Beatrice Mintz
Encyclopedia
Beatrice Mintz is an American
female embryologist who has contributed to the understanding of genetic modification, cellular differentiation
and cancer, particularly melanoma
.
Mintz was a pioneer of genetic engineering techniques, and was among the first scientists to generate both chimeric
and transgenic mammals. In 1996 she shared the inaugural March of Dimes
Prize in Developmental Biology with Ralph L. Brinster
for their work in developing transgenic mice. Much of her career has been spent at the Fox Chase Cancer Center
in Philadelphia where, in 2002, she was named to the Jack Schultz Chair in Basic Science. Mintz is a member of both the United States National Academy of Sciences
and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
.
magna cum laude from Hunter College
in 1941 and then took graduate studies at New York University
for a year. She transferred to the University of Iowa
where she received a Master's degree
in 1944 and a Ph.D in 1946, studying amphibian
s under Emil Witschi.
(1946-60; interrupted by studies abroad: Mintz was awarded a Fulbright research fellowship at the universities of Paris and Strasbourg in 1951). In 1960 she moved to the Institute for Cancer Research
, which later became the Fox Chase Cancer Center, where she remains on faculty. In the mid 1950s, Mintz switched her research focus from amphibians to mammals and became a pioneer in mammalian transgenesis
.
Mintz and Kristoph Tarkowski independently made the first mouse embryonic chimeras in the 1960s, by aggregating two embryos at the eight-cell
stage. The resultant mice developed normally and their tissues were a mixture of cells derived from the two donor embryos. Mintz went on to create viable chimeric embryos containing blastomere
s from up to fifteen different laboratory mice. She developed a technique that involved mixing cells from a black mouse strain into the blastocyst
s of white or brown mice in vitro
. She then surgically transferred these early embryos into surrogate mothers and, after birth, traced the tissue contribution of each cell type made by studying the coat colour. Her cell fusion technique was successful where others had failed because she chose to remove the zona pellucida
with pronase
treatment, rather than physically. Since 1967 Mintz has created over 25,000 offspring using this technique.
In other studies, Mintz demonstrated that, when combined with normal mouse embryo cells, teratocarcinoma tumor cells could be reprogrammed to contribute to a healthy mouse. These experiments, which took eight years, utilized some of the first pluripotent stem cell cultures ever made.
Mintz and Rudolf Jaenisch
published a technological breakthrough in 1974. Jaenisch was a post-doctoral researcher in Princeton University
at the time and was interested in why only certain types of cancer occurred when he injected adult mice with viruses. Inspired by Mintz's earlier work, he wanted to know whether injecting virus into early-stage embryos would result in the DNA being incorporated, and what types of cancer would occur. Mintz agreed to work with Jaenisch, who joined her lab as a visiting fellow for 9 months. They showed that DNA
from a virus, SV40
, could be integrated into the DNA of developing mice and persist into adulthood without apparent tumor formation. These were the first transgenic mice ever made and proved healthy genetically modified mammals
could be created by viral infection. Using these techniques Mintz was able to establish the genetic basis of certain kinds of cancer and in 1993 she produced the first mouse model of human malignant melanoma.
Medal (1981) and the first March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology
(1996). She won the Papanicolaou Award for Scientific Achievement (1979), the Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine (1990), the American Cancer Society
National Medal of Honor for Basic Research (1997), a citation for Outstanding Woman in Science (1993) from the New York Academy of Sciences, and in 2007 she was a recipient of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize
.
On 8 March 2011 the US National Foundation for Cancer Research announced that its 6th Annual Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research had been awarded to Beatrice Mintz.
Mintz has received honorary doctorate degrees from five universities. She has delivered dozens of special lectures, including the Ninetieth Anniversary Lecture at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (1978) and the first Frontiers in Biomedical Sciences Lecture at the New York Academy of Sciences (1980). She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a senior member of the Institute for Cancer Research, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and served on the editorial boards of various scientific journals.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
female embryologist who has contributed to the understanding of genetic modification, cellular differentiation
Cellular differentiation
In developmental biology, cellular differentiation is the process by which a less specialized cell becomes a more specialized cell type. Differentiation occurs numerous times during the development of a multicellular organism as the organism changes from a simple zygote to a complex system of...
and cancer, particularly melanoma
Melanoma
Melanoma is a malignant tumor of melanocytes. Melanocytes are cells that produce the dark pigment, melanin, which is responsible for the color of skin. They predominantly occur in skin, but are also found in other parts of the body, including the bowel and the eye...
