Section VRU/5 - Margaret Short

Extent: 2 boxes

Lab notes on virus experiments. Catalougue of viruses at VRU with photographs.

Admin History: Margaret E.N Short: Margaret joined the Potato Virus Research Station (PVRS) in 1944 aged 18 as an assistant to Dr Kenneth M Smith. She had read Smith's work while studying biology at school and approached him personally for a role. Her main duties were 'transmitting plant viruses, looking after the virus collections and assisting Smith with experiments'. She also made drawings for Smith's book 'Virus Diseases of Farm and Garden Crops'. She started studying for her B.Sc. with the Queen Mary College students who had been moved from London to Cambridge because of the war. When they moved back, Margaret went with them, becoming a full-time student in 1946. After graduating Smith offered her a role at the newly named Virus Research Unit working specifically on turnip yellow mosaic virus as well as testing diseased plants for diagnosis, visiting growers, looking after the virus collection and helping with visitors to the field station. She joined as a permanent member of staff in 1951 as Smith's official assistant. Margaret continued to work at the VRU and moved to Norwich when it merged with the JII, working on amino acid sequences, including on cowpea TMV and papaya mosaic virus under Rod Casey and John Bancroft. In 1978, encouraged by Roy Markham and Maurice Rees she started a PhD, which she completed in 1982. She retired on 15 March 1984. The Unit was originally founded as part of Cambridge University's School of Agriculture in 1927 with help from the Ministry of Agriculture and called the Potato Virus Research Station. Dr Roy Markham took over from kenneth Smith as Director of the VRU from 1960 and when he took over as Director of the John Innes Institute in 1967 he brought it with him to be based at Colney.