Lady Julia Gwynaeth Bodmer was a British geneticist and trained economist.
Education
Born Julia Pilkington in Manchester, she was educated at Manchester High School for Girls where she became head prefect. She met her future husband Walter Bodmer while they were both still at school and they married after graduation in 1956, after which she moved to Cambridge while he completed his doctorate.
Career
Playing a key role in the discovery and definition of the human leukocyte antigen (Human Leucocyte Antigens) system of genetic markers, Bodmer became one of the world"s leading experts in Human Leucocyte Antigens serology and the genetic definition of the Human Leucocyte Antigens system. A prominent figure in the field of immunogenetics, her discoveries helped the understanding and development of knowledge about Human Leucocyte Antigens associations with diseases including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and cancer. The couple had three children.
From 1956-1959, Bodmer held a position as statistical assistant to the economist West. B. Reddaway at the University of Cambridge.
During this time, she worked on tissue typing and laid the basis for one of the first two genes of the Human Leucocyte Antigens system. In 1970, the family returned to England and Sir Walter took up the Chair of Genetics at Oxford University.
Julia was appointed Research Officer in the Genetics Laboratory where she continued with her work on Human Leucocyte Antigens disease associations and the population distribution of the Human Leucocyte Antigens types. She was responsible for highlighting the association between Human Leucocyte Antigens type and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and akylosing spondylitis in women, and helped establish the immunological basis of these diseases.
In 1979, the Bodmers moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (Imperial Cancer Research Fund) in London, where Sir Walter became Director.
Julia had now established an international reputation, and now a professor she headed the Tissue Antigen Laboratory at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. During this period she was able to extend her work, making significant contributions to the genetics of Hodgkin"s disease, Burkitt"s lymphoma and testicular cancer. As a consequence of her work at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund she was able to contribute to the identification of the first testicular cancer susceptibility gene. The Bodmers jointly founded a new laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Medicine where they worked on genetic variation in human populations.
She also played an active role in the World Health Organization (World Health Organization) Nomenclature Committee.
She also spent time encouraging and welcoming new scientists to the field of Immunogenetics in her labs both in London at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, and later in Oxford.