Anatolii Smorodintsev

Anatolii Aleksandrovich Smorodintsev
Born6 (19) April 1901
Askino, Ufa Governorate, Russian Empire
Died6 August 1986(1986-08-06) (aged 85)
Leningrad, Soviet Union
Alma materTomsk State University
Known forVaccine research including
Clinical trial of Oral Polio Vaccine
Scientific career
FieldsMicrobiology, Virology
WorkplacesLeningrad Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of L. Pasteur (1933-1937), All-Soviet Institute of Experimental Medicine (Moscow, 1938-1945), Institute of Experimental Medicine (Leningrad, 1946-1967), All-Soviet Institute of Influenza

Anatolii Aleksandrovich Smorodintsev (Russian: Анатолий Александрович Смородинцев, 6 [19] April 1901 – 6 August 1986) was a Soviet virologist and immunologist, best known for his vaccine research, including trials of oral polio vaccine (OPV) developed by Albert B. Sabin, which Smorodintsev conducted together with Mikhail Chumakov.

Smorodintsev was the founder and first director of Research Institute of Influenza in St. Petersburg[1] and a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR from 1966 (corresponding member from 1945).[2]

Education

Smorodintsev was born in Askino village in the Ufa Governorate of the Russian Empire in a doctor's family. After graduating from a real school, he enrolled at the Department of Medicine of Tomsk University. He graduated in 1923 and remained at the University's Bacteriology Institute as an assistant.[3]

In 1924, he was drafted into the Red Army to serve as a doctor on the Central Asian front.

Career

During his time in Central Asia, Smorodintsev participated in malaria prevention under the leadership of N.I. Latyshev and S.V. Viskovskii.[4] After leaving the army in 1926, he moved to Leningrad to join the Institute of Experimental Medicine and lead the bacteriological laboratory of the Central Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.[3] There he engaged in studies of staphylococcus infections and typhoid fever.

In 1933, Smorodintsev was appointed head of bacteriology department of Leningrad Louis Pasteur Institute, where he began to focus on the study of influenza.[4] He received the degree of Doctor of Medical Sciences in 1935.

All-Soviet Institute of Experimental Medicine and encephalitis research

In 1938, Smorodintsev became the first head of the Virology Department of the All-Soviet Institute of Experimental Medicine in Moscow. Following the dissolution of the institute, its virology department became the basis for the Ivanovskii Institute.

In 1938-1940, Smorodintsev participated in expeditions to the Far East to study tick-borne encephalitis led by Evgeny Pavlovsky, who took over following the arrest of Lev Zilber, the head of the original 1937 expedition that isolated the virus and identified ticks as the vector for the spread of infection.[5]

During the Second World War, Smorodintsev's lab was evacuated to Siberia and Smorodintsev served as head epidemiologist in Tomsk in 1941-1942.

Return to Leningrad and polio vaccine research

Following the end of the war, Smorodintsev returned to Leningrad's Institute of Experimental Medicine to head the Virology Department there.[3][6]

In 1956, Smorodintsev, Mikhail Chumakov (director of the newly-established Institute of Poliomyelitis), Marina K Voroshilova (senior researcher at the Institute) and Lev I. Lukin (of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR) travelled to the United States to study American polio vaccine development, meeting Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin.[7][8][9] Smorodintsev impressed as a "first-rate virologist" who could speak English.[10] These visits were instrumental in the establishment of Soviet-American science diplomacy in the field of polio research, which resulted in several co-organised conferences and significant scientific exchange.[8][11]

Smorodintsev initiated the study of Sabin's live poliovirus vaccine in the Soviet Union.[12] In autumn 1956, Smorodintsev reached out to Sabin for samples of his live virus polio vaccine to be studied in his laboratory in Leningrad.[13] Smorodintsev's department took a very active part in testing of Sabin's oral polio vaccine in the USSR, with Mikhail Chumakov. They tested Sabin's vaccine on 27,000 children in Estonia and Lithuania, and a Leningrad-produced vaccine on 12,000 children in Latvia.[14] Smorodintsev's laboratory tested the safety of the new vaccine and checked the effectiveness of the immunisation programme that followed.[15][16][17]

In 1959 oral polio vaccine field trials, Smorodintsev and his laboratory were responsible for the section of the trials in Leningrad, Moldova, and Belarus. The researchers concluded that the vaccine was safe and by June 1959, more than 3 million people had been vaccinated in Estonia. This spread to the other Soviet countries and by the end of 1959, more than 15 million people had been vaccinated, 1.5 million by Smorodintsev's team.[14][18]

Dorothy Horstmann, who was sent by the WHO to report on standards of Soviet vaccination programme and associated testing, visited Smorodintsev's department in 16-20 September.[19][20] Horstmann's endorsement of trials in the socialist bloc contributed to the licensing of the oral vaccine in the United States.[21] Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, oral polio vaccine became the dominant vaccine technology around the globe.[22] Looking back in 1985, Salk wrote that the vaccine's safety 'could not have been established without the most extensive studies by Chumakov et al., and Smorodintsev et al. in the USSR in 1959'.[23]

