June Almeida, Virus Detective! by Suzanne Slade

June  lived in Glasgow, Scotland with her parents and her younger brother, Harry who was just a baby. June loved school because she loved learning. Science was her favourite subject and she loved to share what she learns with her parents and Harry. When June was ten years old, Harry became very sick and died. It was a difficult time for June and her family.

As she grew older, June's passion for science grew. June loved to read science fiction and her easy manner helped her gain many friends. She loved to photograph nature, having a keen eye for details. Unfortunately June's dream of attending university to study science was just a dream. Her family could not afford to send her to school and so she left her studies at age sixteen to help her family financially. 

Instead she got a job in a hospital lab where she used a microscope to examine samples from hospital patients. When her family moved to London, England, June found another job in a hospital lab. In London, she met her husband, Henry. After they married, June and Henry decided to emigrate to Toronto, Canada where she was hired to work in a new research lab. In this lab, June began working with an electron microscope that magnified samples 25,000 X . An electron microscope uses a beam of

electrons to view samples. It is able to create very detailed pictures based on how the electrons behave when they hit the sample. June hoped to obtain clearer images of what she was researching.

To do this she decided to use the electron microscope to take images of viruses surrounded by antibodies. 

In 1960, June gave birth to a baby girl and then eventually returned to her research as well as authoring papers. This led to a job offer from a scientist at a hospital in London, England, so they returned to the city. 

A researcher named David Tyrell asked June if she could investigate what seemed to be a new virus that had given a boy a very bad cold. Using a technique called negative staining to prepare the virus sample, June then put it into the electron microscope. The virus was different from any she'd seen before with tiny dots around it. This virus was similar looking to two other viruses she'd seen from animal samples. June's paper on these viruses years ago had been dismissed, but her work confirmed the existence of a new virus. June and the other doctors decided to call the virus a corona virus because of the crown of dots surrounding it.

Henry wanted to return to Canada but June did not want to give up her work in London. They divorced and June continued working on many different viruses. Her work allowed doctors to develop medicines to help people sick from certain viruses. After retiring from her research, June continued to learn, teaching herself to play the flute and to use a digital camera. 

Discussion

June Almeida, Virus Detective is a timely picture book given the Covid-19 pandemic. June Almeida is virtually unknown, yet she was an accomplished woman researcher and scientist who discovered a new family of viruses, the corona virus. However, SARS, MERS and Covid have all made people across the globe more aware of corona viruses and the severe illness they can cause. It was June Almeida who laid the groundwork for research into these unusual viruses.

June Hart was born in 1930 to Jane and Harry Hart in Glasgow, Scotland. June's younger brother died of diphtheria when he was six years old. June was ten and his death drew June into an interest in science and medicine. June was a good student, passionate enough about science that she won the science prize at Whitehall School. Because she couldn't afford to continue on, June left school at sixteen to work. She trained as a laboratory technician at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. During her time there, she was also able to complete further technical certification. 

June moved to London in 1952 when she was twenty-two years old.She met her first husband, Enrique Rosalio (Henry) Almeida. Their shared love of classical music drew them together and they married in 1954. They emigrated to Canada in 1956 and four years later, June gave birth to her daughter, Joyce. In 1964, the couple returned to London where she found work as an electron microscopist with Professor Waterson at St. Thomas Hospital. Unfortunately, Henry wanted to return to Canada but June's work was beginning to gain recognition and she refused to leave. They divorced in 1967.

June began to realize that she needed a university degree to further her research so she obtained her M.Phil. in 1970 and in 1971 her D.Sc. from the University of London. As Suzanne Slade mentions in this picture book biography, June began using what is called immune electron microscopy to study viruses. 

As time went on and June's reputation grew, David Tyrell , head of the Health Common Cold Research Unit asked June to look at a virus, B814 that he and his team had isolated from school boys who had colds. When June viewed them using the electron microscope she recognized that they were similar to other viruses she had previously seen in mice and chickens. These viruses had "spikey projections" on their surface that gave them the appearance of having a crown or "corona". June considered these a new family of viruses and Almeida, Tyrell and Waterson labelled them as corona viruses. These viruses were mostly ignored for years because they were not believed to cause serious illness. We now know differently.

Slade provides many of the important details of June Almeida's life, a story of determination and resiliency.  Lacking the financial means to obtain the education she would need to work in the field of science, June set out to work in a hospital and gain the experience she needed. Her hard work, attention to detail and abilities soon resulted in better work, opportunities to participate in research and publish papers. Eventually she was able to attend university and get the education she needed to advance in her profession.

Although June made many major contributions to medical science - the use of morphology to classify viruses and discovery of a new family of viruses, the corona virus - were probably her most significant. Readers might wonder what benefit pictures of viruses offered to scientists and medical practitioners. Visualizing a virus helps work out its morphological characteristics and has allows scientists to devise methods of treating persons who are infected. For example,  June's work on the rubella virus, which can cause congenital birth defects, helped doctors understand how the virus interacted with the immune system. Slade writes that "Her pictures helped scientists develop medicines that could attach to viruses and block them from making people sick." 

June Almeida is yet another brilliant woman scientist, in a long list of brilliant women scientists whose stories are being recovered and told to a new generation of girls. Picture books like June Almeida, Virus Detective, serve to inspire young girls,  that careers in science are possible, and that they have significant contributions to make! 

In researching and writing this picture book, Suzanne Slade was able to talk with June's daughter, Dr. Joyce Almeida who answered questions and provided much primary source material. Slade has included a detailed note titled "More About June", a timeline of June Almeida's life, and a Selected Bibliography. The illustrations were created digitally by Elisa Paganelli. 

You can read more about June Almeida's life and her work from the What Is Biotechnology website.

Book Details:

June Almeida, Virus Detective by Suzanne Slade
Ann Arbor, Michigan: Sleeping Bear Press 2021