One of the ways she learned these new skills was in sabbatical years. In fact, using sabbaticals creatively has been a special talent of Riddiford's.
"My first sabbatical was at Harvard" in 1971, she recalls, noting that while there, she "visited a couple labs and learned new techniques."
In 1979-80, Riddiford went to Stanford University "to learn molecular biology. That was just in the beginning days of recombinant DNA research.
"My next sabbatical, in 1986-87, I went to Cambridge, England, working on Drosophila to see if I could find a good hormone I could work with" to augment her own research. "We got something out of it, but it wasn't the thing we needed."
Still, a venture that didn't provide her with an essential new skill was hardly a disappointment to Riddiford. In fact, possibly as a result of her enjoyment of the work she did in Cambridge that was ...
