I came on sabbatical and stayed 15 years. In 1985, at age 60, Collins was head of the biology department at Briar Cliff College, in Sioux City, Iowa. Her department instructed nursing students in two local hospitals, but when the hospitals cut enrollments, Collins feared she might have to lay off teachers with families. Much of Collins' work centered on growing fibroblasts from biopsy material, nurturing neuronal and other fastidious cells and doing transfections. As the cell provider, she played a critical role in the success of experiments, says former colleague Dr. Paul Goldsmith, who admires her deft touch with finicky lines.
Tissue culture is a zero-fault business.
You contaminate a culture and it's gone. Her colleagues found her easygoing, but she abhorred sloppiness in conducting experiments. Collins' exactitude, learned from years in nursing, meant that her colleagues had to wait if she didn't think cells were up to snuff. Dr. Sunita Agarwal says she sometimes wondered. But she would not part with her cells until she knew they were perfect.