Google celebrates British geneticist pioneer fertilization

(ANSA) - ROME, APRIL 26 - On the occasion of its birth, which took place 94 years ago, Google dedicates today's doodle to Ann McLaren, the British geneticist who was among the pioneers of developmental biology, from the first research on artificial fertilization to those on chimeras.

    Daughter of Baron Sir Henry McLaren, she studied zoology at Oxford. Her initial studies on fruit flies led her to specialize at University College London in 1949, where she began her research on genetics in rabbits and mouse viruses. In 1952 he married his fellow student Donald Michie, with whom he worked together for several years, also at the Royal Veterinary College. McLaren began his research on fertility in mice, and in 1958 published in the journal Nature a landmark study, with John D. Biggers, on the early development and birth of in vitro fertilized mice. Between 1955 and 1959 she had three children and in 1959 she divorced her husband, with whom she remained on good terms. Between 1959 and 1974 he worked at the Edinburgh Institute of Animal Genetics, with research on fertility, epigenetics,the transfer of embryos and the skeletal characteristics of chimeras. In 1974 he returned to London as director of the British Medical Research Council on Mammalian Development, a post he left in 1992 to move to the WellCome Institute in Cambridge. In 2004 he was one of the founders of the Frozen Ark project to save the DNA and cells of endangered species in the world, while in 1975 he became a member of the Royal Society, and then its vice president between 1992 and 1996. Among the many honors received , we should mention the Medal of the Order of the British Empire in 1993 and the Japanese award in 2002 with Andrzej K for his contribution to developmental biology. Ann McLaren died on July 7, 2007, aged 80, in a car accident with her ex-husband. (HANDLE).