| Louis Isaac Woolf | |
|---|---|
 Woolf in 1972 (image from the University of British Columbia Archive) | |
| Born | (1919-04-24)24 April 1919 Hackney, London |
| Died | 2021 aged 101 Vancouver, Canada |
| Education | University College London (Ph.D. 1945) |
| Known for | Work on inherited metabolic disorders, with a focus on amino acids |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Hospital for Sick Children, London; University of British Columbia, Vancouver |
Louis Isaac Woolf (born 1919 in London, England; died 2021 in Vancouver, Canada) was a British biochemist who played a crucial role in the early detection (via neonatal screening) and the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU).
Early life
Woolf was born in London, England, on 24 April 1919. He was born in Hackney, London to a Romanian Jewish family. He had 2 siblings.
Career
He studied chemistry at University College London (UCL) and was awarded a PhD in 1945. In 1947, he was awarded an Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) research fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, London, working on tyrosine metabolism in premature babies and inherited metabolic disorders, with a focus on amino acids.
Woolf believed that the metabolic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) could be treated through dietary changes, most notably a low-phenylalanine diet. At the time, the scientific consensus was that PKU was untreatable. However, the idea that it could be treated through diet was proposed by some doctors since the 1930s, shortly after the condition was first described. However, this was not easy as scientists struggled to reduce the levels of phenylalanine in food. Woolf's idea of using activated charcoal to filter phenylalanine from casein hydrolysate laid the groundwork for future dietary interventions, which he researched in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
The first successful trial of this diet involved proposing a low-phenylalanine diet as a treatment for PKU. This was done in collaboration with Horst Bickel, John W. Gerrard and other scientists in 1951. This trialled despite Woolf and others facing scepticism and professional challenges, including the belief that PKU was untreatable due to its genetic nature. The result of the trial diet on a young PKU patient led to significant clinical improvement.
In 1957, Woolf and colleagues recommended mass screening for PKU using a ferric chloride test on urine samples from newborn babies. They emphasised the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, proposing screening at 21 days after birth.
This urine test was the basis of the first commercial PKU screening test, Phenistix, which was released the next year. Phenistix was adopted in various locations, including the United Kingdom and the United States, where screening programmes which emphasise early detection and treatment were adopted. In 1966–1967, Woolf's screening methods were adopted in Spain, with a pilot program in Granada.
Woolf moved to Vancouver in 1968, where he joined the University of British Columbia and continued research on phenylalanine biochemistry and metabolic diseases. His work extended beyond PKU to include a wide range of inborn errors of metabolism.
In 1979, Woolf discussed the variants of PKU, including cases with blood concentrations of phenylalanine below typical PKU levels, and the consequences of interrupting a low-phenylalanine diet in later childhood.
Later life and death
Woolf retired in 1984, taking the title professor emeritus. He died in 2021 in Vancouver, Canada, aged 101 years old.
References
- ^ Alonso-Fernández, José Ramón (3 August 2020). "Dr. Louis Isaac Woolf: At the Forefront of Newborn Screening and the Diet to Treat Phenylketonuria—Biography to Mark His 100th Birthday". International Journal of Neonatal Screening. 6 (3): 61. doi:10.3390/ijns6030061. ISSN 2409-515X. PMC 7570388. PMID 33123638.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
- ^ "Obituary". Journal of Inherited Metabolic Disease. 44 (3): 787. May 2021. doi:10.1002/jimd.12375. ISSN 0141-8955.
- Hall, Kate; Benthe, H. F.; Haberland, G. (4 June 2021). "Louis Isaac Woolf (24 April 1919 – 7 February 2021)". The Biochemist. 43 (3): 61. doi:10.1042/bio_2021_147.
- ^ Alonso-Fernández, J R; Colón, C (December 2009). "Article Commentary: The contributions of Louis I Woolf to the treatment, early diagnosis and understanding of phenylketonuria". Journal of Medical Screening. 16 (4): 205–211. doi:10.1258/jms.2009.009062. ISSN 0969-1413. PMID 20054096.
- Green, Anne (20 March 2021). "The First Treatment for PKU: The Pioneers—Birmingham 1951". International Journal of Neonatal Screening. 7 (1): 19. doi:10.3390/ijns7010019. ISSN 2409-515X. PMC 8006244. PMID 33804699.
- Howell, R. Rodney; Sinclair, Graham (30 May 2020). "A Visit with Dr. Louis Woolf, Recognizing His 100th Birthday and His Contributions to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Phenylketonuria". International Journal of Neonatal Screening. 6 (2): 45. doi:10.3390/ijns6020045. ISSN 2409-515X. PMC 7423008. PMID 33073035.
- Sloan, Laura; Adams, John (9 November 2011). "Unsung Heroes: Role of Families in Driving Science & Health Care: Inside PKU. Newborn Screening and Genetic Testing Symposium" (PDF). Association of Public Health Laboratories.
- Kate Hall. "In Memoriam – Professor Louis Isaac Woolf". Retrieved 20 November 2023.