For this research, Chumakov and Smorodintsev were awarded Lenin prize in 1963.[24]

Studies by Smorodintsev and his lab continued to inform discussions of immunogenicity and safety of oral poliovirus vaccine into 2000s.[25] Smorodintsev was recognised as making 'valuable' contributions on non-specific resistance in Advances in Virus Research.[26]

Institute of Influenza and childhood vaccinations

In 1967, Smorodintsev became the director of the newly-founded Research Institute of Influenza. In 1972, he left this post to lead the department of flu prophylaxis.[27] In 1975, he returned to Institute of Experimental Medicine's Virology Department for the third time.

His research in this period was chiefly dedicated to prevention of such diseases as measles,[28] flu,[29][30][31][32][33] rubella, and mumps.[15][34][35] He held a number of patents related to prophylaxis of infectious diseases.[36][37]

While Smorodintsev was advocated for vaccination programmes, he continued to support development of anti-viral drugs.[38][39]

Death and Legacy

Smorodintsev died 6 August 1986 in Leningrad.[40] His son, Alexander Anatolievich Smorodintsev (1929-2022) was also a virologist.

Several research institutions are named after Smorodintsev:

  • Institute of Experimental Medicine's Department of Virology is named after Smorodintsev;[6]
  • Research Institute of Influenza that Smorodintsev founded is now named after him.[41]

Smorodintsev's contributions to research were recognised in journals from various countries on his 70th, 75th and 80th birthdays, and on his death.[42][43][44][45][46][47]

Notable Publications (in English)

