Noreen Murray
| Noreen Murray | |
|---|---|
| Born | Noreen Elizabeth Parker 26 February 1935 Lancashire |
| Died | 12 May 2011 (aged 76) Edinburgh |
| Nationality | English |
| Fields | molecular genetics |
| Institutions | |
| Alma mater | |
| Notable awards | Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Spouse | Kenneth Murray (1958-2011; her death) |
Lady Noreen Elizabeth Murray (née Parker) CBE, FRS FRSE (26 February 1935 – 12 May 2011) was an English molecular geneticist who helped develop a vaccine against hepatitis B, the first genetically-engineered vaccine approved for human use. During her career she was recognised internationally as a pioneer and one of Britain's most distinguished and highly respected molecular geneticists. Until her 2001 retirement she held a personal chair in molecular genetics at the University of Edinburgh. She was president of the Genetical Society, vice president of the Royal Society, and a member of the U.K. Science and Technology Honours Committee.
Noreen Parker was brought up in the village of Read, Lancashire, then from the age of five in Bolton-le-Sands. She was educated at Lancaster Girls' Grammar School, at King's College London (BSc), and received her Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in 1959.
Noreen was a committed researcher, she worked at Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and the Medical Research Council (UK) before first joining the University of Edinburgh faculty in 1967. She briefly moved to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory from 1980–82, but returned to Edinburgh where she was awarded a personal chair of Molecular Genetics in 1988. At Edinburgh, she produced a considerable body of work focused on uncovering the mechanisms and biology of restriction enzymes, and their adaptation as tools underpinning modern biological research. It is notable that she has many single author publications; she was generally the main instigator and sole technical contributor. In 1968 Noreen had become interested in the phenomenon of host-controlled restriction (the ability of bacterial cells to "restrict" foreign DNA) and decided to study this phenomenon in Escherichia coli using bacteriophage lambda and her knowledge of bacteriophage genetics.
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