Dmitri Leonidovich Romanowsky

Dmitri Leonidovich Romanowsky
Дмитрий Леонидович Романовский
Born1861
Died1921(1921-00-00) (aged 59–60)
NationalityRussian
Alma materSt. Petersburg University
Known forRomanowsky stain
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine
Histochemistry
InstitutionsIvangorod military hospital
Revel local infirmary
Saint Petersburg Nikolaevsky military hospital
ThesisOn the question of parasitology and therapy of malaria (1891)

Dmitri Leonidovich Romanowsky (sometimes spelled Dmitry and Romanowski, Russian: Дмитрий Леонидович Романовский;[1] 1861–1921) was a Russian physician who is best known for his invention of an eponymous histological stain called Romanowsky stain. It paved the way for the discovery and diagnosis of microscopic pathogens, such as malarial parasites,[2] and later developments of new histological stains that became fundamental to microbiology and physiology.[3]

While working on his doctoral research, Romanowsky developed the first effective staining method for malarial parasite in 1890. Using a specific mixture of mouldy methylene blue and eosin, he found that malarial parasites could be distinctively identified from other blood cell and within the red blood cells. The chemical reaction of such staining is known in chemistry as "Romanowsky effect". The method became the gold standard in malaria detection by microscopy and general immunohistochemistry. British zoologist and science historian, Francis Edmund Gabriel Cox remarked the discovery as a serendipitous case that became "one of the most significant technical advances in the history of parasitology."[4]

  1. ^ Veer, M. v.; Haferlach, T. (2014). "Should clinical hematologists put their microscopes on eBay?". Haematologica. 99 (10): 1533–1534. doi:10.3324/haematol.2014.114710. PMC 4181246. PMID 25271310.
  2. ^ Fleischer, Bernhard (2004). "Editorial: 100 years ago: Giemsa's solution for staining of plasmodia". Tropical Medicine and International Health. 9 (7): 755–756. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3156.2004.01278.x. PMID 15228484.
  3. ^ Wittekind, D. H. (1983). "On the nature of Romanowsky--Giemsa staining and its significance for cytochemistry and histochemistry: an overall view". The Histochemical Journal. 15 (10): 1029–1047. doi:10.1007/BF01002498. ISSN 0018-2214. PMID 6196323. S2CID 23896062.
  4. ^ Cox, Francis Eg (2010). "History of the discovery of the malaria parasites and their vectors". Parasites & Vectors. 3 (1): 5. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-3-5. PMC 2825508. PMID 20205846. S2CID 1641027.