Parvathi Basrur

Parvathi Koodathil Basrur (September 15, 1929 – November 10, 2012) was an Indian-born Canadian veterinary scientist. She was the first woman appointed to the faculty of the Ontario Veterinary College, where she worked from 1959 until her retirement in 1995.[1]

Parvathi Basrur
A smiling older South Asian woman wearing tinted glasses
BornSeptember 15, 1929
Cheruvathur, Kerala, India
DiedNovember 10, 2012
Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)Veterinary geneticist, college professor
Children2, including Sheela Basrur

Early life and education

Basrur was born in Cheruvathur, Kerala. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in cytology at the University of Mysore. She began doctoral studies at the Research Institute of Bangalore, but moved to Canada in 1955 and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto.[2][3]

Career

Basrur became Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College in 1959,[4] the first woman on the college's faculty.[1][5] She was promoted to full professor in 1967, and retired as professor emeritus in 1995.[2] Basrur worked with the Canadian International Development Agency on improving livestock breeding and production.[1] Her research was published in academic journals including Nature,[6] Cell,[7] Canadian Journal of Zoology,[8] Biology of Reproduction,[9] Animal Reproduction Science,[10] Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research,[11] Cancer Research,[12] and Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine.[13]

Basrur was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2004.[1][14] She was also honored with a Queen's Jubilee Award, and the University of Guelph Medal of Merit, the YMCA-YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for Life Time Achievement, and the Norden Award for Distinguished Teaching.[15]

Selected publications

Basrur's laboratory at Ontario Veterinary College was extremely productive during her long tenure, and she was estimated to be an author of "about 200 scientific publications",[15] including these:

  • "The salivary gland chromosomes of seven segregates of Prosimulium (Diptera: Simuliidae) with a transformed centromere" (1959)[8]
  • "Blood Culture Method for the Study of Bovine Chromosomes" (1964, with J. P. W. Gilman)[6]
  • "Morphologic and synthetic response of normal and tumor muscle cultures to nickel sulfide" (1967, with J. P. W. Gilman)[12]
  • "Parallelism in chimeric ratios in heterosexual cattle twins" (1969, with H. Kanagawa)[16]
  • "Recessive male-determining genes" (1978, with Stephen S. Wachtel and Gloria C. Koo)[7]
  • "Morphological and hormonal features of an ovine and a caprine intersex" (1984, with W. T. Bosu}[13]
  • "Steroidogenesis in fetal bovine gonads" (1988, with M. M. Dominguez and R. M. Liptrap)[11]
  • "Genetic Diseases of Sheep and Goats" (1990, with Bhola R. Yadav)[17]
  • "Chromosomal abnormalities in bovine embryos and their influence on development" (1996, with Sheldon J. Kawarsky, Robert B. Stubbings, Peter J. Hansen, and W. Allen King)[9]
  • "Influence of the duration of gamete interaction on cleavage, growth rate and sex distribution of in vitro produced bovine embryos" (2003, with Harpreet S. Kochhar, Kanwal P. Kochhar, and W. Allen King)[10]

Personal life

Her husband was Vasanth Basrur, a fellow biology student at Mysore. They married in Toronto while they were both doctoral students. One of their two daughters was Sheela Basrur, a Canadian physician and public health official who died in 2008.[18] Basrur died in 2012, aged 83 years, at a hospital in Guelph.[15][19]

References
  1. Office of the Secretary to the Governor General. "Mrs. Parvathi K. Basrur". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  2. "Dr Parvathi Basrur: Scientist, Researcher, Administrator, and Mother-figure". Canadian Writing Research Laboratory. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  3. King, W. Allan (2009). "Parvathi K. Basrur". Cytogenetic and Genome Research. 126 (1–2): 7–11. doi:10.1159/000245902. ISSN 1424-859X. PMID 20016152. S2CID 207685240.
  4. "India Woman Professor at College". Edmonton Journal. 1959-08-05. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-11-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Cattalos, Cheasants on Menu?". Times Colonist. 1974-08-22. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-11-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. Basrur, P. K.; Gilman, J. P. W. (December 1964). "Blood Culture Method for the Study of Bovine Chromosomes". Nature. 204 (4965): 1335–1337. Bibcode:1964Natur.204.1335B. doi:10.1038/2041335a0. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 14254442. S2CID 4277476.
  7. Wachtel, Stephen S.; Basrur, Parvathi; Koo, Gloria C. (1978-09-01). "Recessive male-determining genes". Cell. 15 (1): 279–281. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(78)90103-4. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 699047. S2CID 42835570.
  8. Basrur, Parvathi K. (1959-08-01). "The salivary gland chromosomes of seven segregates of prosimulium (diptera: simuliidae) with a transformed centromere". Canadian Journal of Zoology. 37 (4): 527–570. doi:10.1139/z59-059. ISSN 0008-4301.
  9. Kawarsky, Sheldon J.; Basrur, Parvathi K.; Stubbings, Robert B.; Hansen, Peter J.; Allan King, W. (1996-01-01). "Chromosomal Abnormalities in Bovine Embryos and their Influence on Development1". Biology of Reproduction. 54 (1): 53–59. doi:10.1095/biolreprod54.1.53. ISSN 0006-3363. PMID 8838000. S2CID 10963718.
  10. Kochhar, Harpreet S; Kochhar, Kanwal P; Basrur, Parvathi K; King, W. Allan (2003-05-15). "Influence of the duration of gamete interaction on cleavage, growth rate and sex distribution of in vitro produced bovine embryos". Animal Reproduction Science. 77 (1): 33–49. doi:10.1016/S0378-4320(03)00006-X. ISSN 0378-4320. PMID 12654526.
  11. Dominguez, M M; Liptrap, R M; Basrur, P K (October 1988). "Steroidogenesis in fetal bovine gonads". Canadian Journal of Veterinary Research. 52 (4): 401–406. ISSN 0830-9000. PMC 1255480. PMID 3196968.
  12. Basrur, Parvathi K., and John PW Gilman. "Morphologic and synthetic response of normal and tumor muscle cultures to nickel sulfide." Cancer research 27.6 Part 1 (1967): 1168-1177.
  13. Bosu, W T; Basrur, P K (October 1984). "Morphological and hormonal features of an ovine and a caprine intersex". Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine. 48 (4): 402–409. ISSN 0008-4050. PMC 1236093. PMID 6509368.
  14. "Area Residents to be Honoured". The Ottawa Citizen. 2004-07-31. p. 51. Retrieved 2021-11-04 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Guelph loses leading veterinary scientist 'Mama Basrur'". Guelph Mercury. November 13, 2012. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  16. Basrur, Parvathi K.; Kanagawa, H. (October 1969). "Parallelism in Chimeric Ratios in Heterosexual Cattle Twins". Genetics. 63 (2): 419–425. doi:10.1093/genetics/63.2.419. ISSN 0016-6731. PMC 1212354. PMID 5391955.
  17. Basrur, Parvathi K.; Yadav, Bhola R. (1990-11-01). "Genetic Diseases of Sheep and Goats". Veterinary Clinics of North America: Food Animal Practice. 6 (3): 779–802. doi:10.1016/S0749-0720(15)30846-X. ISSN 0749-0720. PMID 2245374.
  18. Galloway, Gloria (2008-06-02). "Sheela Basrur loses cancer fight". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  19. "Obituary of Parvathi Basrur". Erb & Good Funeral Home. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
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