A facility for science: Jo Peel & Mahalla Mason celebrate a Quaker’s work

‘An indelible impact on the field of immunology.’

Earlier this month the Don Mason Flow Cytometry Facility was inaugurated at the University of Oxford. Donald W Mason, who died in 2021, was a Witney Quaker. The facility is a testament to his groundbreaking research in the field of immunology.

The facility named for Don incorporates the latest advancements in flow cytometry technology, allowing researchers to analyse millions of cells at a single-cell resolution. It offers a wide range of applications, including immunophenotyping, cell-cycle analysis, proliferation analysis, and transfection efficiency assessment. By providing researchers with cutting-edge equipment and expertise, the facility fosters scientific discovery and advances in immunology and related fields.

Donald joined the Medical Research Council’s cellular immunology unit in 1973. He worked in the unit until his retirement in 1999, by which time he was its director. His research focused on regulatory T cells and their crucial role in preventing autoimmunity. It paved the way for a deeper understanding of immunoregulation and the prevention of autoimmune diseases, leaving an indelible impact on the field of immunology.

In his opening speech, Simon Hunt, a close colleague, emphasised Don’s commitment to scientific innovation. Simon also highlighted Don’s mentorship of his students. Don particularly wanted to encourage more women into science. His former students include Fiona Powrie, the director of the Kennedy Institute, and Deborah Fowell, the department chair of Microbiology and Immunology at Cornell University in New York. Here he followed the example set by earlier Quaker women in science, such as botanist Priscilla Wakefield, the crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale, and Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the astronomer.

Don had brought the first flow cytometer to Oxford; the new facility provides access to the latest of these, with new cell sorting equipment, to over forty research groups.

Don’s research on the regulation of lymphocytes and their receptors significantly advanced our understanding of the immune system. His discoveries paved the way for breakthroughs in the understanding of diabetes, gut and nervous system autoimmunity, and the development of immunotherapies for various diseases, including cancer.

Alongside his medical research, Don was an anti-nuclear activist (once imprisoned for blocking the entrance to Upper Heyford US military base) and prison visitor. He was also deeply interested in spirituality based on experience, and was supportive of psychical research. His Science, Mystical Experience and Religious Belief was published in retirement.

The opening ceremony brought together members of Don’s family, former lab group members, and past and present Flow Cytometry users and staff. Mahalla Mason, Don’s widow, cut the ribbon to officially open the facility. We hope it will build on Don’s remarkable contributions.

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