References

  1. ↑ "История и достижения НИИ гриппа имени А.А. Смородинцева [History and achievements of A.A. Smorodintsev ]Influenza Institute". Центр общественного здоровья и медицинской профилактики [Centre for public health and prophylactic medicine] (in Russian). Retrieved 2026-05-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ Pavlov, V.N.; Narlaitakov, М. А.; Sharafutdinova, N.Kh.; Kiniabulatov, A.U. (2012). "ДЕЙСТВИТЕЛЬНЫЕ ЧЛЕНЫ И ЧЛЕНЫ-КОРРЕСПОНДЕНТЫ АМН СССР И РАМН—УРОЖЕНЦЫ УФИМСКОЙ ГУБЕРНИИ (РЕСПУБЛИКИ БАШКОРТОСТАН) [Actual and correspondent members of Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences born in Ufa Governorate (Bashkortostan Republic)]". Клиническая и экспериментальная хирургия [Clinical and experimental surgery]: 276.
  3. 1 2 3 "Смородинцев, Анатолий Александрович — Электронная энциклопедия ТГУ". wiki.tsu.ru. Retrieved 2026-05-07.
  4. 1 2 Левина, Е.С. (2010). "Первые вирусологи и медицинская вирусология в СССР 1930-х гг". Историко-биологические исследования. 2 (1): 10–50.
  5. ↑ Mazanik, Anna (2024-08-06). "Arbovirology and Cold War Collaborations: A Transnational History of the Tick-borne Encephalitis Vaccine, 1930-1980". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 79 (3): 254–273. doi:10.1093/jhmas/jrad054. ISSN 0022-5045. PMC 11302950. PMID 37681759.
  6. 1 2 "A.A. Smorodintsev Department of Virology". FSBSI "IEM". Retrieved 2026-05-06.
  7. ↑ "United States-U.S.S.R. medical exchange missions, 1956 : microbiology and epidemiology". Wellcome Collection. Retrieved 2026-05-21.
  8. 1 2 Shin, Boram (2023-01-01). "The East-West Collaboration across the Iron Curtain against Polio Epidemics: Soviet Engagement with Global Health and Poliomyelitis Vaccine Development in 1956-1964". Journal of Eurasian Studies. 14 (1): 19–29. doi:10.1177/18793665231159685. ISSN 1879-3665.
  9. ↑ Swanson, William (2012). "Birth of a Cold War Vaccine". Scientific American. 306 (4): 66–69. ISSN 0036-8733.
  10. ↑ "Four Russian Scientists to Confer Here". The Baltimore Sun. 16 Jan 1956. p. 28.
  11. ↑ Institute for Poliomyelitis Research (1960). The main results of the IV Scientific Conference of the Institute and the International Sumposium [sic] on Live Poliovirus Vaccine and the 1-st [sic] Soviet-American discussions relating to the control of poliomyelitis. Academy of Medical Sciences, U.S.S.R.
  12. ↑ Бароян, О.В. (1968). Итоги полувековой борьбы с инфекциями в СССР [Results of half-century-long fight against infectious disease in the USSR] (in Russian). Moscow: Медицина. p. 94.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  13. ↑ Benison, Saul (1982). "International medical cooperation: Dr. Albert Sabin, live poliovirus vaccine and the Soviets". Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 56 (4): 460–471 – via ProQuest.
  14. 1 2 "Mass Immunization with Live Poliovirus Vaccine in the Soviet Union". BMJ. 1 (5187): 1729–1730. 1960-06-04. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5187.1729. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1967674.
  15. 1 2 "Man v. Viruses". TIME Magazine. 74 (18). 1959.
  16. ↑ Smorodintsev, A. A.; Drobyshevskaya, A. I.; Bulychev, N. P.; Chalkina, O. M.; Groisman, G. M.; Ilyenko, V. I.; Kantorovich, R. A.; Kurnosova, L. M.; Vasilyev, K. G.; Votyakov, V. I.; Zhilova, G. P. (1960-12-31). "Immunological and epidemiological effectiveness of live poliomyelitis vaccine in the USSR*". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 23 (6): 705–725. ISSN 0042-9686. PMID 20604073.
  17. ↑ Interview with Mikhail Chumakov (1960). "Полиомиелит будет побежден". Здоровье (4): 20–21.
  18. ↑ Vargha, Dora (2027). "3 Vaccination and the communist state: polio in Eastern Europe". The Politics of Vaccination: A Global History. pp. 77–98. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  19. ↑ Horstmann, Dorothy Millicent; World Health Organization (1960). Report on a visit to the U. S. S. R., Poland, and Czechoslovakia to review work on live poliovirus vaccine, August-October 1959. New Haven: Section of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and the Dept. of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine.
  20. ↑ Horstmann, D. M. (1991). "The Sabin live poliovirus vaccination trials in the USSR, 1959". The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 64 (5): 499–512. ISSN 0044-0086. PMC 2589490. PMID 1814062.
  21. ↑ Carleton, Heather A. (2011). "Putting together the pieces of polio: how Dorothy Horstmann helped solve the puzzle". The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 84 (2): 83–89. ISSN 1551-4056. PMC 3117421. PMID 21698038.
  22. ↑ Blume, Stuart S. (2005). "Lock in, the state and vaccine development: Lessons from the history of the polio vaccines". Research Policy. 34 (2): 159–173. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2004.12.001.
  23. ↑ Sabin, Albert B. (1985). "Oral Poliovirus Vaccine: History of Its Development and Use and Current Challenge to Eliminate Poliomyelitis from the World". The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 151 (3): 420–436. ISSN 0022-1899.
  24. ↑ Орлова, Д. (1963). "Наука торжествует победу". Здоровье (7): 8.
  25. ↑ Cáceres, Victor M.; Sutter, Roland W. (2001). "Sabin Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccines: Review of Past Experiences and Their Potential Use after Polio Eradication". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 33 (4): 531–541. ISSN 1058-4838.
