June Almeida

June Dalziel Almeida (5 October 1930 – 1 December 2007) was a Scottish virologist, a pioneer in virus imaging and identification. Her skills in electron microscopy earned her an international reputation. In 1940, her six-year-old brother died of diphtheria, perhaps leading to her interest in diseases. In the same year, she published her research in which she "negatively stained aggregates of antigen...and antibody" with the electron microscope. Almeida's sense of humour arose in an ode to electron microscopy, and the symmetrical structure of coronavirus (with an apology to poet, William Blake).“Virus, virus shining bright,

In the phosphotungstic night,

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fivefold symmetry.” at one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in the United Kingdom—London's St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, now part of King's College London. At St Thomas's, she worked on hepatitis B virus and the cold viruses.

Royal Postgraduate Medical School of London (RPGMS) In 1968, Almeida published an article in Journal of General Virology, on "avian infectious bronchitis virus".

In 1971, using her immune electronmicroscopy technique, Almeida made the landmark discovery that the hepatitis B virus had "two immunologically distinct components"—an "outer coat and a small inner component".

Wellcome Institute Almeida spent her final years of her professional career at the Wellcome Institute before she retired. While working for the Institute she was named on several patents in the field of imaging viruses.

Major contributions In their 2013 book entitled To Catch a Virus, John Booss and Marilyn J. August describe how Almeida "played a crucial role in adapting the electron microscope to clinical diagnostic virology work."

Before Almeida's work with Anthony Peter Waterson in the 1960s, few improvements had been made on the initial 1941 "proof of principle aggregation of virus by virus-specific antibody observable by [electron microscope (EI)]." In 1963, she pioneered a technique in immune electron microscopy (IEM), to better visualise viruses by using antibodies to aggregate them. Tyrrell suggested calling the new group "coronaviruses". The coronavirus family of viruses now includes the SARS virus

In retirement After taking early retirement

Almeida trained as a yoga teacher and became involved in her second husband Philip Gardner's antique business. and later her research noted in The National on 19 May 2020.

In 2025, an exhibition on the international endeavour to develop a COVID-19 vaccine opened at the National Museum of Scotland, called Injecting Hope: The Race For A Covid-19 Vaccine showing the scientific principles and innovative research behind the urgent development of a vaccine and the global logistical challenges it faced. Almeida's original work underpinning the theory behind later research, is marked with her notebooks on exhibit.

Personal life On 11 December 1954 Almeida married Enrique Rosalio (Henry) Almeida (1913–1993), a Venezuelan artist. Together they had a daughter Joyce who became a psychiatrist and had two daughters. Gardner died in 1994.