Richard Clothier: an appreciation

The career of Richard Clothier is reviewed in the light of his long-standing collaboration with Michael Balls and Laurens Ruben at the University of East Anglia (UEA), the University of Nottingham, and Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA. It began with work at UEA on the aetiology of the lymphosarcoma of Xenopus laevis, followed by studies on the effects of exposure to N-nitroso-N-methylurea on T-cell functions, which led to many contributions to comparative immunology. This was followed by the establishment of the FRAME Research Programme, which led to participation in extensive studies on the development of in vitro cytotoxicity tests and their application in acute and topical toxicity testing. A FRAME Trustee since 1983, Richard Clothier was a co-founder, and subsequently Director, of the FRAME Alternatives Laboratory in the University of Nottingham Medical School, where he led successful collaborations with a number of industrial partners and, in particular, with the European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ECVAM).