  26. ↑ Dudgeon, J. A. (1961-07-08). "VIRUS RESEARCH". BMJ. 2 (5244): 98–98. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5244.98. ISSN 0959-8138.
  27. ↑ Большая Советская Энциклопедия [Great Soviet Encyclopaedia] (in Russian) (3rd ed.). Moscow: Издательство "Советская Энциклопедия". 1976. p. 626.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  28. ↑ Peradze, T. V.; Smorodintsev, A. A. (1983). "Epidemiology and Specific Prophylaxis of Measles". Reviews of Infectious Diseases. 5 (3): 487–490. ISSN 0162-0886.
  29. ↑ Alexandrova, G. I.; Budilovsky, G. N.; Koval, T. A.; Polezhaev, F. I.; Garmashova, L. M.; Ghendon, Yu. Z.; Romanova, Y. R.; Smorodintsev, A. A. (1986-06-01). "Study of live recombinant cold-adapted influenza bivalent vaccine of type A for use in children: an epidemiological control trial". Vaccine. 4 (2): 114–118. doi:10.1016/0264-410X(86)90049-6. ISSN 0264-410X.
  30. ↑ Chetverikova, L. K.; Polyak, R. Y.; Yukhnova, L. G.; Smorodintsev, A. A. (1970). "Method for Increasing the Regularity of Isolation of Infectious Ribonucleic Acid from Influenza Virus". Journal of Virology. 6 (2): 183–187. doi:10.1128/jvi.6.2.183-187.1970. PMC 376106. PMID 5533704.
  31. ↑ Il'in, G. I.; Kyazimova, A. A.; Solilova, L. V.; Smorodintsev, A. A. (1969-12-01). "Changes in phagocytic activity of peritoneal exudate cells of mice immunized with influenza virus". Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine. 68 (6): 1380–1382. doi:10.1007/BF00790301. ISSN 1573-8221.
  32. ↑ Zhilova, G. P.; Alexandrova, G. I.; Zykov, M. P.; Smorodintsev, A. A. (1977). "Some Problems of Modern Influenza Prophylaxis with Live Vaccine". The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 135 (4): 681–686. ISSN 0022-1899.
  33. ↑ Smorodintsev, A. A.; Karpuhin, G. I.; Zlydnikov, D. M.; Malyševa, A. M.; Švecova, E. G.; Burov, S. A.; Hramcova, L. M.; Romanov, Ju A.; Taros, L. Ju; Ivannikov, Ju G.; Novoselov, S. D. (1970-12-31). "The prophylactic effectiveness of amantadine hydrochloride in an epidemic of Hong Kong influenza in Leningrad in 1969*". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 42 (6): 865–872. ISSN 0042-9686. PMID 5312248.
  34. ↑ "Vaccine against mumps". BMJ. 2 (5555): 779–780. 1967-06-24. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5555.779. ISSN 0007-1447.
  35. ↑ Nasibov, M. N.; Smorodintsev, A. A. (1968-12-01). "An investigation into the nature of the intracellular inclusions formed by mumps virus, as determined by the combined use of immunofluorescence and methylgreen-pyronin stain". Archiv für die gesamte Virusforschung. 24 (4): 319–331. doi:10.1007/BF01243073. ISSN 1432-8798.
  36. ↑ KOVALEV MIKHAIL P; STANYUKOVICH KIRILL P; SMORODINTSEV ANATOLIJ A; IVLIEV SLAVIJ A; ANDRIANKIN ERAST I; GUBERNSKIJ YURIJ D; DMITRIEV MIKHAIL T (1981). "METHOD FOR OZONIZATION OF ENVIRONMENT AIR AND DEVICE FOR EFFECTING SAME". European Patent Office.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  37. ↑ ORLOV, VALERIJ A; ERMOLAEVA, OLGA M; MALIKOVA, EMMA V; SHESTAKOVA, VALENTINA S; ZAKHARINA, VERA N; KONSTANTINOV, VALERIJ K; ZHILOVA, GALINA P; SMORODINTSEV, ANATOLIJ A (1984). "METHOD OF PROPHYLAXIS OF INFLUENZA". European Patent Office.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. ↑ Lange, Elmars. "Remantadīns, tā izgudrotājs Jānis Polis un Organiskās sintēzes institūts - 2009.g. 23.februāris". archive.lza.lv. Archived from the original on 2021-04-23. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  39. ↑ Smorodintsev, Alexander A.; Gvozdilova, Diana A.; Romanov, Yury A.; Makarjev, Georgy S.; Rudenko, Valery I.; Aksenov, Oleg A.; Zlydnikov, Dimitry M. (1970). "INDUCTION OF ENDOGENOUS INTERFERON BY USE OF STANDARD LIVE VACCINES FOR PREVENTION OF RESPIRATORY VIRAL INFECTIONS". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 173 (1): 811–822. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1970.tb53474.x. ISSN 0077-8923.
  40. ↑ Smorodintsev, A. A. (1992). "[In memory of the creator of domestic virology, Academician Anatolii Aleksandrovich Smorodintsev]". Trudy Instituta Imeni Pastera. 67: 19–32. ISSN 0202-1447. PMID 8539765.
  41. ↑ "Main". www.influenza.spb.ru. Retrieved 2026-05-06.
  42. ↑ Luzyanina, T. Y. (1971). "Anatolii Aleksandrovich Smorodintsev--70th anniversary". Acta Virologica. 15 (3): 252–253. ISSN 0001-723X. PMID 4397350.
  43. ↑ Raska, K. (1971). "Academician A.A. Smorodintsev (on the occasion of his 70th birthday)". Journal of Hygiene, Epidemiology, Microbiology, and Immunology. 15 (3): 347. ISSN 0022-1732. PMID 4938461.
  44. ↑ De Barbieri, A. (1974). "[Professor A. A. Smorodintsev]". Bollettino dell'Istituto Sieroterapico Milanese. 50 (1): 1–2. ISSN 0021-2547. PMID 4591453.
  45. ↑ Blaskovic, D. (1976). "Professor A. A. Smorodintsev--75th birthday". Acta Virologica. 20 (5): 447. ISSN 0001-723X. PMID 11679.
  46. ↑ Chumakov, M. P. (1981). "[Anatolii Aleksandrovich Smorodintsev (on his 80th birthday)]". Zhurnal Mikrobiologii, Epidemiologii I Immunobiologii (7): 116–120. ISSN 0372-9311. PMID 7025525.
  47. ↑ "[Special issue dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the day of birth of the academician A. A. Smorodintsev]". Trudy Instituta Imeni Pastera. 67: 1–125. 1992. ISSN 0202-1447. PMID 8539761.
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