409:. Throughout her career, Dyer published more than 60 articles; however, she was subject to discrimination because of her sex and because she was unmarried. For example, she was not promoted beyond an assistant professorship despite her advances in research. She retired in 1965 but kept her formal posts until 1972. After her formal retirement, she was a consultant for the NCI.
307:, the 1955 Nobel laureate in chemistry. In 1935, after receiving her Ph.D., she was hired as an assistant professor of biochemistry by her alma mater; she held this position until 1942 and taught nutrition chemistry as well as biochemistry. She was respected by her students for her breadth of knowledge. Her work at GWU included the discovery in 1938 that
417:
Goucher
College, where Dyer completed her undergraduate education, honored her with its Achievement and Service Award for Teaching and Research in 1954. Four years later, her graduate studies alma mater, George Washington University, conferred upon Dyer its Alumni Achievement Award for Biochemical
202:
Dyer was born on 26 May 1895 to
Florence Robertson Dyer (sometimes named as Mathilda Robertson Dyer) and Joseph E. Dyer in Washington, D.C. Her father owned a wholesale grocery. She had three older siblings. As a young woman, she was uninterested in science; though she took science courses in high
319:. She also showed that ethionine inhibited growth in rats. With du Vigneaud, she proved that sulfur-based amino acids could replace cystine. The pair attempted to isolate the active compounds within the posterior pituitary gland.
330:
in 1942 as one of 100 chemistry fellows in the
Nutrition and Chemical Carcinogenosis work group. She stayed there for the bulk of her career, until 1965. Her research there involved studies of
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effects of cancer and the effects of cancer proteins on their hosts. She also wrote a comprehensive index of chemotherapies used on tumors in 1949; this index was heavily used by the
439:
846:
100:
Achievement and
Service Award for Teaching and Research (Goucher College), Alumni Achievement Award for Biochemical Research in the Field of Cancer (George Washington University),
203:
school, she was an accomplished athlete. She went to
Western High School and was graduated in 1913. She credited her high school teachers for inspiring her scientific studies.
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when it developed a program of chemotherapy. The index included the history of tumor chemotherapy research and catalogued more than 5,000 therapeutic tests.
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243:. While a physiology instructor at Mt. Holyoke, she took chemistry classes to supplement her education. She received her
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during the war. She never married. Throughout her life she was involved with her church and, after her graduation from
362:. Dyer's studies with vitamin B6 included the discovery that the vitamin prevented heightened excretion of abnormal
299:
tumors. As a Ph.D. student at George
Washington University, Dyer had a job as a teaching fellow, where she studied
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315:, could not be substituted in medicine or food because it was poisonous. This discovery influenced the use of
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271:. The next year, she became a research assistant at the Pharmacologist Hygienic Lab, a subsidiary of the
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From 1965 to 1967, she was a research biochemist for the Life
Sciences Research Office of the
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in 1961 for her achievements in chemistry. In 1962, she was the recipient of the prestigious
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291:-based compounds in combating cancer, tumors, and syphilis. In 1925, she worked with
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223:, the Goucher Alumni Association. Dyer died on 20 September 1998, 103 years old.
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The Effect of Growth of Rous
Sarcoma on the Chemistry of Blood of Young Chicks
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Montaser Jafari, May (1997), Barbara S. Shearer; Benjamin F. Shearer (eds.),
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on an ultimately unpublished study of the growth patterns and growth rate of
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The former
Western High School building in Washington, D.C., now houses the
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agents and discovered that heavy metals in the compounds reacted with
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With only a bachelor's degree, in 1919, Dyer became an instructor in
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239:, where she had received a scholarship. She also earned a minor in
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Notable Women in the
Physical Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary
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358:. She was the first chemist to create the antimetabolite of an
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Research in the Field of Cancer. Goucher College conferred an
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Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
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Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
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American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
390:. Dyer's other work at the institute also included the
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researcher. Her main work concerned the mechanism of
80:(B.A.), George Washington University (M.S. and Ph.D.)
