14 Facts About Noreen Murray

Noreen Murray was president of the Genetical Society, vice president of the Royal Society, and a member of the UK Science and Technology Honours Committee.

Noreen Murray was educated at Lancaster Girls' Grammar School, at King's College London, and received her PhD from the University of Birmingham in 1959.

Noreen Murray worked at Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and the Medical Research Council before first joining the University of Edinburgh faculty in 1967.

Noreen Murray briefly moved to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory from 1980 to 1982, but returned to Edinburgh, where she was awarded a personal chair of molecular genetics in 1988.

In 1968 Noreen Murray had become interested in the phenomenon of host-controlled restriction and decided to study this phenomenon in Escherichia coli using bacteriophage lambda and her knowledge of bacteriophage genetics.

Noreen Murray was married to Sir Kenneth Murray, a noted biochemist with whom she helped develop a vaccine against hepatitis B, the first genetically engineered vaccine approved for human use.

Noreen Murray's obituary describes the impact she made on fellow women scientists in her workplace.

In 2009, Noreen Murray joined the Advisory Panel of Edinburgh bioscience firm BigDNA, which designs and develops vaccines based on the lambda phage carrying DNA-based vaccines.

Noreen Murray was diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease in 2010.

Noreen Murray died with Ken at her side at the Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh, on 12 May 2011, aged 76.

Lady Noreen Murray was elected to the Royal Society in 1982 and the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1989.

Noreen Murray has received honorary degrees from the University of Warwick, the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, the University of Birmingham, and Lancaster University.

Noreen Murray has been given the Fred Griffith Review Lectureship of the Society for General Microbiology and in 1989, for her work with lambda phage, the Gabor Medal of the Royal Society.

Noreen Murray was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours list for 2002.