and was considering postdoctoral studies, I asked my mentor Geoff Haughton, “..who is doing the most innovative work in immunology?” Without hesitation he told me to ask Noel Warner to join his lab at UNM, ground zero for flow cytometry research. Noel had the first NIH contract to produce and supply NIH monoclonal antibodies to the research community, a technology that had just recently been invented by C. Milstein when I was a graduate student. When I was finishing my postdoctoral work with Noel, he offered me the opportunity to join him as a senior scientist at the BD Monoclonal Center, where he was the founding Director. At that time, none of the top postdocs went to industry and biotech was just emerging, but I trusted Noel. First-rate science was always Noel's priority. I truly owe my scientific success to his support to my quest to explore and define Natural Killer cells, which at the time were not acknowledged to be a distinct type of lymphocyte with important functions. I was honored to introduce Noel, when he was given the FOCIS award at the annual meeting for his contributions to human immunology. He has touched and advanced the careers of so many scientists, including mine, over many decades and he is truly missed by all. [from M.D.] Many knew Noel as a scientist and leader. I will let others speak and pay approbations of these accomplishments, but I would rather reflect on my personal relationship with him as my mentor and friend. I was Noel's graduate student at the UNM in the Pathology Department. Somehow, I survived the four years traveling from Albuquerque to Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories (LASL, predecessor to LANL) in Noel's 1972 Dodge Polara station wagon with bald tires along the roads, canyons, and hills of the mesa of northern New Mexico. This was even further exacerbated by the fact that Noel thought he was back driving his beloved Jaguar he left behind in Australia. But this was the price to pay when you are among the first immunologists to have access to this new incredible machine perfected out of the laboratories of Los Alamos, the Florescence Activated Cell Sorter (FACS). Noel was a virtual encyclopedia of scientific knowledge, a virtual Google search engine of today but long before the internet or Siri. Noel never seemed to forget anything, and you were always reminded of this at your bi-weekly project review. He had an uncanny ability to synthesize and integrate broad concepts into new creative thinking (his or yours), but with constant questioning, reformulating, and challenging any hypothesis proposed. Data was the only way to appease Noel (some affectionately called him “Data the Hut” after the Star Wars character) and he reveled in it. As an advisor he was a role model, exemplifying a genuinely caring, sincere, and understanding human being, always stalwart and dignified but with an undertone of warmth and gentleness with that boyish koala smile. As a graduate student I was blessed with getting to know the entire Warner family; his wife Pam and children Galen, Scott and Grant, and I frequently got to baby-sit their children, should Noel and Pam go off on a brief trip for a few days. Thus, I had the opportunity to also see Noel as a father and husband outside the laboratory, as well as appreciate on a small scale, the challenges he often faced daily with such humility. The closest you'd ever hear Noel come to swear in frustration was his declaration of “Good God!” with his proper Australian/English accent when surprised by some revelation or disappointment. He was a truly committed husband and father, and when Grant and then Pam died, a part of Noel died with them. Pam and Noel had been planning for his retirement for almost five years (after each of his three presumed retirements) and the plan included prolonged (maybe years) trips to Europe with a special emphasis on France, Pam's ‘second’ love. Throughout the years Noel continued to teach me many lessons about family, leadership, integrity and an insatiable passion to search for the scientific truth. However, Noel's greatest gift to me was in his final days. When his daughter Galen called me to tell me Noel was going into hospice, I was on the next flight to San Francisco. I stayed at the Warner home in Noel's former office and when I awoke the next morning I looked down at the bookshelf, and there was Noel's PhD dissertation and three books over on the same shelf was mine. Noel died that afternoon with Galen holding one hand and I the other, a moment I will always remember. Noel and Pam never got to spend that extended retirement and visit Paris again, and therein was Noel's final lesson to me… no matter what I do professionally or how much money I accumulate or how much I love my family, I will never, ever have enough time. I only hope to live as good and productive life as Noel, and I not waste even a minute of whatever time I have remaining. ‘Good God’ take care of him… and thank you Noel!