McLaren was born into a privileged family with notable lineage, as the fourth of five children. She was the daughter of … See more

On 6 October 1952 married fellow student Dr Donald Michie. They worked together at University College London from 1952 to 1955, and afterwards at the Royal Veterinary College, on the variation in the number of … See more

McLaren spent the next 15 years (1959–1974) at the Institute of Animal Genetics, studying fertility, development and epigenetics, including the development of mouse embryonic transfer, immunocontraception, … See more

While obtaining her doctorate in philosophy, she investigated the mechanisms of virus infection on the nervous system.
After her doctoral work, she shifted her research to embryology (now called developme… See more

In 1975, McLaren was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. From 1991 to 1996, she held the position of Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society and from 1992 to 1996 the position of Vice-President; she was the first female offic… See more

After reuniting in 2005, McLaren (aged 80) and Michie (aged 83) were killed on 7 July 2007, in a car accident on the M11 motorway as they travelled from Cambridge to London. See more