Mary Higby Schweitzer

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mary Higby Schweitzer
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Scientific career
FieldsPaleontology

Mary Higby Schweitzer is an American

paleontologist at North Carolina State University, who led the groups that discovered the remains of blood cells in dinosaur fossils and later discovered soft tissue remains in the Tyrannosaurus rex specimen MOR 1125,[1][2] as well as evidence that the specimen was a pregnant female when she died.[3]

Biography

Schweitzer's mobile laboratory, Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman (Montana)

Schweitzer earned a B.S. in

Montana State University in 1988. Under the direction of mentor Jack Horner, she received her Ph.D. in Biology
from Montana State University in 1995.

She has three children.[4]

Based at North Carolina State University, Schweitzer is currently researching molecular paleontology, molecular diagenesis and taphonomy, evolution of physiological and reproductive strategies in dinosaurs and their bird descendants, and astrobiology.[5]

Discoveries

In 2000, Bob Harmon, chief preparator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, discovered a Tyrannosaurus skeleton in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana. After a two-year retrieval process, Jack Horner, director of the Museum, gave the femur bone to Schweitzer. Schweitzer was able to retrieve proteins from this femur in 2007.[6]

Schweitzer was the first researcher to identify and isolate

sauropod egg shells.[7] With respect to the significance of her work, Kevin Padian, Curator of Paleontology, University of California Museum of Paleontology, has stated "Chemicals that might degrade in a laboratory over a short period need not do so in a protected natural chemical environment...it's time to readjust our thinking."[8]

Schweitzer previously announced similar discoveries in 1993.[9][10] Since then, the claim of discovering soft tissues in an ancient fossil has been disputed by some

PLoS ONE (30 July 2008) challenged the claims that the material found is the soft tissue of Tyrannosaurus. A more recent study (October 2010) published in PLoS ONE contradicts the conclusion of Kaye and supports Schweitzer's original conclusion.[12]
Evidence for the extraction of short segments of ancient DNA from dinosaur fossils has been reported on two occasions.[13] The extraction of protein, soft tissue, remnant cells and organelle-like structures from dinosaur fossils has been confirmed.[14][15][16] Blood-derived porphyrin proteins have also been discovered in a mid Eocene mosquito fossil.[17]

In the developing field of

paleoproteomics, Schweitzer has also discovered that iron particles may play a part in the preservation of soft tissue over geologic time.[18]

Awards and honors

On April 28, 2018, Schweitzer became the first recipient of the Dr. Elizabeth 'Betsy' Nicholls Award for Excellence in Palaeontology at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre's Dig Deep Gala event. As the award recipient Schweitzer was the keynote speaker and presented on her research.[19][20]

On March 20, 2019 the journal Nature Communications published a paper naming an extinct bird "

medullary bone ] and for her role in establishing the field of molecular paleontology."[21]

References

  1. PMID 17148248
    .
  2. ^ Hitt J (2005). "New discoveries hint there's a lot more in fossil bones than we thought". Discover. October. Archived from the original on February 22, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
  3. ^ "Geologists Find First Clue To Tyrannosaurus Rex Gender In Bone Tissue". Science Daily. 2005-06-03. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
  4. ^ Yeoman, Barry (2006). "Schweitzer's Dangerous Discovery". Discover (April).
  5. NCSU
    .
  6. ^ Wilfor, John Noble (April 12, 2007). "Scientists Retrieve Proteins From Dinosaur Bone". New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2011.
  7. PMID 15888409
    .
  8. ^ Perlman, David (April 13, 2007). "T. Rex Tissue Offers Evolution Insights". San Francisco Chronicle.
  9. ^ Schweitzer, Mary H. (Sep 23, 1993). "Biomolecule Preservation in Tyrannosaurus Rex". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 13: 56A.
    doi:10.1080/02724634.1993.10011533
    .
  10. ^ Schweitzer, Mary H.; Cano, R. J.; Horner, J. R. (Sep 7, 1994). "Multiple Lines of Evidence for the Preservation of Collagen and Other Biomolecules in Undemineralized Bone from Tyrannosaurus Rex". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 14: 45A.
    doi:10.1080/02724634.1994.10011592
    .
  11. PMID 18665236
    .
  12. ^ Peterson, J. E.; Lenczewski, M. E.; Reed, P. S. (October 2010). Stepanova, Anna (ed.). "Influence of Microbial Biofilms on the Preservation of Primary Soft Tissue in Fossil and Extant Archosaurs". PLOS ONE. 5 (10): 13A.
    PMID 20967227
    .
  13. PMID 23085295
    .
  14. PMID 21687667
    .
  15. PMID 23414624
    .
  16. PMID 26595531
    .
  17. PMID 24127577
    .
  18. ^ Schweitzer, Mary H.; Zheng, Wenxia; Cleland, Timothy P.; Goodwin, Mark B.; Boatman, Elizabeth; Theil, Elizabeth; Marcus, Matthew A.; Fakra, Sirine C. (January 2014). "A role for iron and oxygen chemistry in preserving soft tissues, cells and molecules from deep time". Proc. R. Soc. B. 281 (1775): 20132741.
    PMID 24285202
    .
  19. ^ "World renown fossil hunter accepts award of excellence in Manitoba | Watch News Videos Online". Global News. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  20. ^ "Dig Deep: Renowned Fossil Hunter to Keynote Morden Gala | ChrisD.ca". ChrisD.ca. 2018-01-28. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  21. PMID 30894527
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mary_Higby_Schweitzer&oldid=1221425673"