Barbara Ruben Migeon (born July 31, 1931) is a professor at the
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
Institute of Genetic Medicine. She founded the Johns Hopkins program in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology. Migeon is the author of ''Females are Mosaics: X inactivation and sex differences in disease''. She was awarded the
American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics
The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) is an organization composed of biochemical, clinical, cytogenetic, medical and molecular geneticists, genetic counselors and other health care professionals committed to the practice of ...
Dimes/Colonel Harland D. Sanders Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Early life and education
Migeon was born in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
. Her parents were born to Russian immigrants, and her father was a general practitioner. Migeon was inspired by his enthusiasm for his job, and he encouraged her to study medicine. Her father saw patients at the family home, as well as making home visits. She was a student at
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
where she majored in
pre-medical
Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...
science. She has said that this was the first time she saw women "do everything". Migeon was rejected from the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
The University of Roc ...
School of Medical and later found out it was likely because she was a woman. Migeon applied for a job as a technician in the Stanbury
Thyroid
The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thy ...
Lab at
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...
, and simultaneously submitted an application to medical school at the
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...
where she studied medicine. She spent one summer as an extern at
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...
working in surgery. Despite enjoying surgery, she realized that it would not be an "acceptable" profession for women.
Research and career
After graduating from the
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...
, Migeon joined
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
, where she completed her residency. She gained some research experience during her residency, working on
sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis (also known as ''Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease'') is a disease involving abnormal collections of inflammatory cells that form lumps known as granulomata. The disease usually begins in the lungs, skin, or lymph nodes. Less commonly af ...
, X-linked
heterozygotes
Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism.
Mo ...
and
endocrinology
Endocrinology (from '' endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental event ...
. Migeon married
Claude Migeon
Claude Jean Migeon (1923 – March 4, 2018) was a French pediatric endocrinologist who spent the majority of his career at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Early life
Migeon was born in 1923 in Lievin, France, to Andre Migeon, a printer, and Pauline D ...
, an endocrinologist at Johns Hopkins, in 1960. He had been a Fellow of
Lawson Wilkins
Lawson Wilkins (1894-1963) was a pioneering pediatric endocrinologist. He is known along with John Money for pioneering surgeries for visibly intersex newborns.
Honors
*Borden Award, American Academy of Pediatrics (1953)
*Amory Prize, American Aca ...
, but Wilkins would not appoint women as fellows. Instead, Migeon got her own
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
grant to work at the
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2012 is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care children's hospital located in Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent both to its teaching affiliate, Harvard Medical Scho ...
. She eventually returned to Johns Hopkins to become the first fellow of the geneticist
Barton Childs
Barton Childs (February 29, 1916 – February 18, 2010) was an American
. During the fellowship she was taught by H. Bentley Glass and Carl Swanson and worked in the cytogenetics laboratory of
Malcolm Ferguson-Smith
Malcolm Andrew Ferguson-Smith, (born 5 September 1931) is a British geneticist.
Early life and education
Ferguson-Smith was born in Glasgow in 1931, the son of physician John Ferguson-Smith and educated at Stowe School. He graduated from the ...
. Then Migeon began as an instructor in Pediatrics at Hopkins working in
cytogenetics
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 an ...
which was only just starting, as cytogeneticists were beginning to identify the chromosomal basis of various diseases.
Migeon set up her own laboratory in the Children's Medical Centre in 1965, and was made a full professor in 1979. During her extensive investigations into
human genetics
Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population gene ...
, Migeon even investigated her own chromosome, using herself as a control in her experimental investigations. She realized that her own
chromosome 13
Chromosome 13 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 13 spans about 114 million base pairs (the building material of DNA) and represents between 3.5 and 4% of the total DNA ...
had a
telomere
A telomere (; ) is a region of repetitive nucleotide sequences associated with specialized proteins at the ends of linear chromosomes. Although there are different architectures, telomeres, in a broad sense, are a widespread genetic feature mos ...
truncation, and became aware of the likelihood of familial benign variations.
Migeon was inspired by
Mary F. Lyon
Mary Frances Lyon (15 May 1925 – 25 December 2014) was an English geneticist best known for her discovery of X-chromosome inactivation, an important biological phenomenon.
