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Helen Sang

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Helen Mary Sang
OBE FRSE FRSB
Sang speaks at the British Library in 2014
Born1955
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (BSc, PhD)
Scientific career
InstitutionsRoslin Institute
University of Edinburgh
Harvard University
ThesisStudies in genetic recombination in Sordaria brevicollis (1975)
Doctoral advisorHarold Leslie Keer Whitehouse

Helen Mary Sang OBE FRSE FRSB (born 1955) is the head of the Division of Developmental Biology at the Roslin Institute of the University of Edinburgh. Her research considers the development of chickens that cannot spread avian influenza (bird flu). She has previously served on the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Early life and education

Sang studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge and graduated in 1972.[1] She earned her doctorate in the Department of Botany where she studied genetic recombination in Sordaria. She worked in the laboratory of Harold Leslie Keer Whitehouse. After earning her PhD, Sang was awarded a SERC–NATO fellowship to look at mismatch repair in E. coli working with Matthew Meselson at Harvard University.[1]

Research and career

Sang returned to the United Kingdom as a Medical Research Council fellow working with David Finnegan at the University of Edinburgh. Here she investigated the transposable element that is responsible for the I-R system of hybrid dysgenesis in Drosophila melanogaster. Sang was made principal investigator at the Agriculture and Food Research Council (AFRC) Poultry Research Centre, which became the Roslin Institute in 1993.[1] Sang has dedicated much of her research career to the genetic modification of chickens.[2] In the 1980s when Sang started at the Roslin Institute she started to investigate ways to genetically modify hens so that they created valuable proteins in their eggs.[3][4] She proposed purifying the egg whites and making use of the engineered proteins for medical therapies to treat cancer, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.[5] Since then, genome editing has evolved so that genes can be inserted into the DNA of chickens, producing new human proteins alongside those in egg white.[6][7] Working with Lissa Herron Sang demonstrated new ways to purify these egg proteins.[8] In 2019 she demonstrated that these hens could produce IFNalpha2a, a protein which has anti-viral and anti-cancer potential.[9][10]

She has developed new ways to produce transgenic chickens using lentiviral vectors.[11][12] The transgenic chickens can serve as models for investigations into vertebrate development.[13][14] Sang and colleagues developed transgenic lines that incorporated green fluorescent protein and membrane localised green fluorescent proteins in cells that are developing embryos. These could be used for in vivo imaging or grafting to analyse lineage during embryogenesis.

In 2011 together with Laurence Tiley Sang demonstrated that she could genetically modify chickens to confer resistance to avian influenza.[15][16][17]

Awards and honours

Sang is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2008) and the Royal Society of Biology.[18] From 2015 to 2018 Sang served on the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. Sang was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to food security and bioscience for health.[19][20]

Selected publications

Her publications include:

  • Sang, Helen (2004). "Efficient production of germline transgenic chickens using lentiviral vectors". EMBO Reports. 5 (7): 728–733. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400171. PMC 1299092. PMID 15192698.
  • Sang, Helen (1994). "Transgenic Birds by DNA Microinjection". EMBO Reports. 12 (1): 60–63. doi:10.1038/nbt0194-60. PMID 7764327. S2CID 8465540.
  • Sang, Helen (2004). "Prospects for transgenesis in the chick" (PDF). Mechanisms of Development. 121 (9): 1179–1186. doi:10.1016/j.mod.2004.05.012. hdl:20.500.11820/bec5f7b2-b8aa-45a0-8fa5-104429dd62b7. PMID 15296981. S2CID 18408892.

Sang has appeared on The Naked Scientists and delivered a TED talk on the need for genetically modified chickens.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Professor Helen Sang". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  2. ^ Ahuja, Anjana (19 February 2016). "Are these the chickens of the future?". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  3. ^ Herron, Lissa R.; Pridans, Clare; Turnbull, Matthew L.; Smith, Nikki; Lillico, Simon; Sherman, Adrian; Gilhooley, Hazel J.; Wear, Martin; Kurian, Dominic; Papadakos, Grigorios; Digard, Paul; Hume, David A.; Gill, Andrew & Sang, Helen M. A Chicken Bioreactor for Efficient Production of Functional Cytokines. BMC. OCLC 1090948795. PMID 30594166.
  4. ^ Highfield, Roger (7 December 2000). "Dolly team will use eggs to mass-produce medicines". Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. ^ Jha, Alok (15 January 2007). "GM hens' medicinal eggs aid cancer fight". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  6. ^ Macdonald, Kenneth (28 January 2019). "Gene modified chickens 'lay medicines'". BBC News. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Hens that lay human proteins in eggs offer future therapy hope". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  8. ^ "Professor Helen Sang". UK Research and Innovation. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  9. ^ Barrie, Douglas (28 January 2019). "Drugs for humans laid in chicken eggs". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  10. ^ "GM chickens lay eggs rich with cancer-killing proteins". BBC Science Focus Magazine. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Production of Transgenic Chickens using Lentiviral Vectors". National Avian Research Facility. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  12. ^ "Genetically modified chickens lay drugs in eggs". Reuters. 24 January 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  13. ^ McGrew, Michael J.; Sherman, Adrian; Ellard, Fiona M.; Lillico, Simon G.; Gilhooley, Hazel J.; Kingsman, Alan J.; Mitrophanous, Kyriacos A. & Sang, Helen (1 July 2004). "Efficient production of germline transgenic chickens using lentiviral vectors". EMBO Reports. 5 (7): 728–733. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400171. ISSN 1469-221X. PMC 1299092. PMID 15192698.
  14. ^ Sang, Helen M. "Next generation transgenic technologies for the chick". UK Research and Innovation. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  15. ^ "Helen Sang - Counting your GM chickens". The Naked Scientists. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  16. ^ "Could avian flu-resistant chickens be a commercial reality?". WATT Ag Net. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  17. ^ "GM chickens that don't transmit bird flu developed". University of Cambridge. 14 January 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  18. ^ "Professor Helen Sang FRSE". The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  19. ^ "No. 62866". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 2019. p. N14.
  20. ^ "The full 2020 New Year Honours list - From Olivia Newton-John to Ben Stokes". Metro. 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  21. ^ Why do we need GM chickens? | Helen Sang | TEDxGlasgow, retrieved 28 December 2019
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