Maxine Frank Singer, PhD, was an American molecular biologist. After earning her doctorate in biochemistry from Yale University in 1957, Singer specialized in nucleic acid research, a then-obscure field. She joined Leon Heppel of the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism, and Digestive Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their work contributed to the deciphering of the genetic code in the early 1960s. Singer was also influential in refining science policy. She was an organizer of the 1975 Asilomar conference, which drew up guidelines and established the framework for the conduct of recombinant DNA research. After learning that postdoctoral students were choosing not to work with her because she was a woman, Singer became an outspoken advocate of women in science. In 2002, Discover magazine recognized her as one of the 50 most important women in science.
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