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American Association for the Advancement of Sciences
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to cause toxicity. She also studied the efficacy of
174:(May 26, 1895 – September 20, 1998) was an American
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207:caused her to abandon her plans of teaching in
764:International Encyclopedia of Women Scientists
713:Milite, George (1999), Proffit, Pamela (ed.),
426:, given to outstanding female chemists by the
847:Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni
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622:
452:Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
8:
791:Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science
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436:American Association for Cancer Research
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247:degree in biochemistry in 1929 and her
852:20th-century American women scientists
663:
591:
572:
7:
794:, Taylor & Francis US, pp.
251:in biochemistry in 1935, both from
14:
636:Duke Ellington School of the Arts
442:, the American Chemical Society,
405:. Her work there was used by the
340:acetyl-beta-methycholine chloride
837:Scientists from Washington, D.C.
338:and the carcinogenic effects of
407:Environmental Protection Agency
370:, in animals that consumed the
346:. Her later research concerned
16:American biochemist (1895-1998)
857:20th-century American chemists
481:"HELEN MARIE DYER DIES AT 103"
434:, where she was a fellow, the
211:, instead, she worked for the
1:
761:Oakes, Elizabeth H. (2002),
253:George Washington University
136:George Washington University
862:American women centenarians
767:, New York: Facts On File,
231:In 1917, Dyer received her
104:(American Chemical Society)
883:
832:American women biochemists
273:U.S. Public Health Service
132:U.S. Public Health Service
867:Graduate Women in Science
647:Ogilvie & Harvey 2000
623:Ogilvie & Harvey 2000
428:American Chemical Society
396:National Cancer Institute
324:National Cancer Institute
165:
140:National Cancer Institute
108:
719:Notable Women Scientists
217:Civil Service Commission
366:metabolites, including
235:degree in biology from
186:; she also worked with
842:Goucher College alumni
376:N-2-fluorenylacetamide
322:Dyer was hired by the
454:. She was elected to
344:histamine diphosphate
697:Montaser Jafari 1997
676:Montaser Jafari 1997
548:Montaser Jafari 1997
521:Montaser Jafari 1997
444:Sigma Delta Epsilon
305:Vincent du Vigneaud
269:Mt. Holyoke College
128:Mt. Holyoke College
420:honorary doctorate
53:September 20, 1998
424:Garvan-Olin Medal
311:, an analogue of
259:Scientific career
245:Master of Science
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110:Scientific career
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782:Ogilvie, Marilyn
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277:chemotherapeutic
233:Bachelor of Arts
172:Helen Marie Dyer
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60:Washington, D.C.
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43:Washington, D.C.
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496:. Retrieved
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354:, an animal
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124:Institutions
119:biochemistry
109:
102:Garvan Medal
55:(1998-09-20)
39:May 26, 1895
827:1998 deaths
822:1895 births
786:Harvey, Joy
664:Milite 1999
592:Milite 1999
382:present in
374:carcinogen
317:sulfa drugs
287:-based and
205:World War I
88:studies of
66:Citizenship
816:Categories
707:References
573:Oakes 2002
498:2023-11-03
462:References
450:, and the
386:and liver
364:tryptophan
360:amino acid
356:carcinogen
348:vitamin B6
313:methionine
265:physiology
241:physiology
188:metabolism
176:biochemist
92:mechanisms
35:1895-05-26
23:Helen Dyer
493:0190-8286
467:Citations
458:in 1972.
309:ethionine
227:Education
213:Red Cross
192:nutrition
788:(2000),
448:Sigma Xi
350:and its
796:391–392
380:enzymes
285:arsenic
802:
771:
751:
725:
491:
438:, the
413:Honors
388:tumors
301:sulfur
281:thiols
180:cancer
160:(1935)
158:
151:Thesis
116:Fields
97:Awards
745:76–79
372:liver
249:Ph.D.
209:China
800:ISBN
769:ISBN
749:ISBN
723:ISBN
489:ISSN
342:and
336:dogs
289:lead
215:and
198:Life
190:and
178:and
50:Died
29:Born
334:in
326:'s
297:rat
267:at
818::
798:,
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747:,
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483:.
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33:(
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