Anne McLaren’s work helped lead to human in vitro fertilisation (IVF). She received many honours for her contributions to science, and became the first-ever woman Officer of the Royal Society, when she was made Foreign Secretary, then Vice-President. She was a Trustee of the Oxford International Biomedical Centre, which commissioned this annual lecture.

This year’s lecture will examine Anne McLaren’s work from the perspective of collaborator and friend, Professor Liz Simpson FRS, FMedSci, OBE. Of her work, and friendship with Anne McLaren, Professor Simpson writes:

”Anne and I were introduced by Peter Medawar at the Christmas party at his Hampstead house in 1975. We shared an interest in genes on the mammalian Y chromosome from two points of view; Anne’s related to sex determination during embryonic development, mine to expression of the male specific transplantation antigen, HY. Combining our skills in genetics and immunology was a challenging and very enjoyable venture that enabled us to prise apart the genes controlling those two traits and created a strong friendship and led us to explore other questions”

This event is in-person and will also be streamed live, and recorded. There will also be a photographer taking photos at the event. If you are booking to attend online, you will receive a link with your event reminder email.

Refreshments will be served from 5 pm in the Kellogg Hub, followed by the lecture at 5.30 pm.

This event is free and open to all. Registration is required.