Lillian Haldeman Moore

Lillian Haldeman Moore (née Lillian Virginia Haldeman; August 8, 1929 – November 21, 2020) was an American microbiologist who was instrumental in founding The Anaerobe Lab at Virginia Tech. The Anaerobe Lab was built in 1970 and lab scientists led the world in developing techniques to grow and identify anaerobic bacteria in culture. She was an authority in the field of anaerobic bacteriology and food poisoning.^[1]

Lillian Virginia Haldeman -- whose name was sometimes misspelled as Holdeman -- was born in Moberly, Missouri, in 1929, and nicknamed "Peg".^[2] The family moved to Tampa, Florida, where she graduated from Plant High School. She graduated with a B.S. from Duke University in 1951. She worked at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) for 15 years where she learned bacteriology and took night classes at the University of Georgia.^[2]

Under the name Lillian Haldeman, she earned her Ph.D. from Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, in 1962. Her thesis was entitled "Growth and Toxin production of Clostridium botulinum type F", where she noted the precursors for the intracellular production of the deadly toxin.^[3] She was married to fellow microbiologist and colleague W.E.C. Moore.^[4]

Haldeman joined Virginia Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Tech) in 1966, as a professor of bacteriology. Later, she served as the associate director of the university’s Anaerobic Bacteriology Laboratory. Haldeman, with the laboratory group, edited and published the first laboratory manual, called the Anaerobe Manual that was focused specifically on methods for isolating, culturing and identifying anaerobic bacteria in 1977.^[5] Her initial research was on botulinum and then expanded to include intestinal and fecal bacteria. She identified a new genus of Coprococcus and detailed other intestinal flora.^[6] Later, Holdeman studied bacteria that cause periodontal disease and other oral bacteria.^[7]

Her research collaboration with W.E.C. Moore (her future husband) on anaerobic bacteria was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and NASA, which enabled Virginia Tech Anaerobe Lab to become a major recognized research institute in the area of bacteriology and veterinary sciences.^[1] Between these two grants, they isolated and defined 150–200 new types of human intestinal bacteria. This study of intestinal bacteria populations was examined in relation to colon cancer. Haldeman investigated the link between diets and relationship to culture and disease. Supported by a NASA grant, she investigated the exchange of bacterial microbiomes among people isolated in space capsules.

In the initial weeks of a Skylab simulation in the early 1970s, Haldeman observed that astronauts had an increase from 2% to 25% in the intestinal populations of hydrogen-gas-producing Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (over 26 trillion bacteria) which later proved to be due to a work-conflict stress in the simulation. This increase in B. theta paralleled similar spikes observed in the intestinal population of a diet study volunteer undergoing extreme stress.^[4] As a later comparison using graduate students revealed no increase in B. theta, Haldeman concluded that graduate studies did not constitute extreme stress.^[4]

The research group at the Anaerobe lab collected tens of thousands of specimens of anaerobic bacteria. Haldeman recruited John Johnson, Louis C. Smith and C.S. Cummings to the laboratory group.^[8] She retired in 1996.^[1]

Haldeman was awarded the title of University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech for contributions to anaerobic bacteriology research in 1976.^[9]

The bacterium genus Holdemania includes Gram-positive, strictly anaerobic and non-spore-forming bacterium from the family of Erysipelotrichaceae, with two known species: Holdemania filiformis^[10][11] and Holdemania massiliensis.^[12]

• Research Gate Profile researchgate.net. Accessed March 22, 2024.
• Virginia Tech History: Building Chronology, unirel.vt.edu. Accessed March 22, 2024.
• Anaerobe laboratory manual: by the staff of the Anaerobe Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ... / ed. by Lillian V. Holdeman and W. E. C. Moore. Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Anaerobe Laboratory. 2nd ed. Blacksburg, Va.: V.P.I. Anaerobe Laboratory, 1973.