Maxine Singer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Maxine Frank (1931-02-15)February 15, 1931[1] New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 9, 2024(2024-07-09) (aged 93) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Alma mater | Swarthmore College (BA) Yale University (PhD) |
| Known for | Recombinant DNA techniques |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, includingAmy andStephanie |
| Awards | AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility (1982) National Medal of Science (1992) Vannevar Bush Award (1999) Public Welfare Medal (2007) ASCB Public Service Award (2008) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Molecular BiologyBiochemistry |
| Doctoral advisor | Joseph Fruton |
Maxine Frank Singer (néeFrank; February 15, 1931 – July 9, 2024) was an Americanmolecular biologist and science administrator.[2] She was known for her contributions to solving thegenetic code, her role in the ethical and regulatory debates onrecombinant DNA techniques (including the organization of theAsilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA), and her leadership ofCarnegie Institution of Washington.
In 2002,Discover magazine recognized her as one of the 50 most important women in science.[3]
Maxine Frank was born in New York City to Henrietta and Hyman Frank.[1] Her father was a lawyer, and her mother a homemaker.[1][4]
After attendingMidwood High School inBrooklyn,[5] she majored in chemistry and minored in biology atSwarthmore College.[6] She went on to earn a PhD in 1957 atYale University, researchingprotein chemistry underJoseph Fruton.[1]
After graduating, Fruton encouraged her to specialize innucleic acids, and in 1956 she joined the Laboratory of Biochemistry ofLeon Heppel at theNational Institutes of Health.[7] She led various biochemical research groups as the Chief of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer institute between 1980 and 1987.[8]
In the wake of the 1973 report of the first use ofrecombinant DNA techniques to introduce genes from one species into another, Singer was among the first to call attention to the possible risks of genetic engineering. She was a chairperson of the 1973Gordon Conference on Nucleic Acids, where the possible public health risks of the technique were discussed,[9] and she helped to organize the 1975Asilomar Conference on Recombinant DNA that resulted in guidelines for dealing with the largely unknown risks of the technique.[2]
Singer was elected a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978.[10] In 1988, she became president of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, a position she held until 2002.[11] She was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1990.[12] Singer received theNational Medal of Science in 1992 "for her outstanding scientific accomplishments and her deep concern for the societal responsibility of the scientist"[13] and was the first woman to receive theVannevar Bush Award, in 1999.[14] In 2007, she was awarded thePublic Welfare Medal from theNational Academy of Sciences.[15]
Singer made important contributions to the fields ofbiochemistry andmolecular biology.[1] Her research with Leon Heppel on the role of enzymes that regulate synthesis of nucleic acids played a part in helpingMarshall Nirenberg andHeinrick Matthaei to decipher the genetic code.[16] They studiedpolynucleotide phosphorylase, an enzyme that can join individual nucleotides into randomRNA sequences. They investigated the base compositions of these polynucleotides usingelectrophoresis andpaper chromatography, which enabled them to understand how the enzyme catalyzed their synthesis.[16] These experiments allowed them to create a library of artificial RNA strands with defined sequences, such as a molecule made of only triplets ofuracil that would code forphenylalanine. These artificial polynucleotides were used by Nirenberg to support the hypothesis that RNA plays a key role in the synthesis of proteins using information from DNA. The RNA sequences that Singer produced were used to match each of the twenty amino acids to a different RNA nucleotide triplet.[16]
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Singer's research included the study ofchromatin structure andgenetic recombination of viruses. During her time as the head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer Institute in the 1980s, her research focused on LINEs, orlong interspersed nucleotide elements.[16] She focused on LINE-1, aretrotransposon found in mammalian genomes that is scattered in thousands of places in the human genome, which she concluded is capable of movement and insertion into new places in the chromosomal DNA.[17] She studied the mechanism of how LINE-1 replicates and disperses copies to new locations in the genome, and found that the insertion of these elements could induce mutations in nearby genes, playing a role in genetic disease.[16]
Besides her scientific research, Singer was influential in refining science policy.[1] When she was the co-chair of theGordon Conference in 1973, she raised concerns over the potential health effects and risks in the relatively new field ofrecombinant DNA technology.[8] She organized the 1975Asilomar conference in order to bring together scientists to impose restrictions and draw guidelines on recombinant DNA research, where she recommended resumption of research under cautious safeguards until more was known about the potential biohazards of recombinant DNA technology.[18][19]
Singer was also an advocate for women and inclusivity in science.[20] She wrote an editorial inScience arguing that universities should encourage women pursuing science and engineering rather than wasting their skills due to unintentional bias against them.[21] Singer also introduced the "First Light" project, a science education program for elementary school students in Washington, D.C. aiming to improve mathematics and science education in schools.[8]
Singer wrote over 100 scientific papers, and also published several books with co-author Paul Berg intended to help the public have a better understanding of molecular genetics, includingGenes and Genomes (1991),Dealing with Genes (1993), andGeorge Beadle: An Uncommon Farmer (2003).[19] In 2018 she publishedBlossoms: And the Genes that Make Them, which describes the genetic and evolutionary reasons that flowers bloom.[22]
Maxine married Daniel Singer, a Swarthmore classmate and political science major, in 1952.[23][1] They had four children: Ellen,Amy, David, andStephanie.[24][1]
Singer died fromchronic obstructive pulmonary disease andemphysema at her home in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2024, at the age of 93.[23][1]
