Mary J. Osborn is the first person to demonstrate the mode of action of methotrexate, a major cancer chemotherapeutic agent and folic acid antagonist (in other words, it opposes the physiological effects of folic acid). Best known for her research into the biosynthesis of a complex polysaccharide known as lipopolysaccharide--a molecule that is essential to bacterial cells--Osborn helped to identify a potential target for the development of new antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents .

Mary Jane Osborn was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on September 24, 1927, and raised in west Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California. Her father, Arthur Merten, had an eighth-grade education and was a machinist; her mother, Vivian, went to secretarial classes and also taught school. "Both parents were high achievers and their ambitions for me were considerable," Osborn told Laura Newman in an interview. Osborn noted that her background was somewhat atypical for girls growing up in...