Marilyn Farquhar facts for kids

Marilyn Gist Farquhar (July 11, 1928 – November 23, 2019) was a very important American scientist. She studied cells and diseases. She was a professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Before that, she worked at Yale University.

Marilyn Farquhar won several big awards for her science work. She was married to another famous scientist, George Emil Palade, who won a Nobel Prize. Her research helped us understand how cells work and how some kidney diseases happen.

Early Life and Inspiration

Marilyn Gist Farquhar was born on July 11, 1928. She grew up in Tulare, California, a farming town. Her father was an insurance agent and farmer. He also liked to write novels in his free time. Her mother started college but had to return home before finishing her degree.

Marilyn wanted to become a doctor and biologist. She said her mother's friend, Frances Zumwalt, inspired her. Frances was a children's doctor, called a pediatrician.

Education and Discoveries

Marilyn Farquhar went to the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her first degree in zoology and experimental pathology. After this, she started medical school. In 1951, she married another medical student and they had two sons.

After two years, Marilyn decided to switch to a Ph.D. program. She earned her Ph.D. in experimental pathology in 1955. During her studies, she worked in a lab. She studied kidney diseases. She also worked with the University of Minnesota. They were the first to use a special tool called an electron microscope to see kidney problems very closely.

In 1958, she moved to Rockefeller University. She worked with George Emil Palade, a famous cell biologist. This was an exciting time for cell biology. New electron microscopes were helping scientists make discoveries almost every day. George Palade taught Marilyn a lot about cells.

Together, Farquhar and Palade made a big discovery. They found and named "tight junctions" and "adherens junctions." These are like tiny zippers or glue that hold cells together. Since then, Marilyn continued to study these junctions in kidney cells called podocytes.

Building Her Own Lab

After leaving Rockefeller in 1962, Marilyn Farquhar started her own lab. It was at the University of California, San Francisco. She became a Professor of Pathology. Her lab used special methods to study how cells release substances. This is called the secretory process.

Her work led to a new discovery called "crinophagy." This is how cells get rid of extra secretory materials. It's like a cleanup process inside the cell.

Later Career and Research Focus

In 1970, Marilyn married George Emil Palade. She took a break and went back to Rockefeller University. She was the only woman professor there at the time. In 1973, she returned to the University of California at San Francisco. She stayed there for 15 years as a professor of cell biology and pathology.

In 1987, she joined Palade at Yale University. There, she helped build a new Department of Cell Biology. While at Yale, her research focused on how cells release substances. She also found important parts of the kidney that help it work.

In 1990, Farquhar and Palade moved back to California. They helped build and improve cell and molecular biology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Marilyn became a Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Pathology. She also led the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

Her later work focused on a molecule called GIV. This molecule helps cells move and react to signals. Throughout her life, Marilyn Farquhar saw and helped guide the growth of cell biology.

Key Research Areas

Throughout her career, Marilyn Farquhar's lab focused on two main areas:

• How things move inside cells (called intracellular membrane traffic).
• How autoimmune kidney diseases develop.

Her research used electron microscopes and studied how cells secrete substances. She also looked at how the kidney filters blood. Her work led to many important discoveries. These include understanding how kidney diseases happen. She also found out how cells attach to each other and how they release substances.

The Farquhar Lab at the University of California, San Diego studied how cells signal to each other. This includes processes like secretion, endocytosis (cells taking things in), autophagy (cells cleaning themselves), cell migration (cells moving), and cancer spreading. Her lab also studied how certain proteins, called G proteins, work. They found new molecules that help control G protein signals. These discoveries help us understand how cells work in healthy and sick bodies.

Another main focus was on kidney cells called podocytes. Her team worked on three projects:

• Understanding how a molecule called megalin moves and signals.
• Finding out what podocalyxin does for podocyte structure in healthy and sick kidneys.
• Studying how nephrin, another protein in podocytes, interacts and causes problems.

The goal of these projects was to understand how the kidney filters blood. This helps scientists learn about kidney function in both normal and diseased states.

Her research received funding from important groups. These included the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Awards and Honors

Marilyn Farquhar received many awards for her important scientific work:

• 1981 – President of the American Society of Cell Biology
• 1987 – E.B. Wilson Medal of the American Society of Cell Biology
• 1988 – Homer Smith Medal of the American Society of Nephrology
• 1987 – Distinguished Scientist Medal of the Electron Microscopy Society of America
• 1988 – National Institutes of Health Merit Award
• 1991 – Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1997 – Chancellor's award for Excellence in Research at UCSD
• 1999 – Gomori Award from The Histochemical Society
• 2001 – Rous-Whipple Award of the American Society for Investigative Pathology
• 2006 – Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology Award for Excellence in Science
• 2017 – Revelle Medal

See also

In Spanish: Marilyn Farquhar para niños