| Abstrakt: |
Liane Russell primarily worked in the areas of mammalian genetics, mutagenesis and teratogenesis. Two of her major contributions are the '14-day rule' in radiology and the role of the Y chromosome in mammalian sex determination. Earlier in her career, she studied the effect of radiation on mouse embryonic development. This study highlighted the critical period during development that is most susceptible to the teratogenic effects of radiation. Based on this study, she recommended that whenever possible, exposure of women of child-bearing age to radiation should be restricted to the first two weeks after their last menstrual period to avoid potential damage to their embryos, assuming that the women may be in early pregnancies and unaware of it. This is now known as the '14-day rule'. Later on, along with her colleagues, she showed that in mammals, it is the Y chromosome that determines sex during development and that it is quite different from sex determination in fruitflies, which was well-worked out at that time. This pioneering work has been expanded widely by various researchers to gain an in-depth understanding of the mechanism of sex determination in mammals, especially in humans and its connection with male sterility. Along with her husband and colleagues, she developed the 'Mouse House' at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with the capacity to keep a quarter of a million mice at a time. It lasted for almost 60 years, generating a wealth of information in the fields of basic genetics, cytogenetics, chromosomal behaviour, reproductive biology, mutagenesis and teratogenesis in mammalian development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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