Fautrez, Julien (1914-1996)

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Embryologist and anatomist, born in Antwerp on 9 June 1914 and died in Ghent on 14 August 1996.

Biography

Fautrez attended secondary school at the Royal Atheneum of Antwerp. He studied medicine at the ULB. From 1933 he worked as a voluntary researcher in the laboratory of Professor Pol Gérard at ULB. He remained in Pol Gérard's service throughout his student years. Fautrez received his doctorate in medicine, surgery and obstetrics on 19 July 1939 and shortly afterwards started work as an assistant in the laboratory for embryology and human anatomy of Professor Albert Dalcq. However, he had to interrupt this training for his military service. He was taken prisoner of war during the German invasion in 1940, but was soon released. He resumed his research. When the ULB was closed by the occupying forces and he no longer had an income, he set up a medical practice in Ghent. After the liberation, he closed this medical practice and devoted himself to his research again.

In 1945, Fautrez was appointed lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ghent. He was appointed to the chair of anatomy and embryology. His subjects included human anatomy, partim osteology, arthrology, syndesmology and myology with practical exercises. By the government decision of 10 January 1946, this appointment was retroactively confirmed and extended to all other areas of human anatomy and topographical anatomy. On Paul van Oye's retirement in 1956, the course in comparative anatomy was also added to his curriculum. Fautrez founded a laboratory for experimental embryology at Ghent university. Lucien Vakaet was his first pupil and later successor.

In 1962, Fautrez was appointed full professor at the ULB, where he was in charge of the Dutch courses on embryology. After the split of the university he taught the same subject at the VUB. Fautrez also held a number of administrative positions at Ghent University. He was secretary of the Faculty of Medicine from 1952 to 1953 and a member of the Board of Governors from 1953 to 1962. On 1 October 1982 he was admitted to emeritus status.

Fautrez became a corresponding member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) on 2 October 1948, a working member on 13 October 1951, a director in 1957 and an honorary member in 1990. He was a member of the Académie Européenne des Sciences, Arts et Lettres and an honorary member of the Association des Anatomistes. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the NFWO, of the University Foundation, of the Fernand Lazard Foundation, of the Francqui Foundation, of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp and of Belgisch Werk tegen Kanker.

Works

Fautrez authored 150 articles in national and international journals, three of which appeared in book form. During his training, he already showed interest in morphological research. He was initiated into histological and cytological research by Pol Gérard. Lucien Lison was a collaborator in Pol Gérard's laboratory and introduced Fautrez to the problems of histochemistry: the dispersion of dyes and of haemoglobin, the isoelectric point in reticulo-endothelial cells, a new method of staining haemoglobin, the phenomenon of atrocytosis and the diffusion of dyes. His research in this laboratory led to four publications and the winning of the titles of laureate of the university competition and laureate of the travel grants competition (1937-1939). As assistant to Professor Dalcq, he studied the fusion of unfertilised ova (egg cells) of the Asciedella aspersa (a species of solitary sea squirts), the maturation and artificial activation of the ova of this species and the construction of the microplacodes of the main nerves in the axolotl, the medulla of urodes and the neutral plate of the amphibians. After the liberation, he wrote Manuel théorique et pratique de dissection together with Albert Dalcq. The book was used as study material by the medical students during the lessons on dissection.

In his laboratory in Ghent, Fautrez conducted research in the field of quantitative histochemistry from 1951 onwards. Together with H. Roels, L. Leeman, D. Vandekerckhove, J. Govaert and J. Mestdagh, DNA dosages were performed in situ in preparations stained by the Feulgen reaction. Initially, the group concentrated on the study of endocrine glands. Using this technique, Fautrez and Roels were able to demonstrate for the first time that in mitosis, DNA synthesis does not take place during metaphase, but in the interphase. Their finding that the DNA content is not constant, but is higher during intense chronic cell activity than in a cell at rest, caused a lot of fuss and discussion in the literature at the time. To the biological community of the time, it was almost a postulate that the DNA content of a cell nucleus, as the molecular substrate of the genes, remained strictly constant and it seemed impossible that the slightest change could occur in this. In fact, this histochemical observation was the first clue to the amplification of genes, related to cell activity. Experimental embryology continued to fascinate Fautrez, including symmetry and polarity in the young oocyte, organogenesis in teleosts and the phenomenon of induction

Fautrez received several awards: the Van Beneden Prize in 1959, the Pfizer Prize in 1961 and the Albert Brachet Prize in 1971. In 1967 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Rouen.

History of science
Fautrez is the author of "Les Archives de Biologie, Les fondateurs et les éditeurs de la revue", In: Archives de Biologie, 91 (1980), p. 133-140, ill.

Publications

• List with publications in the catalogue of Ghent University consulted on 11/02/2021 at 17h30.

Bibliography

• Roels, Hendrik, "Julien Fautrez", In: Nationaal Biografisch Woordenboek, vol. 16, Brussel : Paleis der Academiën, 2009, kol. 341-345.
• Vandendriessche, L., "In memoriam Julien Fautrez", In: Jaarboek 2000, Brussel: KVAB, p. 111-112.
• "Fautrez Julien", In: De Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten en haar leden, Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten, 2010, p. 91.
  
• Luykx, Theo, "Fautrez, Julien", in: Rijksuniversiteit Gent. Liber memorialis. deel II: Faculteit Geneeskunde 1913-1960, Gent, 1960,332-333.