Brigid Hogan facts for kids

Brigid L. M. Hogan is a famous British scientist. She is known for her important work in understanding how living things develop, especially mammals (like mice and humans). She also does research on stem cells and special ways to change genes.

Today, she is a Professor at Duke University in the USA. She was born in the UK but became an American citizen in 2000.

Brigid Hogan earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Cambridge. She then did more research at MIT. She led a lab in London that studied how molecules affect embryos. Later, she became a professor at Vanderbilt University and helped start a program there for stem cell research. In 2002, she moved to Duke University.

Her work on how mice develop led her to create a special course. She also helped edit a very important book called Manipulating the Mouse Embryo: A Laboratory Manual. This book is like a "bible" for scientists who work with mammal embryos.

She has been the president of two big science groups: the American Society for Developmental Biology and the American Society for Cell Biology. She has also been part of important panels that advise the government on science topics, including human embryo research and cloning. In 2008, she won a special award for her amazing work with gene technologies. She has also given several important lectures, including the Croonian Lecture in London in 2014.

Early Life and Education

Brigid Hogan was born in Denham, a small village near London, England, in 1943. Both of her parents were artists. Her father, who designed sets for plays, passed away in 1945 after returning from World War II. Her mother, a dressmaker, raised Brigid and her sibling by herself. Her mother was a great support and inspiration to her.

Growing up near nature helped Brigid develop a love for biology. Her scientific way of thinking also helped her deal with challenges at home. She went to High Wycombe High School for girls. Her biology teacher there encouraged her to apply to Cambridge University. She was accepted into Newnham College, which was an all-women's college at Cambridge. At that time, some male professors at Cambridge had negative attitudes towards women students.

A Career in Science

When Brigid Hogan finished her studies at Cambridge, there were no courses in cell or developmental biology. So, she went to MIT in the USA to do more research. There, she studied how sea urchins develop.

Around 1974, she returned to Britain and started working on mouse embryonic stem cells. She worked at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London. A scientist named Anne McLaren encouraged her to focus on mouse development, and she has continued this work ever since. She led the Laboratory of Molecular Embryology in London. One of her students, Peter Holland, became famous for his work on how vertebrates (animals with backbones) have changed over time.

In 1988, Brigid Hogan moved to the USA to work at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She became a Professor of Cell Biology and helped start the Stem Cell and Organogenesis Program. From 1993 to 2002, she was also an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She really liked the American excitement for science, especially for women in science. She felt her time at Vanderbilt was "one of the most productive and exciting" parts of her career.

In 2002, after 13 years at Vanderbilt, she moved to Duke University Medical Center. She became the head of the Cell Biology department. This was a big deal because she was the first woman to lead a basic science department there.

At Duke University, she was a special professor of Molecular Biology until 2018. Even after stepping down as chair in 2019, she continues to be very active in the Cell Biology Department. Her lab studies the lung, which develops through a process called "branching morphogenesis." To help with this, she created many special mouse lines. These mice allow scientists to change genes in specific lung cells. She is very interested in the stem cells of the mouse lung. She uses them as models to understand human lung cells that are affected by diseases. She hopes her research can help people with conditions like COPD, cystic fibrosis, chronic asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, and premature babies who have problems with their lung development.

Awards and Achievements

Brigid Hogan has received many important awards and recognitions for her scientific work:

• 1986 – Became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization
• 1993–2002 – Was an Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• 1996 – Became a member of the Institute of Medicine
• 2001 – Became a Fellow of the Royal Society
• 2001 – Served as President of the American Society for Developmental Biology
• 2001 – Became a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2003 – Became a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• 2005 – Became a member of the National Academy of Sciences
• 2008 – Won the International Society for Transgenic Technologies Prize
• 2009 – Served as President of the American Society for Cell Biology
• 2014 – Gave the Croonian Lecture
• 2015 – Received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Developmental Biology
• 2019 – Received the Duke University Medical School Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2019 – Received the FASEB Excellence in Science Lifetime Achievement Award