Science under the spectre of war

• Science is a global pursuit.
• We can learn from the story of Dr Rajko Igić, a Serbian pharmacologist and toxicologist.
• Dr Igić’s research helped transform our understanding of eye health.
• He escaped war in Yugoslavia, but not its lingering consequences.
• Science is collaborative and we should help researchers still working under the spectre of war.

Vintners have a saying about their succulent charges: struggle builds character, meaning grapes exposed to challenging conditions develop notable wine. The same could be said for scientific research – struggle can produce remarkable output. That is undoubtedly true for Dr Rajko Igić, a Serbian pharmacologist and toxicologist. His work emerged against the backdrop of one of the most harrowing conflicts of modern times, and his story echoes that of other refugee scientists and those still committed to research while surrounded by war.

Igić started his research career after a medical degree and an internship, working as a physician at various medical facilities in the 1970s in Yugoslavia. After a two-year post-doctoral scientific research internship at the University of Oklahoma in the United States, he returned to Yugoslavia, where he embarked on a period of significant research output, interrupted by an event that would shatter his world.

A country ripped apart

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Yugoslavia, a central and eastern European state containing the socialist republics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Serbia, started to fragment.

The ethnically and religiously diverse country had been held together by the force of will of its president, Josip Broz Tito. After his death in May 1980, growing nationalism within several republics started pulling the country apart, exposing centuries of ethnic and religious enmity between Slovenes, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Kosovar Albanians, Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs, who were predominantly Orthodox Christian, and Croats, who were mainly Catholic. In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence, leading to short conflicts. But, in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, tensions escalated into a full-scale war characterised by brutal ethnic conflict and atrocities; neighbours turned on each other.

At this time, Igić, a Serb, was a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at several institutions in the cities of Tuzla and Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He had been studying the autonomic nervous system and vasoactive peptides, protein fragments known to influence blood pressure and blood flow. Of particular interest to Igić was angiotensin, a peptide hormone critical in regulating blood pressure and fluid and electrolyte balance, and kallikrein, a serine protease enzyme found in the blood and various tissues. He was drawn to their systemic effects within cardiovascular and renal functions but looked beyond the obvious organs – the heart and kidneys. A pivotal moment of Igić’s research came with his identification of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) in the human eye. It shouldn’t have been there.

The eye as a window

ACE is a powerful component of the renin-angiotensin system, a hormone system crucial for cardiovascular and renal (kidney) functions. Angiotensin is initially produced by the liver in its inactive form as angiotensinogen. When blood pressure falls, the kidney releases an enzyme called renin, which converts angiotensinogen into angiotensin I, a relatively inactive peptide. It is ACE that converts angiotensin I into angiotensin II, a potent vasoconstrictor – it narrows blood vessels, increasing blood pressure, which, if ungoverned, threatens the heart.

Igić knew that proper blood flow is crucial for retinal health and function, and his discovery of ACE in the eye helped focus attention on angiotensin II’s role in regulating blood flow to ocular tissues, including the retina. If ACE was present in the eye, this suggested ACE inhibitors designed to reduce blood pressure could also help treat a raft of ocular diseases. This insight helped transform our understanding of eye health.

However, Igić’s discovery cast light on a bigger picture: the connection between ocular health and systemic health, especially blood pressure and fluid and electrolyte regulation. It became clear that the eye can be a window to our overall health. This attracted the attention of two significant players in our understanding of human health.

Igić’s discovery cast light on a bigger picture: the connection between ocular health and systemic health.

Collaboration and the clouds of war

Dr Ervin G Erdos and Dr Ulf S von Euler, two prominent scientists known for their significant contributions to physiology and pharmacology, particularly in the field of biochemistry and the study of biologically active peptides and neurotransmitters, took notice of Igić’s work, realising it built on their foundational research. So, they reached out to him, eventually becoming research collaborators and close friends, and visited Igić at his home in Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Little did the three scientists know then that Igić and his home would be targeted.

Before Bosnia and Herzegovina imploded in 1992, Tuzla was known for its ethnically diverse population and relatively harmonious inter-ethnic relations. However, the outbreak of war rekindled centuries-old divisions within this largely Bosnian Muslim-controlled, highly strategic city. The decades of prestige and respect Igić had earned as an industrious academic and highly popular lecturer evaporated, replaced with an animus for his Serbian heritage. Bosnia and Herzegovina turned on one of its most famous scientists.

Sensing the situation, and with his wife and sons safely in Chicago with friends at the time, Igić fled to join his mother in Sombor, Serbia. He had no sooner left when crowds seized his home and property; he lost everything. He was appointed to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, but although his family were safe, they were unsettled and financially precarious. This weighed heavily on Igić. It all became too much for him, and shortly thereafter, he suffered a massive heart attack.

A wake-up call

Igić survived the heart attack and, as soon as he was well enough, joined his family in Chicago, where he was offered the position of senior scientist with the Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Management at the John H Stroger Jr Hospital of Cook County. Soon, he got a grant from the American Heart Association to support his cardiovascular research. He eventually settled back into academic life, but events in Tuzla and the unfolding war in Bosnia and Herzegovina left an indelible mark. He became a tireless campaigner for peace in the region. He found a voice for his passion in a seemingly unscientific medium: poetry and op-ed articles, which found their way into several publications, including The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, The Saint Ann’s Review, and a book titled Bear River Review: Responds to War, published in 2006.

Scientific research is often a cumulative and collaborative process, linking researchers from all over the world.

Now in his mid-80s, Igić remains committed to science and still publishes scientific and other work, mostly with colleagues. However, his story should be a charged wake-up call. Science is a global pursuit, unhindered by human’s perceived disunity. ACE sits in every eye, irrespective of what people see through it. Right now, scientists remain at work in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Palestinian territories, and other regions of the world racked by war. They work under extremely challenging conditions, including limited resource access, damaged infrastructure, and personal safety risks. Despite this, they continue their research, driven by a commitment to knowledge and the development of their communities.

Igić’s work with Erdos and von Euler is also a reminder that scientific research is often a cumulative and collaborative process, linking researchers from all over the world. We owe it to Igić and other scientist refugees and those still facing the ravages of war to offer any support we can. There are various ways to do this. Academic support through research collaboration and providing access to resources is one way, and so is offering funding and grants – financial support for academics can come under strain during wartime. Research organisations can help relocate scientists from war zones by offering haven through fellowships. Sometimes, simply reaching out to provide emotional and psychological support can help, or drawing attention to their plight through advocacy and including them in long-term network and community building.

Whatever way we can, we should help researchers working under the spectre of war. Their struggle adds strength and character to science.