Anne McLaren was an exceptional scientist. She made fundamental advances in genetics which paved the way for the development of human in vitro fertilisation. She played an important role in discussions of ethical issues relating to embryos and stem cells, serving on the Warnock committee and later on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. As foreign secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society – elected FRS in 1975, she was the first woman in the 331 years of its existence to become one of its officers – she travelled widely. In addition to promoting scientific exchanges and raising awareness of the medical and educational needs of developing countries, she was also a role model for women in science.
Anne Laura McLaren was born in 1927, the daughter of Henry McLaren, the 2nd Baron Aberconway, and Christabel MacNaghten. The family were industrialists with an interest in Liberal politics, women’s suffrage and the beautiful gardens created at Bodnant in North Wales. She was educated at Longstowe Hall and Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford where she took a first in zoology and, in 1952, a DPhil. She studied mite infestation in fruit flies with J. B. S. Haldane, the genetics of rabbits with Peter Meda-war and mouse viruses under Kingsley Sanders.
She moved to London as a research fellow, first at University College and then at the Royal Veterinary College. She worked with Donald Michie, later her husband, on mice, which became her preferred animal. She studied the effects of the mother on the development of the spinal column in her offspring, and on the influence of “super-ovulation” on fertility. In 1958, working with John Biggers, she produced the first litter of mice grown from eggs that had developed in tissue culture and then been transferred to a surrogate mother. This advance led to the development of successful treatments for infertile women using in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer.
She spent the next 15 years, 1959-74, at the Institute of Animal Genetics in Edinburgh, eventually becoming a principal scientific officer. Here she successfully nurtured a large group of graduate students. Her particular mixture of unstinting support, tolerance, sense of fun and a highly developed critical faculty made her an ideal supervisor. Her refusal, even when she had done a considerable amount of the work, to include her name on the scientific papers generated (an honourable practice rarely seen today) was deeply appreciated.
McLaren was actively involved in many research projects on infertility and embryonic development. This work involved developing the techniques needed for the successful transfer of embryos. She also studied reproductive immunology, contraception and the characteristics of chimeras produced by the fusion of different embryonic cells.
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In 1974 she left Edinburgh to be the director of the Medical Research Council’s new Mammalian Development Unit at University College London. Here she carried on her research, and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1986. In 1991 she became foreign secretary and vice-president of the Royal Society.
In 1992 McLaren moved to the Gur-don Institute in Cambridge. She continued the research, developed in London, on primordial germ cells that mature into sperms or eggs. She described these as “the most fascinating cells of all – still deeply mysterious”.
Interested in how they converted into stem cells, she studied their properties by putting them back into early embryos and monitoring their contributions to the developing adult. She compared them with the stem cells that can be obtained from early embryos. The reprogramming of germ cells into stem cells is crucial to understanding how a cell in an adult can be turned into one capable of generating many other kinds of cells. She maintained her interest in the formation of sperms and eggs, in the influence of sex chromosomes on the development of germ cells and in the activity of these chromosomes in modifying other chromosomes in the germ cells.
She was appointed a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, in 1992 and became a Fellow Commoner at Christ’s College. In 1994 she was made an honorary Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College. She was appointed DBE in 1993, and was president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1993-94.
Throughout her working life she en-deavoured to promote the careers of women in the sciences, and in 1995 became president of the Association for Women in Science and Engineering.
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She was a trustee of the Natural History Museum London, 1994-2003, where she was much appreciated for her wisdom and vision. Membership of the Government’s Warnock committee on human fertilisation and embryology was followed by ten years working on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority that served to regulate IVF and the research and use of human embryos.
McLaren – she always preferred to be addressed as Dr McLaren rather than Dame or Professor – received numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Japan Prize for her work in developmental biology, the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Medal of the Royal Society and the Marshall Medal of the Society for the Study of Fertility. She was a foreign member of many academic institutions overseas, including the Polish Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1986 she was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for her outstanding contribution to the field of fertility. In 1991 she became a Founder Fellow in the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution.
In addition to writing two academic books and more than 330 research papers, she served on many committees, councils and editorial boards, often as chairman or scientific adviser. They included the World Health Organisation’s Special Programme on Human Reproduction and the Panel on Sustainable Development.
A lesser-known early achievement, at 9 years of age, was when, with charming confidence, she appeared with Raymond Massey and Ralph Richardson in the film Things to Come (1936) based on a story by H. G. Wells.
During her last few years McLaren served as trustee of the Frozen Ark project which she had co-founded. This aims to preserve the DNA and viable cells of the world’s endangered animal species before they become extinct. She was convinced that the stored material would provide an invaluable source of genetic information for future generations, and a “back-up” for conservation breeding programmes.
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Her research interests in stem cells led her to make a notable contribution to the ethical debate about their generation and use, in particular those made from early human embryos. She became a member of the Nuffield Foundation’s Bioethics Council and the European Group on Ethics that advises the European Commission on the social and ethical implications of new technologies. She was a long-term member and council member of the Pugwash Conferences. This group, which was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1995, is devoted to reducing the danger from all forms of armed conflict and seeks to raise awareness of the ethical issues that arise from scientific advance.
McLaren died in a car crash. Donald Michie, her former husband, scientific colleague, father of her children and lifelong friend, was travelling with her and also died in the accident.
Her death is a tremendous loss to the world of science and to her colleagues, students, many friends and all those who were lucky enough to enter her orbit. Her particular blend of idealism, effectiveness and all the splendid personal qualities for which she was held in such high regard will make her greatly missed.
McLaren is survived by two daughters and her son.
Dame Anne McLaren, DBE, FRS, geneticist, was born on April 26, 1927. She died in a car accident on July 7, 2007, aged 80