Adrienne Clarke was born in 1938 in Australia and spent the majority of her life as a Professor of Botany at the University of Melbourne. Having grown up in the mid-20th century and entering a predominantly male dominated field, she experienced sexism at the hands of her peers. In that day and age, woman scientists were not only rare but frowned upon so I think it is particularly amazing how accomplished Adrienne Clarke is having to overcome so many obstacles. Once she completed an undergraduate honors degree in biological sciences, she then went on to earn her PhD. Clarke’s work throughout her career has provided a deeper understanding of the biochemistry and genetics of flowering plants, how they reproduce and how they grow. These discoveries have allowed for a variety of new industrial implementations for the control of disease of crops and insect pests. An incredible accomplishment achieved by her and her team is that they were the first to clone a couple of genes, including that which regulates self-compatibility in plants. They were also able to clone the “c” DNA of a protein known as the Arabinogalactan protein, another protein that is essential for cell division and expansion in plant growth and development. She herself describes her areas of expertise as the molecular basis of self-incompatibility, the chemistry and biology of a class of proteoglycans, the arabinogalactan-proteins and proteinase Inhibitors and their use in control of insect development. She is also co-editor of several scientific books in the fields of chemistry, genetics, and cell biology.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 