Dr. James Thomas Grace
Dr. James Thomas Grace (RPMI) |
Cancer Researcher
Notes:
• He is listed with a "Jr." after his name, so we presume his father has the same name and he also had a son with the name of James Thomas Grace (1953 - 1955) - Editor's Note
• Married Betty Bryant Thornton Grace Nov. 17, 1851 in Madison County, Alabama. She was born June 3, 1928 in Huntsville, Alabama and died March 9, 1970 in Buffalo, New York. She is also buried in Maple Hill Cemetery. - MCRC & Find A Grave
• He was the director of Roswell Park Memorial Institute, "the world's oldest in situation dealing primarily with cancer research, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Founded in Buffalo. New York, it is now one of the world's most comprehensive cancer centers, devoted to treatment, research, and education. It is directed by the New York State Health Department within the confines of the University of Buffalo Medical School.
When a grant of $7,500 was first requested in 1897 for the establishment of a 'cancer laboratory,' the plans were vetoed by the state governor, although the legislature had sanctioned it. With the persuasive efforts of two determined men - "Dr. Roswell Park, for whom the institution was eventually named, and Edward H. Butler, Sr., an influential newspaper publisher - a bill was finally passed in 1898 for maintenance of the laboratory.
Since that time, RPMI has grown into a multimillion-dollar operation. Included among its facilities are a 316-bed hospital and many well-equipped cancer research laboratories. There are 2,200 employees in all at RPMI." - RPMI
• "Surgeon Fired by Son's Death Finds Virus May Cause Cancer
ATLANTIC CITY, Sept. 28 - When Dr. James T. Grace Jr. watched his two-year old son die of leukemia in1955, the medical part of his mind thought of one thing: infection. Healthy, playful one day, the child's temperature shot up to 105 degrees the next; his glands swelled; he became toxic and in a few months he was dead. So Dr. Grace gave up his private practice of surgery in Nashville, Tenn., and set out to discover if leukemia, the blood cancer that killed James T. Grace 3d, was caused by a germ -- a virus perhaps. He moved to the Roswell Park Cancer Research Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. Today Dr. Grace told the American College of Surgeons' annual meeting here that he has evidence that not only leukemia but other human cancers as well may be caused by an infectious agent.
By grinding up malignant cancers cut from leukemia and other cancer victims, Dr. Grace and his Buffalo colleagues have infected mice with the human disease. They are first to do it on a large scale. Their evidence suggests but does not prove that a virus may be the culprit in the human ailment in the same way that the viruses caused the disease in animals. It is an infection, however, it is a strange kind of infection: you have to get it before or soon after birth.
So important do scientists consider the new finding that $500,000 has been obtained to narrow the search for the cancer-causing agent. Twenty-five scientists and technicians now work with thousands of mice, hamsters and monkeys.
And the virus work now dominates a new building at the Buffalo institute. Telling the story to his fellow surgeons, Dr. Grace said that many cancers in mice, rabbits and other species can be brought on by viruses. These ultramicroscopic bundles of chemicals, which in some forms are responsible for polio, colds and a host of other diseases, usually can be recovered from the growing animal cancer. Injected into another animal, the viruses caused the malignant disease there. About three years ago, Dr. Grace discovered a chemical difference between normal human tissue and cancer tissue. Dr. Grace's mind again turned to infection with viruses as a possibility. Why not try infecting mice with human cancers? Other scientists were able to do this by blasting the mice with X-rays or chemicals and then transplanting a lump of cancer flesh. There was only the one doubtful case on record of a virus recovery from a human being.
Dr. Grace then recalled the experiments of Dr. Ludwig Gross of the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. Dr. Gross could transfer a virus cancer from mouse to mouse by injecting cancer extracts -- not lumps of tissue -- into the new-born animal, a creature literally as big as a peanut. Dr. Grace decided to try it with extracts of human cancer. First he ground up human cancer tissue removed at surgery. Next he extracted the solid matter and all cells. To make sure there was no solid matter left, he filtered the extract.
Only a virus or a non-living chemical could slip through the filter's fine pores. He injected about 1,000 new-born mice and waited for cancers. The mice injected with the filtered extracts of living cancer did develop cancer, particularly pregnant mice most of the diseased mice developed malignant breast growths. What is Dr. Grace looking for now? He and his colleagues, Dr. J.A. DiPaolo, Dr. E.A. Mirand, both Ph.D.'s, and J.R. Haas want to identify the virus or viruses precisely.
They want to grow the virus in test tubes. But there is a danger in that procedure. A virulent form of the virus could in principle infect the workers. 'We've turned our laboratory into Fort Knox,' Dr. Grace said at an interview. 'You can't get in and out without taking a shower. We've already increased the deadliness of the virus so that it produces cancer in mice in seven days rather than forty.
This was done by transferring it from animal to animal. And eventually Dr. Grace looks toward making a preventive vaccine against disease. This can be done either with a killed virus, with the Salk technique, or with a weakened cancer virus. It's a long way to go Dr. Grace admits, but he never again wants to watch a child die of leukemia.'" - Shinley
• "On Walter Cronkite T. V. Show, 1969; Cancer Research." - Distinction
Related Links:
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Distinction
| Nickname: | Jim |
| Born: | July 16, 1923, Alabama |
| Died: | August 13, 1971, Buffalo, New York |
| Buried: | Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville, Alabama |
Notes:
• He is listed with a "Jr." after his name, so we presume his father has the same name and he also had a son with the name of James Thomas Grace (1953 - 1955) - Editor's Note
• Married Betty Bryant Thornton Grace Nov. 17, 1851 in Madison County, Alabama. She was born June 3, 1928 in Huntsville, Alabama and died March 9, 1970 in Buffalo, New York. She is also buried in Maple Hill Cemetery. - MCRC & Find A Grave
• He was the director of Roswell Park Memorial Institute, "the world's oldest in situation dealing primarily with cancer research, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Founded in Buffalo. New York, it is now one of the world's most comprehensive cancer centers, devoted to treatment, research, and education. It is directed by the New York State Health Department within the confines of the University of Buffalo Medical School.