.
Mintz was a pioneer of genetic engineering techniques, and was among the first scientists to generate both chimeric
Chimera (genetics)
A chimera or chimaera is a single organism that is composed of two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated from different zygotes involved in sexual reproduction. If the different cells have emerged from the same zygote, the organism is called a mosaic...
and transgenic mammals. In 1996 she shared the inaugural March of Dimes
March of Dimes
The March of Dimes Foundation is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies.-Organization:...
Prize in Developmental Biology with Ralph L. Brinster
Ralph L. Brinster
Ralph Lawrence Brinster is an American geneticist and Richard King Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.- Birth and education :...
for their work in developing transgenic mice. Much of her career has been spent at the Fox Chase Cancer Center
Fox Chase Cancer Center
The Fox Chase Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center research facility and hospital located in the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The main facilities of the center are located on property adjoining Burholme Park...
in Philadelphia where, in 2002, she was named to the Jack Schultz Chair in Basic Science. Mintz is a member of both the United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Pontifical Academy of Sciences
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences is a scientific academy of the Vatican, founded in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. It is placed under the protection of the reigning Supreme Pontiff. Its aim is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical and natural sciences and the study of related...
.
Early life and education
Beatrice Mintz was born to Samuel and Janie Stein Mintz. She graduatedBachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
magna cum laude from Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
in 1941 and then took graduate studies at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
for a year. She transferred to the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
where she received a Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in 1944 and a Ph.D in 1946, studying amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s under Emil Witschi.
Research
After graduation, Mintz accepted a Professorship in Biological Science at the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
(1946-60; interrupted by studies abroad: Mintz was awarded a Fulbright research fellowship at the universities of Paris and Strasbourg in 1951). In 1960 she moved to the Institute for Cancer Research
Institute for Cancer Research
Institute for Cancer Research can refer to at least two separate organizations:* American Institute for Cancer Research, located in Washington, DC...
, which later became the Fox Chase Cancer Center, where she remains on faculty. In the mid 1950s, Mintz switched her research focus from amphibians to mammals and became a pioneer in mammalian transgenesis
Transgenesis
thumb|300px|right|A diagram comparing the genetic changes achieved through conventional plant breeding, transgenesis and cisgenesisTransgenesis is the process of introducing an exogenous gene – called a transgene – into a living organism so that the organism will exhibit a new property and transmit...
.
Mintz and Kristoph Tarkowski independently made the first mouse embryonic chimeras in the 1960s, by aggregating two embryos at the eight-cell
Cleavage (embryo)
In embryology, cleavage is the division of cells in the early embryo. The zygotes of many species undergo rapid cell cycles with no significant growth, producing a cluster of cells the same size as the original zygote. The different cells derived from cleavage are called blastomeres and form a...
stage. The resultant mice developed normally and their tissues were a mixture of cells derived from the two donor embryos. Mintz went on to create viable chimeric embryos containing blastomere
Blastomere
A blastomere is a type of cell produced by division of the egg after fertilization.- References :* "Blastomere." Stedman's Medical Dictionary, 27th ed. . ISBN 0-683-40007-X...
s from up to fifteen different laboratory mice. She developed a technique that involved mixing cells from a black mouse strain into the blastocyst
Blastocyst
The blastocyst is a structure formed in the early embryogenesis of mammals, after the formation of the morula. It is a specifically mammalian example of a blastula. It possesses an inner cell mass , or embryoblast, which subsequently forms the embryo, and an outer layer of cells, or trophoblast,...
s of white or brown mice in vitro
In vitro
In vitro refers to studies in experimental biology that are conducted using components of an organism that have been isolated from their usual biological context in order to permit a more detailed or more convenient analysis than can be done with whole organisms. Colloquially, these experiments...
