# Nancy Lane Perham

Nancy Lane Perham OBE FSB FRSA FRMS (born 1936) is a Canadian cell biologist and artist ,and is a full professor at the University of Cambridge, specialising in cell-to-cell interactions.

## Early life and education

Lane Perham was born in 1936, and is originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was educated at Queen Elizabeth High School, where she was advised that women could not be scientists, only lab technicians. She undertook her undergraduate degree and a Masters of Science at Dalhousie University. Professor Dixie Pelluet, a lecturer in invertebrate zoology and genetics, was an important and supportive role model for Lane. After she graduated, Lane Perham was awarded the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire scholarship, and won the Governor General's Gold Medal, which allowed her to undertake her doctoral study at Oxford University. Lane Perham completed her PhD titled A cytological study of secretory processes in gastropods, with special reference to the problem of neurosecretion at Oxford in 1963.

## Academic career

After postdoctoral positions at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Yale University, Lane Perham joined the faculty of the University of Cambridge in 1968, rising to full professor. She has been described as a "brilliant microscopist". Her research focuses on cell-to-cell interactions, such as gap junctions and tight junctions, especially in invertebrates. Besides studying cell structures and interactions, Lane Perham also paints them. Some of her works have appeared on journal covers and some were selected by David Hockney to appear in the Royal Academy of Art's 1995 Summer Exhibition.
Lane Perham is an advocate for women in science. She was asked by the Prime Minister, John Major, to chair the Working Party on Women in SET after William Waldegrave's 1993 White Paper on the British science system, Realizing Our Potential, had devoted one whole paragraph to women, but noted that they were the single most undervalued human resource in Britain. The working party produced the 1993 report The Rising Tide. Lane Perham co-founded the Athena Project, and was founder of WiSETI, a Cambridge initiative to advance women in science, technology and engineering.

## Personal life

Lane Perham was married to biochemist Richard Nelson Perham, Master of St John's College, until his death in 2015. They had two children together.

## Honours and awards

Lane Perham is a Life Fellow of Girton College at Cambridge. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1994 for services to science.
Lane Perham has honorary doctorates from six universities, including from the University of Surrey in 2005. She was inducted into the Nova Scotia Science Hall of Fame in 2006.

## Selected works

* Lane NJ (1 January 1979). "Freeze-fracture and tracer studies on the intercellular junctions of insect rectal tissues". Tissue and Cell. 11 (3): 481–506. doi:10.1016/0040-8166(79)90058-2. ISSN 0040-8166. PMID 494238. Wikidata Q42440068.
* Nancy Lane Perham (1 December 1963). "Microvilli on the external surfaces of gastropod tentacles and body-walls". Journal of Cell Science. S3-104 (68): 495–504. doi:10.1242/JCS.S3-104.68.495. ISSN 0021-9533. Wikidata Q123359166.
* Nancy Lane Perham; Yvonne Carter; Michael Ashburner (1 September 1972). "Puffs and salivary gland function: The fine structure of the larval and prepupal salivary glands ofDrosophila melanogaster". Wilhelm Roux' Archiv fur Entwicklungsmechanik der Organismen. 169 (3): 216–238. doi:10.1007/BF00582554. ISSN 0043-5546. PMID 28304626. Wikidata Q89557138.
* Lucia Manni; Nancy J Lane; Jean-Stéphane Joly; Fabio Gasparini; Stefano Tiozzo; Federico Caicci; Giovanna Zaniolo; Paolo Burighel (1 September 2004). "Neurogenic and non-neurogenic placodes in ascidians". Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 302 (5): 483–504. doi:10.1002/JEZ.B.21013. ISSN 1552-5007. PMID 15384166. Wikidata Q42468056.
* N. J. Lane (1 January 1969). "Intranuclear fibrillar bodies in actinomycin D-treated oocytes". Journal of Cell Biology. 40 (1): 286–291. doi:10.1083/JCB.40.1.286. ISSN 0021-9525. PMC 2107599. PMID 5812427. Wikidata Q36190226.
* N. J. Lane (1 November 1967). "Spheroidal and ring nucleoli in amphibian oocytes. Patterns of uridine incorporation and fine structural features". Journal of Cell Biology. 35 (2): 421–434. doi:10.1083/JCB.35.2.421. ISSN 0021-9525. PMC 2107143. PMID 6055993. Wikidata Q36188619.
* Lucia Manni; Nancy J Lane; Jean-Stéphane Joly; Fabio Gasparini; Stefano Tiozzo; Federico Caicci; Giovanna Zaniolo; Paolo Burighel (1 September 2004). "Neurogenic and non-neurogenic placodes in ascidians". Journal of Experimental Zoology. Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 302 (5): 483–504. doi:10.1002/JEZ.B.21013. ISSN 1552-5007. PMID 15384166. Wikidata Q42468056.