Early life and education
Mary Lyon was born on 15 May 1925 in Norwic ...
, and began to study
G6PD
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD or G6PDH) () is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
: D-glucose 6-phosphate + NADP+ + H2O 6-phospho-D-glucono-1,5-lactone + NADPH + H+
This enzyme participates in the pentose phosph ...
markers and
X-inactivation
X-inactivation (also called Lyonization, after English geneticist Mary Lyon) is a process by which one of the copies of the X chromosome is inactivated in therian female mammals. The inactive X chromosome is silenced by being packaged into ...
. She researched differences in
TSIX
Tsix is a non-coding RNA gene that is antisense to the Xist RNA. Tsix binds Xist during X chromosome inactivation. The name Tsix comes from the reverse of Xist, which stands for X-inactive specific transcript.
Background
Female mammals have ...
, showing that it is only transcribed in from an inactive
X chromosome
The X chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes (allosomes) in many organisms, including mammals (the other is the Y chromosome), and is found in both males and females. It is a part of the XY sex-determination system and XO sex-d ...
, as well as demonstrating that the female heterozygous for a deficiency of
hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase
Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) is an enzyme encoded in humans by the ''HPRT1'' gene.
HGPRT is a transferase that catalyzes conversion of hypoxanthine to inosine monophosphate and guanine to guanosine monophosphate. This r ...
(HPRT) are
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
for two types of cells; which demonstrated normal and deficient
HPRT
Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT) is an enzyme encoded in humans by the ''HPRT1'' gene.
HGPRT is a transferase that catalyzes conversion of hypoxanthine to inosine monophosphate and guanine to guanosine monophosphate. This r ...
levels. She was able to clone sections of the
X chromosome
The X chromosome is one of the two sex-determining chromosomes (allosomes) in many organisms, including mammals (the other is the Y chromosome), and is found in both males and females. It is a part of the XY sex-determination system and XO sex-d ...
in the 1980s. Migeon has argued that women have an advantage over men in coping with disease and the environment owing to
X-inactivation
X-inactivation (also called Lyonization, after English geneticist Mary Lyon) is a process by which one of the copies of the X chromosome is inactivated in therian female mammals. The inactive X chromosome is silenced by being packaged into ...
. She was at a meeting
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, and quantitative biology.
It is one of 68 institutions supported by the Cancer Centers ...
shortly after her work on
X-inactivation
X-inactivation (also called Lyonization, after English geneticist Mary Lyon) is a process by which one of the copies of the X chromosome is inactivated in therian female mammals. The inactive X chromosome is silenced by being packaged into ...
was becoming mainstream, when a group of women researchers voiced their support for the study. Migeon describes women as
genetic mosaic
Mosaicism or genetic mosaicism is a condition in multicellular organisms in which a single organism possesses more than one genetic line as the result of genetic mutation. This means that various genetic lines resulted from a single fertilized ...
s due to their two distinctly different kinds of cells.
In 1978 Migeon founded the Johns Hopkins University PhD program in human genetics, a program she directed until 1989. Migeon disagreed with
Lawrence Summers
Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pre ...
' remarks about women scientists.
Migeon served on the editorial boards of ''
Cancer Research
Cancer research is research into cancer to identify causes and develop strategies for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and cure.
Cancer research ranges from epidemiology, molecular bioscience to the performance of clinical trials to evaluate and ...
'' and the ''
Journal of Experimental Zoology
''Journal of Experimental Zoology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of zoology established in 1904. In 2003, the journal was split into the ''Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology,'' currently edited by Da ...
''.
Personal life
Migeon was married to
endocrinologist
Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...
Claude Migeon
Claude Jean Migeon (1923 – March 4, 2018) was a French pediatric endocrinologist who spent the majority of his career at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Early life
Migeon was born in 1923 in Lievin, France, to Andre Migeon, a printer, and Pauline D ...
. Together they have three children, Jacques Claude, Jean-Paul and Nicole.
Awards and honors
*1971 Marian Spencer Faye Board Award
*2016
American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics
The American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) is an organization composed of biochemical, clinical, cytogenetic, medical and molecular geneticists, genetic counselors and other health care professionals committed to the practice of ...
Dimes/Colonel Harland D. Sanders Lifetime Achievement Award