Stella Niemierko (1906-2006),
photograph from https://archive.ane.pl/pdf/6620.pdf
Stella Niemierko was born into a family of doctors on May 8, 1906 in Łódź (Poland). She was a second daughter of Józef Saks and Wiktoria Wiesel. Stella's father died in 1909 [1,2].
In the years 1915-1918 she attended a Russian gymnasium [3]. At the age of seventeen, Stella Saks graduated from the Junior High School of the Trade Union of Polish Secondary School Teachers in Warsaw. After receiving her high school passing exams in the fall of 1923, she began studies at the University of Warsaw in the Natural Sciences Section of the Faculty of Philosophy [4].
In 1926, she was admitted to the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, where, under the supervision of Professor Kazimierz Białaszewicz, director of the Nencki Institute and lecturer at Warsaw University, she completed her doctoral thesis entitled: "On mineral metabolism during hunger in dogs." The dissertation defense took place at the University of Warsaw in 1932 and was the first university in the capital where a woman received a doctoral degree in biological sciences. During that time, Stella Saks was primarily concerned with human physiology. In the years 1930-1931 she worked as a laboratory technician at the Aviation Medical Research Center (currently the Institute of Aviation Medicine) participating in tests of pilots and pilot candidates for changes in circulation and breathing in conditions of reduced atmospheric pressure [2,3].
1931 was an important year for Stella in both her private life and scientific carrier development. On this year she married Włodzimierz Niemierko (1897-1988) and took a position as a senior assistant at the Department of Work Physiology of the University of Physical Education in Warsaw. At that time, my husband worked at the Nencki Institute and was completing his doctoral dissertation under the supervision of Kazimierz Białaszewicz. During her work at the University of Physical Education her superior and scientific guide was Professor Włodzimierz Missiuro (1892-1967), a man of great merit in the field of research in the field of occupational physiology and sports medicine in Poland. Stella Niemierko conducted exercises in physiology, as well as lectures on metabolism. During Włodzimierz Missiura's one and a half year stay abroad, she independently headed the Department of Physiology. She was also the secretary of the journal "Przegląd Physiologia Ruchu". She worked there until the outbreak of the World War II [1,4].
Phoograph from https://nencki.edu.pl/pl/instytut/o-instytucie/informacje/historia/
Photograph from https://ane.pl/index.php/ane/article/view/1152/1152
Stella and Włodzimierz Niemierko survived the German occupation until the fall of 1944 in Warsaw. Research opportunities were limited. Nevertheless, for two years (1942-1943) at the Children's Hospital, Stella Niemierko, together with Professor T. Chrapowicki, examined changes in the chemical composition of blood during the treatment of rickets with large doses of vitamin D. The documentation from these studies was lost during the Warsaw Uprising.
The war was tragic, and the occupiers were cruel and criminal. In 1944, Stella Niemierko's mother Wiktoria and her sister Jadwiga were murdered by the Germans. After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, Stella and Włodzimierz Niemierko lived in Milanówek and Grodzisk Mazowiecki.
In 1945, immediately after World War II, Stella and her husband started working at the Department of Physiological Chemistry of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Warsaw. Stella worked there as a senior assistant until the fall of 1945. At the end of that year, Włodzimierz and Stella Niemierek moved to Łódź, where they spent the next 9 years. For many scientists, this city became a real promised land after the end of World War II. After obtaining his habilitation in 1945, Włodzimierz Niemierko took up the position of professor and head of the Department of Animal Physiology at the newly established University of Łódź. Dr. Stella Niemierko in the same Department became a senior assistant and soon an assistant professor. While conducting educational activities in Łódź, the couple focused their efforts on scientific work and together with Liliana Lubińska, Jerzy Konorski, Staniasława Dembowska and Jan Dembowski they worked on the reconstruction of the Nencki Institute because the building was destroyed during the war. They succeeded to build an Institute in Warsaw in 1955 [3].
In Łódź, Dr. Stella Niemierko's work consisted in parallel experiments at the Department of Biochemistry of the Nencki Institute and she conducted classes, including exercises and lectures, at the University of Łódź. At that time, she was examining the larva of the wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and, from the mid-1950s, also the developmental stages of the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori). The metabolism of soluble phosphorus compounds, phospholipids and sugars during the growth and development of insects and in various physiological states caused by external factors, such as lack of food, aneorobiosis and hypothermia, has become a cognitive problem. During these studies, Stella and Włodzimierz Niemierek found the presence of metaphosphate acid in the wax moth. This compound has not been previously found in any animal [1-4].
Later research by Stella Niemierko concerned changes in the content of phospholipids and nucleic acids during the growth and development of insects. It turned out that during the growth of wax moth caterpillars, the percentage of phospholipids does not change, but the percentage of nucleic acids decreases. In the case of the silkworm, molting and metamorphosis have always been accompanied by changes at the molecular level, such as the disappearance of neutral fats and the formation of phospholipids and the release of phosphates from phosphorus esters. Staying in anaerobic conditions, even for several dozen hours, causes huge changes in the phosphate metabolism of wax moth caterpillars, but does not kill them. Once normal oxygen conditions are restored, the metabolism returns to normal and the caterpillars go through all development stages, up to the imago form.
A few years after returning to Warsaw, in 1959, Stella took up neurochemical issues and she was a pioneer of Polish brain research. It was the beginning of a long and fruitful cooperation with Professor Liliana Lubińska. Together, the scientists described the distribution of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) along peripheral nerves. Their research results proved that the concentration of AChE, contrary to previous knowledge, is not uniform and decreases gradually in the axon as it moves away from the cell. Moreover, they showed that axoplasm not only has proximo-distal movement, but can also flow in the opposite direction, from the periphery towards the center of the cell. One piece of evidence was the localization of AChE, which accumulated both above and below the nerve transection, while its concentration decreased in sites away from the injured sites. Later studies confirmed the existence of bidirectional transport of various components through the axoplasm and the existence of various molecular forms of AChE. With the cooperation of students and colleagues, Stella Niemierko also demonstrated that damage to peripheral nerves stimulates the synthesis of nucleic acids at the site of intersection [6-12].
Her scientific achievements were reflected in her scientific positions and titles. Stella Niemierko became an associate professor in 1955, an associate professor in 1962, and a full professor in 1970. She was also a head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry of the Nervous System there (1961–1976). On August 20, 1980, she signed an appeal by 64 scientists, writers and publicists to the communist authorities to enter into dialogue with striking workers. In 1996, she received the Copernicus Medal (the highest distinction awarded by the Polish Academy of Sciences). Previously, she received, among others: Officer's and Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta[2].
Lubińska L., Niemierko S., Oderfeld B., Szwarc L. Journal of Neurochemistry 1963, 10: 25-41
Niemierko S., Lubińsk L. Journal of Neurochemistry 1967, 14: 761-769
Wójcik M., Niemierko S. Acta Neurobiol Exp 1978, 38: 25-30
She conducted research on the physiology and biochemistry of physical work, insect metabolism and axoplasmic transport in peripheral nerves. She was a pioneer of Polish brain research [3].
Stella Niemierko’s letter to the Editors of Ata Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 1996
Leszek Kuźnicki in his memory of prof. Stella Niemierko wrote: "You are one of those people thanks to whom the Institute not only rose from the ashes after World War II, but also grew to a size that exceeded the imagination of its creators. Every research center would like to have Professor Stella Niemierko among its members..."[4]
She lived to the beautiful age of 100. She died at the on May 20, 2006 in Warsaw. She was buried at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw (section C39-4-6) [1].
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