Investigating maize chromosomes
McClintock studied botany and genetics at Cornell University, completing her doctorate in 1927. She combined microscopic observation of chromosomes with the inheritance of maize traits and worked with colleagues on the organism’s chromosomes and their behaviour.
References: [1]
Mobile genetic elements
During the 1940s and 1950s, studies of traits including kernel colour led her to identify genetic elements that could change position on chromosomes and influence the activity of nearby genes. Her findings challenged an exclusively static picture of genetic units arranged along chromosomes.
References: [2]
Research at Cold Spring Harbor
She joined the Carnegie research department at Cold Spring Harbor in 1942 and continued her research after becoming emeritus in 1967. She received the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine as its sole recipient that year for discovering mobile genetic elements.