Mary Jane Merten was born on September 24, 1927, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[3] Her family moved to Beverly Hills, California when she was five, and her father was very supportive of her scientific interests and ambitions.[4]
She joined University of Connecticut School of Medicine as professor in 1968, where, as one of the founding members, she helped develop their medical school program.[2] She served as professor of microbiology in the Department of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology[5] and remained at the University of Connecticut until her retirement in 2014.[2] While there, she served as a professor of microbiology and of molecular biology and biophysics, and headed the University of Connecticut's Department of Microbiology from 1980 to 2002.[2]
It was during her postdoctoral fellowship that she switched research focus to microbiology, examining the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharides[8] which contributed to the development of new antibiotics.[6]Lipopolysaccharides, also known as bacterial endotoxin, are large molecules that are abundant on the surfaces of Gram-negative bacteria and contribute to bacterial toxicity and the immune response they provoke.[6]
She used a combination of biochemical experiments, bacterial genetics, and electron microscopy to investigate how bacteria transport lipopolysaccharides from the cellular interior where they are produced to the outer membrane where they reside.[2] This work required the development of a new technique to separate the inner and outer membranes of Gram-negative bacteria, which became known as the Osborn method.[2] She also researched the mechanisms of bacterial cell division.[5]
Later in her career, she pursued an interest in space biology. Osborn worked for NASA and the National Research Council from the mid-1990s through 2008 on lunar and space exploration projects.[9] In this capacity, she chaired NASA's Committee on Space Biology and Medicine, which helped plan U.S. space biology research in the early 2000s.[2]
She married painter Ralph Osborn. She had no children. She was interested in poetry and the arts, including ballet and opera.[2]
Osborn died January 17, 2019, in Farmington, Connecticut, at the age of 91 following complications after emergency surgery.[2]
Honors and awards
Osborn was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977, the National Academy of Sciences in 1978,[2] and the American Academy of Microbiology in 1992.[5] She was appointed to the National Science Board (governing body of the National Science Foundation) by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.[2]
She was chosen for the Chancellor's Distinguished Lectureship at the University of California, Berkeley in 1982.[5] In 2002, the University of Connecticut Medical School established an annual Osborn Lectureship to honor female scientists.[2]
Osborn, M. J.; Freeman, M.; Huennekens, F. M. (February 1958). "Inhibition of dihydrofolic reductase by aminopterin and amethopterin". Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 97 (2): 429–431. doi:10.3181/00379727-97-23764. ISSN0037-9727. PMID13518295. S2CID26551988.