Elizabeth F. Neufeld

Elizabeth Fondal Neufeld (born September 27, 1928) is an American geneticist whose research has focused on the genetic basis of metabolic disease in humans.

Life

Neufeld and her Russian Jewish family emigrated to the United States from Paris in 1940; they had left Europe as refugees to escape Nazi persecution. The family settled in New York, where she attended Hunter College High School before graduating from Queens College in 1948 with a Bachelor of Science. She went on to work as a research assistant at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine looking at blood disorders in mice. Later on, she attended graduate school at University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a Ph.D. in 1956 for her work on nucleotides and complex carbohydrates.

Neufeld has been widely recognized for her contributions to science. She has been awarded the Wolf Prize, the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1994 "for her contributions to the understanding of the lysosomal storage diseases, demonstrating the strong linkage between basic and applied scientific investigation."

Fritzl case

The Fritzl case emerged in April 2008 when a 42-year-old woman, Elisabeth Fritzl (born April 6, 1966), told police in the town of Amstetten, Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years in a concealed corridor part of the basement area of the large family house by her father, Josef Fritzl (born April 9, 1935), and that Josef had physically assaulted, sexually abused, and raped her numerous times during her imprisonment. The abuse by her father resulted in the birth of seven children; four of whom joined their mother in captivity (one dying just days after birth), while the other three were raised by Josef and his wife, Rosemarie, having been reported as foundlings.

Elisabeth Fritzl's confinement

Three of Elisabeth's children were imprisoned with their mother: 19-year-old daughter Kerstin and sons Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5. Another, Michael, died of respiratory problems three days after birth, having been deprived of all medical help; his body was incinerated by Josef Fritzl on his property. The three other children were raised by Josef and his wife Rosemarie in the upstairs home. Josef claimed that he had discovered the children outside his house as foundlings: Lisa at 9 months in 1993, Monika at 10 months in 1994, and Alexander at 15 months in 1997. When the eldest daughter, Kerstin became seriously ill, Josef acceded to Elisabeth's pleas to take her to a hospital, triggering a series of events that eventually led to their discovery.