Kathryn Virginia Anderson was an Americandevelopmental biologist researching about the various gene and protein interactions that guide the process ofembryogenesis and especiallyneurulation.[1]
Anderson was born inLa Jolla,San Diego in 1952. She was schooled atPoint Loma High School and she has ascribed her interest in biological sciences to its biology teacher and parents.[1] She graduated fromUniversity of California, Berkeley inbiochemistry. In 1973, she began her post-graduate studies inneurodevelopment atStanford University and left after 2 years.[1][clarification needed]
She then enrolled at theUCSF School of Medicine, from what she terms as a "desire to do something for the humanity".[1] However, she disliked the shift from basic sciences and left the course.[1] In 1977, she opted for doctoral studies in the field of genetics with Judith Lengyel atUniversity of California, Los Angeles, which spanned upon the biochemistry ofDrosophila development, specifically examining the co-relation of DNA replication with histone mRNA synthesis.[1][2] She received her Ph.D. degree in 1980.[2]
Asmolecular biology anddevelopmental biology were becoming intrinsically linked, she moved to theFriedrich Miescher laboratory, Germany in 1981 (which had been launched one month before) to work withChristiane Nüsslein Volhard on the genetic control of embryonic development inDrosophila. Combining embryological manipulation with developmental genetics, they identified the molecules that controlled various embryological processes and in particular, thedorsal-ventral signaling.
In 1985, Anderson became an assistant professor at the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology overUniversity of California, Berkeley. She continued her work, identifying several genes involved in dorsal-ventral patterning and cloning them, especially theToll gene. She also delineated the genetic pathway that de-differentiates the various cell types.
From 1993 to 1994, she carried out research in mouse embryonics at theNational Institute for Medical Research, United Kingdom under the guidance ofRosa Beddington.
In 1996, she joined the Molecular Biology Program at theMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York.
She marriedTimothy Bestor, a fellow geneticist atColumbia University in 2004.[1]
She died on November 30, 2020.[3]
She was elected to theNational Academy of Science in 2002.[2] She has been awarded with theThomas Hunt Morgan Medal in 2012 byGenetics Society of America for her lifetime contributions to genetics.[4] She was also awarded theEdwin Grant Conklin Medal by theSociety for Developmental Biology in 2016.[5] In 2013,Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology honored her with theExcellence in Science Award.[5]
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