| Authorised form of name | Datta; Naomi (1922 - 2008); microbiologist |
| Other forms of surname | Goddard |
| Dates | 1922 - 2008 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | 2 Cleveland Square, Bayswater, London, England |
| Date of birth | 17 September 1922 |
| Place of death | Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham, London, England |
| Date of death | 30 November 2008 |
| Occupation | microbiologist |
| Research field | Microbial genetics |
| Activity | Education:
St Mary's School, Wantage, Oxfordshire, England; University College, London; West London Hospital medical school, London; University of London MD 1952; Centre for Genetic Anthropology MSc 1996
Career:
Employed in junior hospital medical posts (1946-1947); senior bacteriologist, Public Health Laboratory Service, Colindale, north London (1947-1957); assistant lecturer, department of bacteriology, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, University of London (1957); Professor of Microbial Genetics; retired and was made Emeritus Professor (1984); from a spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage (2008).
Memberships:
Royal College of Pathologists 1973
Society for General Microbiology (honorary) 1989 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 21/03/1985 |
| Age at election | 62 |
| Relationships | Parents: Alexander Goddard (1867–1956), secretary to the Chartered Surveyors' Institution, and Ellen Henrietta, née Illingworth (1878/9–1946).
Siblings: Helen Datta, pathologist.
Spouse: (m. 9 April 1943) Satya Prakash Datta (1920–2010), Professor of Medical Biochemistry, UCL.
Children: Two daughters. |
| OtherInfo | Distinguished for her work on bacterial plasmids carrying the genetic determinants for resistance to drugs and antibiotics.
The first drug resistance factors to be reported outside Japan were found by Naomi Datta in strains of Salmonella typhimurium causing an outbreak of gastroenteritis in London in 1962. Since then she has made many important studies on the occurrence and significance of drug resistance plasmids in enterobacterial infections.
Made distinguished contributions to research on the molecular biology of R factors and pioneered the classification of R factors and other plasmids by their incompatibilities. She found that some resistance genes, including those for gentamycin resistance, are located on transposons and are readily transferred between replicons. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/26015298 |
| Code | NA5407 |
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