Evelyn M. Witkin, born Evelyn Maisel (born March 9, 1921) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 geneticist

Geneticist

A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...

 whose research has been widely influential in the areas of DNA mutagenesis and DNA repair

DNA repair

DNA repair refers to a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as UV light and radiation can cause DNA damage, resulting in as many as 1...

.

Witkin was born in New York City to Jewish parents. She received her Bachelor's degree in 1941 from 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...

, where she majored in zoology

Zoology

Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...

. She went on to undertake graduate studies at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, where she worked on genetics with Theodosius Dobzhansky

Theodosius Dobzhansky

Theodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky ForMemRS was a prominent geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the unifying modern evolutionary synthesis...

, but she choose to work with bacteria instead of Dobzhansky's preferred organism - Drosophila

Drosophila

Drosophila is a genus of small flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "fruit flies" or more appropriately pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit...

. Witkin chose to study mutagenesis after reading Hermann J. Muller's 1922 paper on the nature of the gene and she specifically chose to work with Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...

for her PhD studies because Salvador Luria and Max Delbrück

Max Delbrück

Max Ludwig Henning Delbrück was a German-American biophysicist and Nobel laureate.-Biography:Delbrück was born in Berlin, German Empire...

 had recently demonstrated the feasibility of studying mutagenesis in that model.

In 1944, Witkin spent the summer at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neurobiology, plant genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. The Laboratory has a broad educational mission, including the recently established Watson School of Biological Sciences. It...

 (CSHL). During her stay she isolated a UV radiation-resistant mutant of E. coli; this was the first time mutations conferring UV radiation-resistance were isolated. She returned to CSHL in 1945 and stayed there to complete her PhD research; her degree was conferred in 1947 and was employed by the Carnegie Institution to continue work at CSHL until 1955. Witkin then worked at the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn until 1971. Witkin was appointed Professor of Biological Sciences at Douglass College, Rutgers University

Rutgers University

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...

 in 1971 and was named Barbara McClintock Professor of Genetics in 1979, and then moved to the Waksman Institute at Rutgers in 1983.

Witkin's research since the completion of her PhD was based on DNA mutagenesis, her mutagenesis work led to her work on DNA repair. By characterizing the phenotypes of mutagenised E. coli, she and colleague Miroslav Radman

Miroslav Radman

Miroslav Radman is a prominent Croatian biologist and a member of the French Academy of Sciences. Radman's specialty is DNA repair; in 1974 he discovered the SOS response...

 (at the time a post doctoral student at Harvard) detailed the SOS response

SOS response

The SOS response is a global response to DNA damage in which the cell cycle is arrested and DNA repair and mutagenesis are induced. The SOS uses the RecA protein . The RecA protein, stimulated by single-stranded DNA, is involved in the inactivation of the LexA repressor thereby inducing the response...

 to UV radiation in bacteria in the early 1970s. She continued to work on the mechanism of the SOS response until she retired in 1991. The SOS response to DNA damage was a seminal discovery because it was the first coordinated stress response to be elucidated.

Honors

Witkin was elected as a member of the 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...

 in 1977, at the time she was one of the few women elected to the Academy; a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for the Advancement of Science

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...

 (1980); and a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She was awarded the 2000 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal

Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal

The Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal is a medal awarded for lifetime contributions to the field of genetics. The medal is awarded by the Genetics Society of America.-Award recipients:* 1981 Barbara McClintock and Marcus M. Rhoades* 1982 Sewall Wright...

 and her contributions to science have been recognized by the United States government as she was awarded the National Medal of Science

National Medal of Science

The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...

 in 2002;

For her insightful and pioneering investigations on the genetics of DNA mutagenesis and DNA repair that have increased our understanding of processes as varied as evolution and the development of cancer.

Personal life

Evelyn Witkin was married to psychologist Herman A. Witkin; their children include Joseph Witkin, an emergency physician and founding member of Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na is an American rock and roll group. The name is taken from a part of the long series of nonsense syllables in the doo-wop hit song "Get a Job", originally recorded in 1957 by the Silhouettes....

, and Andrew Witkin

Andrew Witkin

Andrew P. Witkin was an American computer scientist who made major contributions in computer vision and computer graphics.-Career:...

, a software developer at Pixar. She is also the grandmother of four.