Abstract
Naomi Datta was distinguished for her discovery of bacterial plasmids carrying genes giving resistance to antibiotics. She studied medicine and successfully combined a career with bringing up her family. Appointed to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, she studied an outbreak of Salmonella at Hammersmith Hospital in 1959. She discovered genetic factors responsible for transfer of resistance between strains. Her publication on this was the first in Europe. Collaboration with Bill Hayes (FRS 1964) and others at the adjacent Medical Research Council Unit revealed that transfer was due to small replicating loops of DNA, later called plasmids. With Bob Hedges, Naomi classified plasmids into families; their work was recognized worldwide. Molecular analysis of plasmids revealed that drug resistance genes were carried on small vectors called transposons, which could transfer themselves between plasmids and bacterial chromosomes. This facilitated gene mapping and later gene cloning and genetic engineering, which became highly controversial.
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