Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren, (26 April 1927 – 7 July 2007) was a British scientist who was a leading figure in developmental biology. Her work helped lead to human

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

(IVF),''The Telegraph'' obituary for Prof. Dame Anne McLaren
9 July 2007 and she received many honours for her contributions to science, including election as fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Early life

McLaren was the daughter of Sir

Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway Henry Duncan McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway, (16 April 1879 – 23 May 1953) was a British politician, horticulturalist and industrialist. He was the son of Charles McLaren, 1st Baron Aberconway and Laura Pochin. Education Born in Richmond u ...

, a former

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MP, and Christabel Mary Melville MacNaghten. She was born in London and lived there until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, when her family moved to their estate at Bodnant, North Wales. As a child she appeared in the film version of H.G. Wells' novel '' Things to Come'', released in 1936. She was entitled to be referred to as "The Honourable Anne McLaren". She read

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, later gaining an MA. Researching mite infestation of ''

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 speci ...

'' under J.B.S. Haldane, she continued her post-graduate studies at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

from 1949, first under

Peter Medawar Sir Peter Brian Medawar (; 28 February 1915 – 2 October 1987) was a Brazilian-British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissu ...

on the genetics of rabbits and then on neurotropic murine viruses under Kingsley Sanders. She obtained her DPhil in 1952 and married fellow student Dr

Donald Michie Donald Michie (; 11 November 1923 – 7 July 2007) was a British researcher in artificial intelligence. During World War II, Michie worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, contributing to the effort to solve " Tunny ...

on 6 October 1952.

Early career and married life

As a couple, McLaren and Donald Michie worked together at University College London from 1952 to 1955, and afterwards at the Royal Veterinary College, on the variation in the number of

lumbar vertebrae The lumbar vertebrae are, in human anatomy, the five vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis. They are the largest segments of the vertebral column and are characterized by the absence of the foramen transversarium within the transverse p ...

in mice as a function of maternal environment. McLaren would later take up research on fertility in mice, including superovulation and superpregnancy. In 1958, she published a landmark ''Nature'' paper with John D. Biggers reporting the first successful development and birth of mice embryos that were first recovered from naturally fertilized females at the 8–16 cells stage, then cultured in vitro for two days until the blastocyst stage, and finally transferred back to females' uterus until birth. This paper entitled "Successful Development and Birth of Mice cultivated in vitro as Early Embryos" has been called "one of the most significant papers in the history of reproductive biology and medicine". During this period, she also had three children: * Susan Michie (born 19 June 1955) * Jonathan Michie (born 25 March 1957) * Caroline Michie (born in 1959) However, the marriage ended in divorce in 1959, and McLaren moved to the Institute of Animal Genetics at

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 ...

to continue her research. The couple remained on good terms; Michie also moved to Edinburgh. The experience of raising children as a single career parent made McLaren a strong advocate for government assistance towards

childcare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

Later career

McLaren spent the next 15 years (1959–1974) at the Institute of Animal Genetics, studying a variety of topics related to fertility, development and epigenetics, including the development of mouse embryonic transfer,

immunocontraception Immunocontraception is the use of an animal's immune system to prevent it from fertilizing offspring. Contraceptives of this type are not currently approved for human use. Typically immunocontraception involves the administration of a vaccine tha ...

, and the skeletal characteristics of chimerae. In 1974, she left Edinburgh to become the Director of the MRC Mammalian Development Unit in London. In 1992, she retired from the Unit and moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...

, joining the Wellcome/CRC Institute, later the Gurdon Institute. She was made a Fellow-Commoner of Christ's College, Cambridge in 1991. McLaren's work often took her outside the university. She was a member of the committee established to inquire into the technologies of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryology, which later produced the Warnock Report. She was a member of the

Nuffield Council on Bioethics The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is a UK-based independent charitable body, which examines and reports on bioethical issues raised by new advances in biological and medical research. Established in 1991, the Council is funded by the Nuffield Fo ...

, 1991–2000. In 2004, McLaren was one of the co-founders of the

Frozen Ark The Frozen Ark is a charitable frozen zoo project created jointly by the Zoological Society of London, the Natural History Museum and University of Nottingham. The project aims to preserve the DNA and living cells of endangered species to retain ...

project, along with husband and wife Bryan and Ann Clarke. The project's aim is "Saving the DNA and viable cells of the world's endangered species". In her later life, she was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain,Letter: Donald Michie and Anne McLaren
(Obituary, comment)

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, 11 July 2007. which made travel to the USA difficult for a while.

Honours

In 1975, McLaren was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

. From 1991 to 1996, she held the position of Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society and from 1992 to 1996 the position of Vice-President; she was the first female officer in the society's 330-year history. In 1986, she was made a Fellow of the

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is a professional association based in London, United Kingdom. Its members, including people with and without medical degrees, work in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, that ...

for her pioneering work on fertility. In 1989 she presented the Ellison-Cliffe Lecture at the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

, and from 1990 to 1995 she was the

Fullerian Professor of Physiology The Fullerian Chairs at the Royal Institution in London, England, were established by John 'Mad Jack' Fuller. Fullerian Professors of Physiology & Comparative Anatomy * 1834–1837 Peter Mark Roget * 1837–1838 Robert Edmond Grant * 1841–1844 Th ...

at the Royal Institution. In 1993, she was created a DBE. From 1993 to 1994, she was president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 1998 she was made a Fellow of the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

. In 2002, she was awarded the Japan Prize with

Andrzej K. Tarkowski Andrzej Krzysztof Tarkowski (4 May 1933 – 23 September 2016) was a Polish embryologist and a professor at Warsaw University. He is best known for his pioneering researches on embryos and blastomeres, which have created theoretical and practical ...

for their contributions to developmental biology, and in 2007 she was awarded the

March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology The March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology is awarded once a year by the March of Dimes. It carries a $250,000 award "to an investigator whose research brings us closer to the day when all babies will be born healthy." It also includes a ...

Death

McLaren (aged 80) and Michie (aged 83) were killed on 7 July 2007, when their car left the M11 motorway as they travelled from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Legacy

The Anne McLaren Papers are housed at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

and can be accessed through the British Library catalogue. There is a fund in the name of Anne McLaren for encouragement of scientific study. Cambridge University's Anne McLaren Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine was opened at the

Cambridge Biomedical Campus The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is the largest centre of medical research and health science in Europe. The site is located at the southern end of Hills Road in Cambridge, England. Over 20,000 people work at the site, which is home to Cambridge ...

in 2009. On 26 April 2021,

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

celebrated her 94th birthday with a

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

Obituaries

* * *

References

External links

Research group homepageTribute from her students
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaren, Anne 1927 births 2007 deaths 20th-century British women scientists 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century biologists 21st-century British scientists 21st-century British women scientists 21st-century biologists Academics of University College London Academics of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Alumni of University College London British women biologists Communist Party of Great Britain members Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Daughters of barons English biologists English zoologists Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Female Fellows of the Royal Society Fullerian Professors of Physiology L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

Michie family National Institute for Medical Research faculty Presidents of the British Science Association Road incident deaths in England Royal Medal winners Scientists from London Women zoologists