When a grant of $7,500 was first requested in 1897 for the establishment of a 'cancer laboratory,' the plans were vetoed by the state governor, although the legislature had sanctioned it. With the persuasive efforts of two determined men - "Dr. Roswell Park, for whom the institution was eventually named, and Edward H. Butler, Sr., an influential newspaper publisher - a bill was finally passed in 1898 for maintenance of the laboratory.
Since that time, RPMI has grown into a multimillion-dollar operation. Included among its facilities are a 316-bed hospital and many well-equipped cancer research laboratories. There are 2,200 employees in all at RPMI." - RPMI
• "Surgeon Fired by Son's Death Finds Virus May Cause Cancer
ATLANTIC CITY, Sept. 28 - When Dr. James T. Grace Jr. watched his two-year old son die of leukemia in1955, the medical part of his mind thought of one thing: infection. Healthy, playful one day, the child's temperature shot up to 105 degrees the next; his glands swelled; he became toxic and in a few months he was dead. So Dr. Grace gave up his private practice of surgery in Nashville, Tenn., and set out to discover if leukemia, the blood cancer that killed James T. Grace 3d, was caused by a germ -- a virus perhaps. He moved to the Roswell Park Cancer Research Institute in Buffalo, N.Y. Today Dr. Grace told the American College of Surgeons' annual meeting here that he has evidence that not only leukemia but other human cancers as well may be caused by an infectious agent.
By grinding up malignant cancers cut from leukemia and other cancer victims, Dr. Grace and his Buffalo colleagues have infected mice with the human disease. They are first to do it on a large scale. Their evidence suggests but does not prove that a virus may be the culprit in the human ailment in the same way that the viruses caused the disease in animals. It is an infection, however, it is a strange kind of infection: you have to get it before or soon after birth.
So important do scientists consider the new finding that $500,000 has been obtained to narrow the search for the cancer-causing agent. Twenty-five scientists and technicians now work with thousands of mice, hamsters and monkeys.
And the virus work now dominates a new building at the Buffalo institute. Telling the story to his fellow surgeons, Dr. Grace said that many cancers in mice, rabbits and other species can be brought on by viruses. These ultramicroscopic bundles of chemicals, which in some forms are responsible for polio, colds and a host of other diseases, usually can be recovered from the growing animal cancer. Injected into another animal, the viruses caused the malignant disease there. About three years ago, Dr. Grace discovered a chemical difference between normal human tissue and cancer tissue. Dr. Grace's mind again turned to infection with viruses as a possibility. Why not try infecting mice with human cancers? Other scientists were able to do this by blasting the mice with X-rays or chemicals and then transplanting a lump of cancer flesh. There was only the one doubtful case on record of a virus recovery from a human being.
Dr. Grace then recalled the experiments of Dr. Ludwig Gross of the Veterans Administration Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. Dr. Gross could transfer a virus cancer from mouse to mouse by injecting cancer extracts -- not lumps of tissue -- into the new-born animal, a creature literally as big as a peanut. Dr. Grace decided to try it with extracts of human cancer. First he ground up human cancer tissue removed at surgery. Next he extracted the solid matter and all cells. To make sure there was no solid matter left, he filtered the extract.
Only a virus or a non-living chemical could slip through the filter's fine pores. He injected about 1,000 new-born mice and waited for cancers. The mice injected with the filtered extracts of living cancer did develop cancer, particularly pregnant mice most of the diseased mice developed malignant breast growths. What is Dr. Grace looking for now? He and his colleagues, Dr. J.A. DiPaolo, Dr. E.A. Mirand, both Ph.D.'s, and J.R. Haas want to identify the virus or viruses precisely.
They want to grow the virus in test tubes. But there is a danger in that procedure. A virulent form of the virus could in principle infect the workers. 'We've turned our laboratory into Fort Knox,' Dr. Grace said at an interview. 'You can't get in and out without taking a shower. We've already increased the deadliness of the virus so that it produces cancer in mice in seven days rather than forty.
This was done by transferring it from animal to animal. And eventually Dr. Grace looks toward making a preventive vaccine against disease. This can be done either with a killed virus, with the Salk technique, or with a weakened cancer virus. It's a long way to go Dr. Grace admits, but he never again wants to watch a child die of leukemia.'" - Shinley
• "On Walter Cronkite T. V. Show, 1969; Cancer Research." - Distinction
Related Links:
• Ancestry.com - Page owned by ChristyDayDeupree and can be viewed only with an Ancestry.com paid subscription. (Originally found at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/2037012/person/-1321989343.)
• Cronkite - Articled about the CBS, Walter Cronkite program mentioning Dr. James T. Grace for in Schenectady Gazette, Feb. 1, 1969.
• Distinction - Listing of "Madison Countians of Distinction" in A Dream Come True: The Story of Madison County and Incidentially of Alabama and the United States, Volume I, by James Record, 1970, page 343.
• Find A Grave - Page created by Heather.
• MCRC - Madison County Records Center, marriage
• RPMI - Roswell Park Memorial Institute.
• Shinley - Jerry Shinley posted a New York Herald Tribune (Sept. 29, 1959) article in a news group with notations and references to his book. (Search the page for "Shinley".)
The Following Pages Link to this Page:
• Distinction