Ann Chester Chandley

DSc DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State Col ...

, F.I.Biol.,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(died 19 February 2020) was an international

cytogeneticist Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis a ...

with the Medical Research Council unit which became the Human Genetics Unit at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. She became a Fellow of the Institute of Biology in recognition of her contribution and a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

Career

Chandley's work began at

Christie Hospital The Christie Hospital in Manchester, England, is one of the largest cancer treatment centres in Europe. It is managed by The Christie NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital was established by a committee under the chairmanship of Richard Ch ...

with A.J. Bateman which established

principles A principle is a proposition or value that is a guide for behavior or evaluation. In law, it is a rule that has to be or usually is to be followed. It can be desirably followed, or it can be an inevitable consequence of something, such as the la ...

of sexual selection in

gamete A gamete (; , ultimately ) is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. In species that produce t ...

s. Chandley also worked with Holt Radium Institute, and focussed on mutations and

meiosis Meiosis (; , since it is a reductional division) is a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually-reproducing organisms that produces the gametes, such as sperm or egg cells. It involves two rounds of division that ultimately resu ...

cell division, using cytogenetic methodology. These studies were on ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species ...

'' and she completed her PhD in 1968. Chandley then moved on to study genetics in mammals and joined the Human Genetics Unit at Edinburgh. She was a visiting researcher at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

with L. C. Dunn and

Dorothea Bennett Dorothea Bennett (December 27, 1929 in Honolulu, Hawaii – August 16, 1990 in Houston, Texas) was a geneticist, known for the genetics of early mammalian development and for research into mammalian sperm surface structures and their role in ...

and

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research and ...

Dan Lindsley and Rhoda Grell. Her research with Herb Stern and Yasuo Hotta which published in 1977, 'demonstrated conservation of the basic processes of meiotic recombination between plants and mammals.' Her work with Tim Hargreave on the impact of chromosomal variants on fertility, and studying the

Y-chromosome The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes (allosomes) in therian mammals, including humans, and many other animals. The other is the X chromosome. Y is normally the sex-determining chromosome in many species, since it is the presence or abse ...

using new techniques. Researching with Kun Ma, Chandley found an

RNA binding protein RNA-binding proteins (often abbreviated as RBPs) are proteins that bind to the double or single stranded RNA in cells and participate in forming ribonucleoprotein complexes. RBPs contain various structural motifs, such as RNA recognition motif ...

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

RBMY on the Y-chromosome which 'may be involved in regulating germline splicing activity'. Due to the interest in causes of male infertility, she studied 1600 infertile males, and undertook technical projects on a subset. Chandley wrote about the research techniques and impact for human conditions such as

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

. Her work with Roger Short and Twink Allen included the first description of the mechanism which caused infertility in horses and mules and hybrids, which helped her become an advisor to hybrid-breeders and visiting in China and Mongolia. She was on the editorial board of the science journal ''

Chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

Research.'' Chandley produced or collaborated in 130 research publications in her career. When she was due to retire in 1997, a tribute and appreciation ''Festschrift'' celebration was held, and contributions were sought from fellow scientists in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Salisbury, Abingdon,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

, Wirral and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

as well as Germany and Sweden. The event took place at the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

on 5 September 1996.

Personal life and education

Ann Chester Chandley was born in

Gatley Gatley is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, 3 miles north-east of Manchester Airport. History Toponymy Within the boundaries of the historic county of Cheshire, in 1290, Gatley was known as ''Gate ...

, Chesire and graduated in 1957 in Botany Zoology and Chemistry from the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. Chandley was also a patron of the Festival Theatre and wrote to the press to comment on current Scottish political affairs including supporting free transport and speaking out for currency policy in the

2014 Scottish Independence Referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side w ...

External links

* Chandley's publications: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Ann-C-Chandley-60096733

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandley, Ann 2020 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Cytogenetics Alumni of the University of Manchester