S3.13 The Cancer Ladies: Maud Slye and Pauline Gross
Kat: Hello, and welcome to Genetics Unzipped - the Genetics Society podcast, with me, Dr Kat Arney. In this episode we tell the stories of two women - one a scientist fascinated by dancing mice, the other a seamstress with a deadly family legacy - who both made significant contributions to our understanding of cancer as a disease driven by genetic changes, paving the way for lifesaving screening programmes for families.
Over the past year or so I’ve been writing a new book, Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution and the Science of Life, exploring what we’ve learned so far about where cancer comes from, where it’s going, and how we might finally beat it. It’s coming out in the UK on the 6th of August and in the US on the 29th September - and is available now to pre-order from rebelcellbook.com. We’ll have some excerpts coming up in a future episode of the podcast.
While I was researching the book, I came across the stories of two remarkable women who both made significant contributions to our fundamental understanding of cancer, but who have tended to be overlooked in many tellings of the history of cancer research. Here are their stories.
Cancer has plagued humanity for our whole existence. But until recently, we knew very little about what caused the disease, how we could prevent it, and how we could treat it. Within my lifetime, the outlook has changed and cancer survival has doubled here in the UK and significantly improved in many parts of the world.
We now have a much better understanding of the disease, leading to more effective treatment, screening and prevention. Today, we know that cancer is the result of a complex interaction between genes and our environment, although we are still unravelling plenty of the details of how cancer develops.
In the early 1900s, scientists began to investigate the causes of cancer. Researchers in the field were divided into two camps: those that believed that cancer was caused by inflammation, and those who thought an infectious disease or a parasite caused it.
Other theories suggested that hormonal imbalance or misplaced embryonic cells could be responsible. Still, for the most part, cancer was considered a disease that was caused by the environment with no hereditary contribution.
It was Maud Slye - a quiet, slight woman from Minnesota - who would change all of that.
Storm-driven: Maud Slye and her dancing mice
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The seamstress and the scientist: Pauline Gross and Family G
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Thanks to Jenny Rohn - also a scientist and a writer - for the voice of Maud Slye.
If you want to hear more about Pauline and Family G, and the impact that their genetic legacy has had on the family down the generations, I highly recommend Daughter of Family G, a memoir by Ami McKay, which I’ve drawn on heavily for this episode. Ami weaves together the strands of family history and science together with her own personal story to create a really compelling and emotional tale.
If you’d like to know more about the story of Maud Slye, then see if you can pick up a second-hand copy of ‘The Cancer Lady – Maud Slye and Her Heredity Studies’ By J.J. McCoy. As a warning, it was written in 1977 and is pretty much exactly what you imagine a 40-year-old biography of a determined and exceptional woman written by a man might be like…
And if you want to line up some reading for the summer, you can pre-order my new book, Rebel Cell, from rebelcellbook.com
That’s all for now. Next time, we’ll be turning our gaze on the genetics of eye disease and the prospects of using gene therapy to restore sight.
You can find us on Twitter @geneticsunzip and please do take a moment to rate and review us on Apple podcasts - it really makes a difference and helps more people discover the show.
Genetics Unzipped is written and presented by Kat Arney with additional scripting and research by Emily Nordvang. It is produced by First Create the Media for The Genetics Society - one of the oldest learned societies in the world dedicated to supporting and promoting the research, teaching and application of genetics. You can find out more and apply to join at genetics.org.uk
Our theme music was composed by Dan Pollard, and the logo was designed by James Mayall, and production was by Hannah Varrall. Thanks for listening, and until next time, goodbye.
Music and sound effects all licensed from Epidemic Sound
