Margaret Reed Lewis
| Margaret Reed Lewis | |
|---|---|
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Lewis, c. 1936
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| Born |
November 9, 1881 Kittanning, Pennsylvania |
| Died | July 20, 1970 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Cell biology, embryology |
| Alma mater | Goucher College |
| Spouse | Warren Harmon Lewis |
Margaret Adaline Reed Lewis (1881–1970) was an American cell biologist and embryologist who made contributions to cancer research and cell culture techniques, and was likely the first person to successfully grow mammalian tissue in vitro. She authored around 150 papers, many co-authored with her husband Warren Harmon Lewis. The Lewises developed a growth medium called the Locke-Lewis solution and jointly received the Gerhard Gold Medal from the Pathological Society of Philadelphia.
Margaret Adaline Reed was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, on November 9, 1881, to parents Joseph C. and Martha A. (Walker) Reed. From 1897 to 1901 she attended Goucher College (then known as Woman's College of Baltimore), where she earned an A.B. After graduation she studied at Bryn Mawr College, Columbia University, and the Universities of Zurich, Paris, and Berlin, but never earned a graduate degree. At Bryn Mawr and Columbia she researched regeneration in amphibians and crayfish, and assisted noted embryologist Thomas Hunt Morgan.
In 1908, Margaret Reed researched in Berlin in Max Hartmann’s lab where she performed probably the first in vitro mammalian cell culture with guinea pig bone marrow by explanting the bone marrow and placing it into a nutrient-rich agar produced by fellow lab researcher Rhoda Erdmann and incubating the sample. A few days after doing so, she found that some of the nuclei exhibited characteristics of mitosis. This discovery was revisited by Margaret Reed after she married Warren Lewis, in 1910. In their combined efforts, the Lewises found that cell proliferation with their media selection and methods seemed only to occur in tissues common to all organs, such as connective tissue and blood vessel endothelium. Since the Lewises main interest was microscopic cell structures, their objective was to create optically clear media, which led to the creation of the Locke-Lewis solution. This medium is composed of salt solutions supplemented with bouillon and dextrose. The tissue grown in this medium was prepared in a method that become known as the “Lewis Culture” where the tissue bits were put into a hanging drop on the underside of a thin glass slip. In the Locke-Lewis solution, the more robust cells, such as fibroblasts and macrophages, had a tendency to migrate out of the explant and flatten, making them easy to observe under high magnifications.
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