researchers
Reina isn't the only key researcher at the NSWF, in fact there is another fairly prominent female genius working with the corporation (though she is not technically part of their inverted gene pool). Nishida Rie is head of the Cloneblade research department, a cool-headed scientist who prides herself on being the best at what she does without the hindrance of ethics or morality. Nishida is unpredictable and dangerous, even without the ability to fit a Cloneblade. Her profile (from the sixth Witchblade DVD) describes her as follows:
Nishida Rie - The NSWF researcher, who enjoys the confidence of Father and is in charge of the Cloneblades. She is sort of like a "parent" to Maria. She will not hesitate to use any method if it is for the sake of research.
Nishida is not necessarily a character designed to contrast directly with Reina in the Witchblade universe, but she is certainly a character worth examining alongside Reina in order to gain a full understanding of how female scientists are portrayed in the series.
First introduced as both a researcher and private tutor to Maria, Nishida is the brains behind the second generation of Neo-genes. Rather than taking a personal interest in Maria's progress, Nishida is all about the bigger picture - building better Neo-genes. While she plays it cool around Furumizu, Nishida actually finds Maria's petulant attitude to be irritating and a waste of her time. In episode twelve, when Maria is sulking because she doesn't want to study, Nishida gets angry with her and snaps "Hurry up, I'm busy with the Cloneblade upgrade!"
This is a key point to Nishida's character - she is incredibly impatient and finds it difficult to wait around when she feels something important is happening. Nishida is an obsessive scientist, an archetypal recluse with no life or desire outside her research. She is not shown to have any depth to her existence beyond the NSWF compound. Nishida has quite clearly selected to focus on her materialistic sciences rather than any emotional life - and she does not appear to regret this choice. This is what makes her seem so dangerous, so utterly poisonous. A woman with no emotional needs or "normal" feminine flaws, Nishida is a scientific ballbreaker and she loves it.
Being so clearly "inhuman" and so obsessively driven to achieve scientific goals, Nishida is painted as an irredeemable character - a woman unrepentant in her selfish, masculine search for scientific glory. This makes her an interesting foil to Reina, who appears similarly cold, but ultimately finds redemption in death through her pursuit of an acceptable feminine humanity.
What sets Reina apart from Nishida is a clear human side - particularly in her "natural" motherly desire to love and protect Rihoko. Nishida is a bully to Reina's other biological child (Maria), disinterested in anything but the data she generates. While Reina finds it easier to portray her feelings through logs of data and methodical diary entries, she still feels - something Nishida has long since dismissed as unimportant. It is interesting that the purely human Nishida is less "human" by choice than the genetically manipulated Reina, who did not opt to be raised in an emotionless manner. It is Reina's nurturing feminine side that allows her to die in a redemptive manner, protecting Rihoko from Maria. Her research, symbolised by her ever-present recording device, is destroyed - having no real value in the end. What did have value, as we are shown clearly, were Reina's feelings for her daughter.
When Nishida is killed during the final battle between Maria and Masane, there is no beautiful or redemptive death scene. Obsessed with seeing the fruits of her labour in action, Nishida is drawn too far into the battle zone and killed by falling debris. Crushed and dismissed, killed by her own inhuman obsessions.
Nishida is flawed and lacking, a hollow and vindictive woman because she treasures her career more than the beauty of natural reproduction. Reina, while similarly obsessed with research, is given a moving death scene when she chooses the righteous path of motherhood and nurturing. Pursuing child-rearing in Witchblade proves to have more redemptive value than pursuing logical scientific goals. Reina the engineered being is portrayed as more human than Nishida, the barren engineer.
There is no real middle ground between home and family for the cast of Witchblade. Everyone who is a parent must sacrifice (including Takayama). These sacrifices are portrayed as noble and valid, contrasting directly with the poor (read: non-maternal) choices of characters like Nishida.