From mice in Test Tubes to Changing People’s Lives — Dame Anne McLaren

Anne Mclaren

From Mice in Test Tubes to Changing People’s Lives

Dame Anne McLaren

(1927-2007)

Anne McLaren was a notable developmental biologist from the UK whose major contributions include treatment of infertility and stem-cell research. She had many honors in her life but one of the most impressive may have been as the first women to hold offices in the Royal Society (as vice-president and foreign secretary), a society which had not had a women in office for 300 years.

McLaren did a Masters Degree under J.B.S. Haldane. She studied rabbit genetics and murine neurotropic viruses as a PhD student with P. Medawar. She moved to the Royal Veterinary College, London, where she became interested in maternal effects on vertebral elements. As a result of this work, and the related ‘nature versus nurture’ debate, she began to perform embryo transfers and improve methods for implantation of embryos. By mastering these methods she cultured test tube mice and later implanted them into uteri of surrogates.

She next moved to Edinburgh where she continued her work on mammalian reproduction at the Institute of Animal Genetics. Eventually she became director for the MRC Mammalian Development Unit in London and continued her interest in understanding how primordial germ cells develop. During this time she authored two, now classic, books in her field: Germ cells and soma: a new look at an old problem and Mammalian chimaeras.

Given the controversial topics or her research, stem cells and in-vitro conception, her work often intersected with ethical concerns of the time. This included reformation via the Family Law Reform Act and Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act. She did not shy away from discussions on embryonic stem cells and therapeutic cloning.

She was keen to communicate about science both to academics but also the public. She was president of Women in Science and Engineering (AWiSE), a fellow of the Royal Society, and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (Photo courtesy of March of Dimes)