Helen Lee Gruehl


Helen Lee Gruehl Aikman was an American immunologist.

Early life and education

Gruehl was born in Passaic, New Jersey, the daughter of Edward Charles Gruehl and Susan Ramsay Mason Gruehl. Her father was manager of a rubber factory; her mother was a teacher and clubwoman. Gruehl graduated from Passaic High School in 1920, and from Mount Holyoke College in 1924. Her major was chemistry, and her minor was in mathematics; she was also known as a dancer during her college years.

Career

Gruehl taught in the immunology department of Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York University, while doing research on anaphylaxis. She co-authored over a dozen scientific articles on protein sensitivity, allergies and asthma. Her work appeared in scholarly journals including Experimental Biology and Medicine, ''Journal of Immunology, American Journal of Diseases of Children, Journal of Clinical Investigation, American Journal of Epidemiology, and Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.''

Publications

  • "The anaphylactogenic character of horse dander and its crossed relationship to horse serum"
  • "Active and passive protein sensitization in utero"
  • "Transmission of protein hypersensitiveness from mother to offspring"
  • "Ocular Manifestations in Anaphylaxis"
  • "Respiratory Anaphylaxis: Sensitization, Shock, Bronchial Asthma, and Death Induced in the Guinea Pig by the Nasal Inhalation of Dry Horse Dander"
  • "Investigations of Methods in the Study of Anaphylaxis"
  • "Is Respiratory Anaphylaxis the Result of a Local or General Sensitization?"
  • "Congenital Hypersensitiveness Transmitted to the Third Generation"
  • "The Sensitizing Dose in Respiratory Anaphylaxis "
  • "Respiratory Anaphylaxis and Ricin Poisoning Induced with Castor Bean Dust"
  • "Identity of Animal Anaphylaxis and Human Allergy "
  • "Congenital Protein Hypersensitiveness in Two Generations"
  • "Passage of native proteins through the normal gastro-intestinal wall"
  • "Anaphylactogenic properties of milk: Immunochemistry of the purified proteins and antigenic changes resulting from heat and acidification"
  • "Anaphylactogenic properties of malted sugars and corn syrup"

Personal life

Gruehl married building contractor Edgerton Ladd Aikman in 1930. They had a daughter, Beverley. Her husband died in 1973, and she died in 1983, in Concord, Massachusetts, at the age of 81.