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Dr. Margaret Oakley Dayhoff -- Contribution to Science

Among Dr. Dayhoff’s many contributions to science, the one she is most known for is the creation of computerized protein and DNA sequence databases, which were developed because of her research interests in bio-molecular evolution. This work allowed advances in our understanding of biological relationships, disease processes, and evolution. Her work produced statistical and computational methods for studying protein and nucleic acid structures that were critical to a large number of practical applications in the healing sciences, including the production of useful substances through genetic engineering.