. She then surgically transferred these early embryos into surrogate mothers and, after birth, traced the tissue contribution of each cell type made by studying the coat colour. Her cell fusion technique was successful where others had failed because she chose to remove the zona pellucida
Zona pellucida
The zona pellucida is a glycoprotein membrane surrounding the plasma membrane of an oocyte. It is a vital constitutive part of the latter, external but of essential importance to it...
with pronase
Pronase
Pronase is a commercially available mixture of proteinases isolated from the extracellular fluid of Streptomyces griseus. Activity extends to both denatured and native proteins leading to complete or nearly complete digestion into individual amino acids....
treatment, rather than physically. Since 1967 Mintz has created over 25,000 offspring using this technique.
In other studies, Mintz demonstrated that, when combined with normal mouse embryo cells, teratocarcinoma tumor cells could be reprogrammed to contribute to a healthy mouse. These experiments, which took eight years, utilized some of the first pluripotent stem cell cultures ever made.
Mintz and Rudolf Jaenisch
Rudolf Jaenisch
Rudolf Jaenisch is a biologist at MIT. He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch has focused on creating transgenic mice to study cancer and neurological diseases....
published a technological breakthrough in 1974. Jaenisch was a post-doctoral researcher in Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
at the time and was interested in why only certain types of cancer occurred when he injected adult mice with viruses. Inspired by Mintz's earlier work, he wanted to know whether injecting virus into early-stage embryos would result in the DNA being incorporated, and what types of cancer would occur. Mintz agreed to work with Jaenisch, who joined her lab as a visiting fellow for 9 months. They showed that DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
from a virus, SV40
SV40
SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans...
, could be integrated into the DNA of developing mice and persist into adulthood without apparent tumor formation. These were the first transgenic mice ever made and proved healthy genetically modified mammals
Genetically modified organism
A genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
could be created by viral infection. Using these techniques Mintz was able to establish the genetic basis of certain kinds of cancer and in 1993 she produced the first mouse model of human malignant melanoma.
Honors
Mintz has received numerous awards and honors including the first Genetics Society of AmericaGenetics Society of America
The Genetics Society of America is a scholarly membership society of more than 4000 genetics researchers and educators, established in 1931...
Medal (1981) and the first March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology
March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology
The March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology is awarded once a year by the March of Dimes. It carries a $250,000 award "to an investigator whose research brings us closer to the day when all babies will be born healthy." It also includes a medal in the shape of a Roosevelt dime.- Laureates...
(1996). She won the Papanicolaou Award for Scientific Achievement (1979), the Ernst Jung Gold Medal for Medicine (1990), the American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
National Medal of Honor for Basic Research (1997), a citation for Outstanding Woman in Science (1993) from the New York Academy of Sciences, and in 2007 she was a recipient of the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize
Pearl Meister Greengard Prize
The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize is an award for women scientists in biology given annually by .The Prize was founded by Nobel laureate Paul Greengard and his wife Ursula von Rydingsvard in honor of Greengard's mother, Pearl Meister Greengard, who died giving birth to him. Greengard began funding...
.
On 8 March 2011 the US National Foundation for Cancer Research announced that its 6th Annual Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research had been awarded to Beatrice Mintz.
Mintz has received honorary doctorate degrees from five universities. She has delivered dozens of special lectures, including the Ninetieth Anniversary Lecture at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory (1978) and the first Frontiers in Biomedical Sciences Lecture at the New York Academy of Sciences (1980). She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a senior member of the Institute for Cancer Research, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, and served on the editorial boards of various scientific journals.
See also
- Anne McLarenAnne McLarenThe Hon. Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren, DBE, FRS, FRCOG was the daughter of Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway and Christabel McNaughten. She became a leading figure in developmental biology. Her work helped lead to human in vitro fertilisation...
, a contemporary of Mintz's, who also excelled in developmental biology.
External links
- Faculty profile, at the Fox Chase Cancer Center.
- Beatrice Mintz Biography @ answers.com