14 Facts About Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch was a German-born US geneticist and co-founder of the field of developmental genetics, which investigates the genetic mechanisms of development.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch studied chemistry and zoology in Konigsberg and Berlin before she joined Spemann's laboratory at the University of Freiburg in 1928.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch commented on both Spemann's nationalist tendencies and prejudice against women scientists; prejudices she faced as a Jewish woman limited her career options in Germany.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch started to quietly disagree with Spemann as him and his peers believed adamantly that there was no overlap in genetics and embryonic development.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch went on to become a lecturer at Columbia University in 1936, bringing embryological acumen to Leslie C Dunn's genetics laboratory, where she remained for 17 years.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch attempted to find mutations that affected early development and discover the processes that these genes affected.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch left Columbia University in 1953 to commence a professorship in anatomy at the newly founded Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she became a full professor in 1958 and held the chair of molecular genetics from 1963 to 1976.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch received emeritus status in 1978, but continued researching actively for many more years, publishing and participating in scientific conferences until the 1990s.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch died a month after her 100th birthday in New York City.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch presented her work showing that the T-locus product acted as an inducer of mesoderm and axial development.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch worked on the genetics of differentiation, the process by which unspecified cells from a fertilized egg adopt their various specific fates in development.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch's research showed that mutations in the Brachyury gene of the mouse caused the aberrant development of the posterior portion of the embryo and she traced the effects of this mutant gene to the notochord, which normally patterns the dorsal-ventral axis.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1980.

Salome Gluecksohn-Waelsch became an overseas member of the Royal Society in 1995 and was awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal for "a lifetime contribution to the science of genetics" in 1999.