New books Blood, Plague and Smallpox: The story of the Elstree Laboratory      Elstree is synonymous with the movie industry, but it also has  another tale to tell – over 120 years as a life science innovator. A  former farm, land across the reservoir built by French prisoners during  the Napoleonic wars, became a series of laboratories under the Lister  Institute of Preventative Medicine. The work was varied, but pathogen  safety and nutrition came to dominate the researchers before the  greatest success was achieved through a pivotal role in the global  eradication of smallpox. From Lister sprung the Blood Products  Laboratory, a global innovator in plasma products (including  immunoglobulins and the world’s first factor VIII for the treatment of  haemophilia). The Lister Institute is no longer active in  producing medicines and BPL has a new life as part of Kedrion BioPharma.  Yet the legacy remains, and the three central elements are captured by  this book’s title – Blood, Plag...
Professor Tim Sandle, PhD - pharmaceutical microbiologist, writer and journalist