14 Facts About Rosa Beddington

Rosa Susan Penelope Beddington FRS was a British biologist whose career had a major impact on developmental biology.

Rosa Beddington was raised with her elder sister, Pippa Beddington.

Rosa Beddington attended Sherborne School for Girls where she not only excelled in academics, but in her arts and sports programs as well.

Rosa Beddington later attended Brasenose College, Oxford; from 1974, obtaining a First in Physiological Sciences in 1977.

Rosa Beddington was the first woman to earn a first-class undergraduate degree at Brasenose.

Rosa Beddington embarked on the study of anterior-posterior axial patterning in mammalian embryos, beginning with her doctoral thesis entitled, "Studies on cell fate and cell potency in the postimplantation mammalian embryo" supervised by Richard Gardner and Virginia Papaioannou, and was awarded a DPhil in 1981.

Rosa Beddington published numerous high-profile papers in her relatively short career.

Rosa Beddington worked extensively on the developmental genetics of axial patterning, germ layer specification, and other phenomena of gastrulation in mammals, including demonstrating that the node is the organizer in mammals.

Rosa Beddington taught at the newly established Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories summer course on manipulating the mouse embryo from 1986, including two years as co-organiser with Robertson.

Rosa Beddington was the meetings secretary for the British Society for Developmental Biology from 1990 to 1995.

Rosa Beddington became on the first women to excel in this area of STEM at the time.

Rosa Beddington has established using her great skills in micromanipulation, many of the key features of gastrulation in the mouse, a fundamental process in mammalian development.

Rosa Beddington was the first to demonstrate the axis-inducing activity of the mouse node and to show that the epiblast gives rise to all the adult organs.

Rosa Beddington died on 18 May 2001 from complications of cancer.