Rosemary Redfield

Rosemary (Rosie) Redfield served as Professor of Zoology at the University of British Columbia from 1993 until her retirement in 2021. After earning her PhD in Biological Sciences from Stanford University, she completed influential postdoctoral work with Richard Lewontin at Harvard University and Nobel Laureate Hamilton O. Smith at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her groundbreaking research challenged conventional wisdom about bacterial DNA uptake, proposing that bacteria primarily take up DNA for nutrition rather than genetic exchange. She identified the components of the H. influenzae competence regulon, discovering an entirely novel mode of regulation that suggested many more bacteria may be naturally competent than previously thought. As an educational innovator, she pioneered modern teaching approaches including one of UBC's first MOOCs "Useful Genetics" and early adoption of mastery learning techniques. Her research employed diverse methods including molecular biology, bioinformatics and evolutionary biology, using techniques from DNA analysis to laser tweezers. Her work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how bacteria interact with environmental DNA and transform genetic material.