Rose Scott-Moncrieff

Rose Scott-Moncrieff
Born	1903 England, United Kingdom
Died	1991 United Kingdom
Nationality	White, British
Education	University of Oxford, University of Cambridge (PHD)
Known for	Founding of the science of bio-chemical genetics
Spouse(s)	Oswald Mapletoft Meares
Children	Two, Jean Meares, John Meares

Rose Scott-Moncrieff (Mrs O.M. Meares) (1903-1991), was an English biochemist, credited with founding the science of bio-chemical genetics.

She was born Rose Scott-Moncrieff in 1903 and she received a PhD from Cambridge. However because she was female she was given only a certificate and she was not allowed to join the university. in 1930. She worked at the John Innes Horticultural Institution. In the 1930s she worked alongside some of the leading figures in chemistry and genetics, and her recollections of her career were recounted in her book 'The Classical Period in Chemical Genetics. Recollections of Muriel Wheldale Onslow, Sir Robert Robinson and J. B. S. Haldane'.

In the 1930s Rose Scott-Moncrieff and her colleagues published a number of seminal papers in the Biochemical Journal which determined the metabolic sequence and genetic basis of pigment biosynthesis in flowers. Their research laid the foundation for the field of biochemical genetics or molecular biology.

In 1929 Scott-Moncrieff received a small grant from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research which enabled her to begin work with J B S Haldane on the molecular biology of flower colour. In the early period of their collaboration she was based in the laboratory of Professor Gowland Hopkins at the University of Cambridge where Haldane was a Reader. Their experiments were mainly carried out at Merton College, Oxford on the chemistry of anthocyanins. Haldane persuaded her to widen her research to include the chemical and genetic study of flower pigmentation. He also introduced her to the geneticists at JIHI where she started on a biochemical survey of related genotypes.

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