Allene Jeanes

Allene Rosalind Jeanes (July 19, 1906 – December 11, 1995) was an American chemical researcher, whose studies focused mainly on carbohydrates and the development of Dextran, a substance that replaced plasma in the Korean War. A member of the American Chemical Society, Jeanes published over 60 works, compiled 24 presentations, and received ten patents.

Jeanes was born July 19, 1906, in Waco, Texas to Viola (Herring) and Largus Elonzo Jeanes, a switchman and later a yardmaster for the Cotton Belt Route of the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad. In 1928, she received a bachelor's degree from Baylor University; in 1929, Jeanes obtained a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

From 1930 to 1935, Jeanes was employed as the head science teacher at Athens College in Athens, Alabama. From 1936 to 1937, she held a position as chemistry instructor at the University of Illinois. She received her PhD. in organic chemistry from University of Illinois in 1938, after working with Roger Adams.

From 1938 to 1940, Jeanes served as a corn industries research foundation fellow for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with Claude Hudson and worked at the National Bureau of Standards with Horace S. Isbell. In 1941 she joined Roy L. Whistler at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Northern Regional Research Lab (NRRL) in Peoria, Illinois as a chemical researcher. She worked there until 1976. Jeanes is credited with "a prominent role in making NRRL a world-class center for applied carbohydrate science".