Mary-Claire King '67
From CarlWiki
Mary-Claire King, Class of 1967, is American Cancer Society Professor in the departments Medicine and Genetics, and Affiliate Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Washington University.
Dr. King’s group at the university studies the genetics of complex, common human conditions. Their primary areas of interest are breast and ovarian cancer and inherited deafness. Their approach is to apply human genetics and genomics to identification and characterization of critical genes in informative families and populations. Because these conditions are not purely genetic, they also study the interaction between genetic and environmental influences on human traits. Dr. King’s lab also applies genomic sequencing to the identification of victims of human rights abuses. -University of Washington, School of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics web page [1]
Her research established that there was a mutation on a single gene in the women she studied. This mutation was responsible for an inherited form breast cancer, and the gene where it occured was named BRCA 1. A breakthrough in the understanding of breast cancer, her finding opened up new lines of research for many other scientists to pursue with her. -A biographical sketch at the Pharmaceutical Achievers web site [2]
Starting in the middle 1980s, King worked to re-unite families in Argentina. She used genetics to identify Argentine children whose parents had been murdered by military officials during the civil war. The identifications were used to reunite the children with their grandparents. -Columns, the University of Washington alumni magazine
King has received honorary degrees from Carleton, Brown, Harvard, Smith, Bard, Dartmouth, and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
External links
- A Genetic Disposition in the Carleton Voice, fall of 2002
- Mary-Claire King - A biographical sketch at the Pharmaceutical Achievers web site
- Mary-Claire King - Wikipedia profile
- King Lab at the University of Washington"
