A Cut Above

The Royal Society will for the first time accept papers from a female Fellow, it announced on International Women’s Day this month. The papers are those of Rosa Beddington, who was born on this day in 1956. Beddington is renowned for using microsurgery to study mouse embryos. Her work led to the revision of several scientific concepts, including the idea that if you remove a group of cells from an embryo, these cells could then develop into a second embryo. Beddington showed that the second embryo could not develop fully, and suggested that this was because it was no longer in contact with other body tissue. Her career was cut short when she died from cancer in 2001, aged 45. But her research made a lasting impact. Today, scientists continue her work on the genetics of embryo development using materials she’d shared freely whilst working at the Medical Research Council.

Written by Deborah Oakley

Deborah Oakley

Writer

Deborah is researching healthy cognitive ageing at the University of Cambridge. She previously worked as a science communicator in London, working closely with the BPoD team.

• Image courtesy of The Royal Society
• Image copyright held by The Royal Society