{{Short description|Trinidadian scientist (1928–1996)}} {{Infobox person | name = Bert Geoffrey Achong | image = Bert_Achong.png | alt = | caption = Achong in England | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|12|06|df=yes}} | birth_place = Port of Spain, <br/>Trinidad and Tobago | death_date = 20 November 1996 (aged 67) | death_place = Hampstead, England | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = Epstein–Barr virus | occupation = Scientist | awards = }}

'''Bert Geoffrey Achong ''' (6 December 1928 – 20 November 1996) was a Trinidadian-born pathologist known for co-discovering the Epstein–Barr virus through use of electron microscopy.

== Career == Achong was born in Trinidad and Tobago and was of Chinese descent.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2012-10-09/our-chinese-contribution-science |title=Our Chinese contribution to science |publisher=The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper |date=2012-10-10 |accessdate=2013-02-12}}</ref> After excelling in school in Trinidad and Tobago, he was awarded the Jerningham Gold Medal and the Colonial Scholarship to study in Europe.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|date=1997-01-11|title=Obituary of Bert Geoffrey Achong|url=http://www.bmj.com/content/314/7074/150|journal=BMJ|language=en|volume=314|issue=7074|pages=150|doi=10.1136/bmj.314.7074.150|issn=0959-8138|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

He moved to Europe at 18<ref name=":0" /> and enrolled at University College Dublin, where he received his medical degree in 1953.<ref name=":0" /> In 1955 he moved to London, and worked at Lambeth Hospital in London in Clinical Pathology.

In 1963, he joined Michael Anthony Epstein's research group at Middlesex Hospital. He moved with Epstein to the Department of Pathology at University of Bristol in 1968, where he was a popular lecturer on cellular pathology until his retirement in 1985.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttLQAgAAQBAJ|title=Cancer Virus: The Story of Epstein-Barr Virus|last1=Crawford|first1=Dorothy H.|last2=Rickinson|first2=Alan|last3=Johannessen|first3=Ingólfur|date=2014-02-01|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=9780199653119|language=en}}</ref> He died of a brain tumour in 1996.<ref name=":1" />

==Epstein–Barr virus== Achong, Anthony Epstein and Yvonne Barr discovered the first example of a human cancer-causing virus.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Epstein|first=Anthony|date=2012-03-01|title=Burkitt lymphoma and the discovery of Epstein–Barr virus|journal=British Journal of Haematology|volume=156|issue=6|pages=777–779|doi=10.1111/j.1365-2141.2011.09008.x|pmid=22233499|s2cid=27417152 |issn=1365-2141}}</ref> They published the discovery of the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) in ''The Lancet'' on 28 March 1964.

Achong's role in the discovery of EBV was to prepare and examine cultured cells prepared from Burkitt lymphoma samples by electron microscopy.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(64)91524-7 |title=Virus Particles in Cultured Lymphoblasts from Burkitt's Lymphoma |year=1964 |last1=Epstein |first1=M.A |last2=Achong |first2=B.G |last3=Barr |first3=Y.M |journal=The Lancet |volume=283 |issue=7335 |pages=702–3 |pmid=14107961}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1084/jem.121.5.761 |title=Morphological and Biological Studies on a Virus in Cultured Lymphoblasts from Burkitt's Lymphoma |year=1965 |last1=Epstein |first1=M. A. |journal=Journal of Experimental Medicine |volume=121 |issue=5 |pages=761–70 |pmid=14278230 |last2=Henle |first2=G |last3=Achong |first3=BG |last4=Barr |first4=YM |pmc=2138004}}</ref>

==Foamy virus== In 1971 Achong made another major discovery, the human foamy virus. This was proved to be the first example of a retrovirus naturally infecting humans.<ref>{{cite journal| last1 = Achong | first1 = B. G. | last2 = Mansell | first2 = P. W. A. | last3 = Epstein | first3 = M. A. | last4 = Clifford | first4 = P. | date = 1971 | title = An unusual virus in cultures from a human nasopharyngeal carcinoma. | journal = Journal of the National Cancer Institute | volume = 46 | pages = 299–307 | issn = 1460-2105 | pmid = 4329955}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *Bastien, Elliot: World Class Trinidad & Tobago Profiles of Performance 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Achong, Bert}} Category:1928 births Category:1996 deaths Category:Pathologists Category:20th-century Trinidad and Tobago medical doctors Category:Trinidad and Tobago people of Chinese descent Category:Trinidad and Tobago scientists Category:Hakka scientists Category:Cancer researchers