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A scientific odyssey: unravelling the secrets of the thymus

Jacques FA Miller
Med J Aust 2005; 183 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb00041.x
Published online: 5 December 2005

My early research career has benefited greatly from chance and the right environment. It was not my intention to solve major problems in my postgraduate studies. I was simply interested in the possibility that a virus, discovered by Ludwik Gross in the United States, was involved in the pathogenesis of mouse leukaemia. Although I had no plans to work on immunological problems, I was very much influenced by lectures given by two giants in medical research — Peter Medawar (who, along with Macfarlane Burnet, was awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine for their contributions to immunology) and James Gowans (who was Professor of Experimental Pathology at Oxford). Both were responsible for elucidating the phenomenon of immunological tolerance and the function of recirculating small lymphocytes. Their expositions helped me greatly in my subsequent work on the immune system.


  • Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: 

  • 1. Miller JFAP. Analysis of the thymus influence in leukaemogenesis. Nature 1961; 191: 248-249.
  • 2. Miller JFAP. Immunological function of the thymus. Lancet 1961; 2: 748-749.
  • 3. Miller JFAP. Effect of neonatal thymectomy on the immunological responsiveness of the mouse. Proc Roy Soc 1962; 156B: 415-428.
  • 4. Miller JFAP. Immunological significance of the thymus of the adult mouse. Nature 1962; 195: 1318-1319.
  • 5. McIntire KR, Sell S, Miller JFAP. Pathogenesis of the post-neonatal thymectomy wasting syndrome. Nature 1964; 204: 151-155.
  • 6. Miller JFAP, Mitchell GF. The thymus and the precursors of antigen-reactive cells. Nature 1967; 216: 659-663.
  • 7. Mitchell GF, Miller JFAP. Immunological activity of thymus and thoracic duct lymphocytes. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 1968; 59: 296-303.
  • 8. Miller JFAP, Mitchell GF. Cell to cell interaction in the immune response. I. Hemolysin-forming cells in neonatally thymectomized mice reconstituted with thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes. J Exp Med 1968; 128: 801-820.
  • 9. Mitchell GF, Miller JFAP. Cell to cell interaction in the immune response. II. The source of hemolysin-forming cells in irradiated mice given bone marrow and thymus or thoracic duct lymphocytes. J Exp Med 1968; 128: 821-837.
  • 10. Burnet FM. Genes, dreams and realities. Oxford: Medical Technical Publishing, 1971.
  • 11. Popper KR. Conjectures and refutations. The growth of scientific knowledge. 4th ed. London: Routledge, 1972.

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