1. Maxine Frank Singer was an American molecular biologist and science administrator.
21 Facts About Maxine Singer
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Maxine Singer was known for her contributions to solving the genetic code, her role in the ethical and regulatory debates on recombinant DNA techniques, and her leadership of Carnegie Institution of Washington.
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Maxine Singer's father was a lawyer, and her mother a homemaker.
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Maxine Singer went on to earn a PhD in 1957 at Yale University, researching protein chemistry under Joseph Fruton.
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Maxine Singer led various biochemical research groups as the Chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer institute between 1980 and 1987.
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Maxine Singer was a chairperson of the 1973 Gordon Conference on Nucleic Acids, where the possible public health risks of the technique were discussed, and she helped to organize the 1975 Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA that resulted in guidelines for dealing with the largely unknown risks of the technique.
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Maxine Singer was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978.
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Maxine Singer was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1990.
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Maxine Singer received the National Medal of Science in 1992 "for her outstanding scientific accomplishments and her deep concern for the societal responsibility of the scientist" and was the first woman to receive the Vannevar Bush Award, in 1999.
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Maxine Singer made important contributions to the fields of biochemistry and molecular biology.
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The RNA sequences that Maxine Singer produced were used to match each of the twenty amino acids to a different RNA nucleotide triplet.
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Maxine Singer's research included the study of chromatin structure and genetic recombination of viruses.
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Maxine Singer focused on LINE-1, a retrotransposon found in mammalian genomes that is scattered in thousands of places in the human genome, which she concluded is capable of movement and insertion into new places in the chromosomal DNA.
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Maxine Singer studied the mechanism of how LINE-1 replicates and disperses copies to new locations in the genome, and found that the insertion of these elements could induce mutations in nearby genes, playing a role in genetic disease.
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Besides her scientific research, Maxine Singer was influential in refining science policy.
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Maxine Singer organized the 1975 Asilomar conference in order to bring together scientists to impose restrictions and draw guidelines on recombinant DNA research, where she recommended resumption of research under cautious safeguards until more was known about the potential biohazards of recombinant DNA technology.
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Maxine Singer was an advocate for women and inclusivity in science.
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Maxine Singer wrote an editorial in Science arguing that universities should encourage women pursuing science and engineering rather than wasting their skills due to unintentional bias against them.
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Maxine Singer introduced the "First Light" project, a science education program for elementary school students in Washington, DC aiming to improve mathematics and science education in schools.
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Maxine Singer wrote over 100 scientific papers, and published several books with co-author Paul Berg intended to help the public have a better understanding of molecular genetics, including Genes and Genomes, Dealing with Genes, and George Beadle: An Uncommon Farmer.
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Maxine Singer died from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema at her home in Washington, DC, on July 9,2024, at the age of 93.