The Mary Lyon Award

The International Mammalian Genome Society (IMGS) is pleased to announce the establishment of a new award in honor of Dr. Mary Frances Lyon. Dr. Lyon was a founding member of the IMGS and remained active in the society through 2008. She began her scientific career at Girton College of the University of Cambridge in 1943, with Zoology as her main area of study. At that time, less than 10% of students were women, and women were awarded only “titular” degrees. Dr. Lyon subsequently secured a post-graduate degree position with Dr. R.A. Fisher at Cambridge, which was completed at the University of Edinburgh under the direction of Dr. Douglas Falconer. Dr. Lyon then took a position with Dr. T.C. Carter, working on a project funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to use the mouse to study radiation mutagenesis. She moved to Harwell with Carter in 1955, remaining there until she retired. While Dr. Lyon is perhaps best remembered for her ground-breaking 1961 paper in the journal Nature which first described the random inactivation of the X-chromosome in female eutherian mammals, her involvement in mutagenesis projects and her interest in embryogenesis led to additional important advances in genetics. Dr. Lyon also made significant contributions to the mouse genetics community as editor of Mouse News Letter, chair of the Committee on Standardized Genetic Nomenclature for Mice, and was a great supporter and mentor of mouse geneticists early in their careers.

In recognition of Dr. Mary Lyon’s role as a mentor and her remarkable career, begun at a time when very few women became scientists, the IMGS has established the Mary Lyon Award for early- and mid-stage independent female researchers. The IMGS will cover expenses for awardees to participate in an International Mammalian Genome Conference and give an oral presentation of their work. Nominations, including the name of the nominee, their email address, CV or Orcid ID, and the name of one individual who can provide a recommendation letter, should be sent to millerdr@med.unc.edu. Note that nominees need to be IMGS members, but can join at the time of the nomination. Self-nominations are welcome.

Nominations can be sent at any time.  Specific deadlines will be set for selection of awardees before each conference.