Anita Roberts

Anita Bauer Roberts (April 3, 1942 – May 26, 2006) was an American molecular biologist who made pioneering observations of a protein, TGF-β, that is critical in healing wounds and bone fractures and that has a dual role in blocking or stimulating cancers.

She is ranked as one of the top fifty most cited biological scientists in the world. She earned her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1968, working on retinoid metabolism under Hector DeLuca.

She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, a staff chemist at Aerospace Research Applications Center, and an instructor in chemistry at Indiana University Bloomington.

Career In 1976, Roberts joined the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Roberts isolated the protein from bovine kidney tissue and compared her results with TGF-β taken from human blood platelets and placental tissue. Institute researchers then began a series of experiments to determine the protein's characteristics. They discovered that it helps play a central role in signaling other growth factors in the body to heal wounds and fractures speedily. In 2005, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Roberts herself was diagnosed with stage IV gastric cancer in March 2004. FASEB Excellence in Science Award (2005), and Komen Brinker Award for Scientific Distinction (2005). A lecture series is named for her.

As of 2005, she was the 49th most-cited scientist and the third most-cited among all women scientists.