Peggy Louise Olive: A journey through the ‘comet’ and beyond

Abstract

Peggy Olive from the British Columbia Cancer Research Center in Canada is credited with the development of a method to measure DNA damage in individual cells based on the technique of microelectrophoresis that she named the ‘comet assay’; a well-accepted method to measure DNA damage, hypoxia and apoptosis. A multifaceted person and an ardent campaigner of environmental issues, Peggy has contributed significantly to several areas of radiobiology related to the treatment of cancer, her expertise being tumor hypoxia and gamma H2AX foci as a biomarker in radiotherapy.

Keywords:

• Peggy Olive
• comet assay
• γH2AX foci
• tumor hypoxia

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mary N. Mohankumar

Dr. Mary N. Mohankumar, senior scientist (now retired) from the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, Department of Atomic Energy, Kalpakkam, India is one of the admirers of the comet assay. Using the comet assay, Dr. Mohankumar could prove that this technique was capable of replacing the laborious and radioactive UDS assay. Subsequently, she had the opportunity to spend a little over a year as visiting scientist at Dr. Peggy Olive’s laboratory, BC Cancer Research center, Vancouver, Canada, between the years 2000 and 2001. During this period, she had the opportunity to observe Peggy closely both at work and as a person. This manuscript was made possible from helpful inputs from Dr. Ralph Durand to whom the author is immensely thankful.