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Dame Anne McLaren was killed in a tragic car accident on Saturday together with her companion Donald Michie.

A Fellow of King's College and Fellow Commoner of Christ's College, Dame Anne was an authority on mammalian genetics. In the late 70s she was a key figure in the move to develop human in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

More recently she worked at the Gurdon Institute on the development of primordial germ cells – the cells that go on to form sperm and eggs. She had said of this work: "We are trying to understand what determines cell differentiation. Understanding, and eventually manipulating, the signals that lead to this sex cell differentiation should give us useful insights and tools for general stem cell research."

Dr Anne McLaren was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1975. She was awarded one of the Society's Royal Medals in 1990.

In 1991 she became the first female officer of the Royal Society when she served as its Foreign Secretary until 1996. She went on to become the third woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Her biography on the Royal Society website reads: “ ̽��ֱ��influence of Anne McLaren's work on advances in fertility and human reproductive health is immense. Her early work on reproductive biology was relevant to fertility regulation and the development of new contraceptive methods that have led to the wide range of choice and opportunity now available for family planning around the world.”

Professor Frank Kelly, Master of Christ's College, said: "Anne was an exemplar of how to do and how to be. Within College she will be very much missed."

Jim Smith, also a Fellow of Christ's College and Chairman of the Gurdon Institute, said: “My colleagues and I will miss Anne enormously. Her scientific achievements speak for themselves, but in addition to these we will miss her enormous energy and enthusiasm - she outdid many younger scientists during late-night discussions - and her unfailing support for women scientists, for whom she was a wonderful role model. As Chairman of the Institute I shall also miss her great knowledge and wisdom and her unfailing ability to put matters into perspective. She was a great colleague and a great friend.”

Anne McLaren was made an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College in 1994, and received an honorary degree from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge in 1998.