John Sulston
| Sir John Sulston | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 27 March 1942 |
| Nationality | Britain |
| Fields | Biology |
| Institutions | Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, University of Manchester |
| Alma mater | Cambridge |
| Known for | Caenorhabditis elegans,[1] Apoptosis |
| Notable awards | Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002 |
Sir John Edward Sulston FRS (born 27 March 1942) is a British biologist. He is a joint winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
As of 2012[update] he is Chair of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation (iSEI) at the University of Manchester.[2]
Contents |
Biography [edit]
Sulston was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and Pembroke College, Cambridge graduating in 1963. He joined the Chemistry Department in Cambridge, gained his PhD degree for research in nucleotide chemistry and devoted his scientific life to biological research, especially in the field of molecular biology. After working as a Postdoctoral researcher at the Salk Institute, USA for a while, he returned to Cambridge to work under Sydney Brenner at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.
Sulston played a central role in both the Caenorhabditis elegans worm [1] and human genome[3] sequencing projects. He had argued successfully for the sequencing of C. elegans to show that large-scale genome sequencing projects were feasible. As sequencing of the worm genome proceeded, the project to sequence the human genome began. At this point he was made director of the newly established Sanger Centre (named after Fred Sanger and now the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute), located in Cambridgeshire, England.
Following completion of the 'working draft' of the human genome sequence in 2000, Sulston retired from his role as director at the Sanger Centre. In 2002 he won the Dan David Prize and the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award. Later, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Sydney Brenner and H. Robert Horvitz, both of whom he had collaborated with at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), for their discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'. One of Sulston's most important contributions during his research years at the LMB was to elucidate the precise order in which cells in C. elegans divide. In fact, he and his team succeeded in tracing the nematode's entire embryonic cell lineage. Sulston is now a leading campaigner against the patenting of human genetic information.
Sulston is a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association.[4] In 2003 he was one of 21 Nobel Laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto.[5]
In 2001 Sulston was invited to deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on The Secrets of Life.
He also provided bail sureties for Julian Assange, according to Mark Stephens, Julian's solicitor. [1]. Having backed Julian Assange by pledging bail in December 2010, he lost the money in June 2012 when a judge ordered it to be forfeited, as Assange had sought to escape the jurisdiction of the English courts by entering the embassy of Ecuador.[6]
Sulston was one of 20 Nobel Laureates who signed the "Stockholm Memorandum" at the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability in Stockholm, Sweden on 18 May 2011.[7]
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b Sulston, J.; Brenner, S. (1974). "The DNA of Caenorhabditis elegans". Genetics 77 (1): 95–104. PMC 1213121. PMID 4858229.
- ^ http://www.ls.manchester.ac.uk/people/profile/?alias=sulstonj
- ^ Lander, Eric S.; Linton, M.; Birren, B.; Nusbaum, C.; Zody, C.; Baldwin, J.; Devon, K.; Dewar, K. et al. (Feb 2001). "Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome". Nature 409 (6822): 860–921. doi:10.1038/35057062. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 11237011.
- ^ "Distinguished Supporters". British Humanist Association. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
- ^ "Notable Signers". Humanism and Its Aspirations. American Humanist Association. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
- ^ Daily Mail 4 September 2012 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2198072/Julian-Assanges-high-profile-backers-set-lose-340-000-bail-money-remains-holed-Ecuador-Embassy.html#ixzz25XOfdk4R
- ^ "Stockholm Memorandum," Nobel-cause.de, 2011
External links [edit]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John E. Sulston |
Biographies and profiles [edit]
- Gitschier, J. (2006). "Knight in Common Armor: An Interview with Sir John Sulston". PLoS Genetics 2 (12): e225. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0020225. PMC 1756915. PMID 17196043.
- Sulston, J. (2002). "A conversation with John Sulston". The Yale journal of biology and medicine 75 (5–6): 299–306. PMC 2588810. PMID 14580111.
- Kimble, J. (2001). "The 2000 George W. Beadle Medal. John Sulston and Robert Waterston". Genetics 157 (2): 467–468. PMC 1461515. PMID 11370623.
- John Sulston biography from the Wellcome Trust
- John Sulston: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002
- Portraits of John Sulston from the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)
- John Sulston profile from Channel4
- John Sulston profile from BBC4
- Freeview Video of Fredrick Sanger in conversation with John Sulston by the Vega Science Trust
- John Sulston profile from the Medical Research Council lab for Molecular Biology
- John Sulston FRS interview from the Royal Society
- Sir John Sulston FRS - Worm genomics
- John Sulston interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 16th September 2008 (film)
- Dan David Prize laureate 2002
Publications [edit]
News and Press about John Sulston [edit]
- Sir John Sulston awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize (press release from the Sanger Centre)
- The public servant: John Sulston
- British Scientists share 2002 Nobel Prize
- John Sulston: One man and his worm from The Guardian
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
- British Nobel laureates
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- British humanists
- Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization
- People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
- Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
- Academics of the University of Cambridge
- Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine
- Academics of the University of Manchester
- Knights Bachelor
- Presenters of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
- Wellcome Trust
- 1942 births
- Living people
- English Nobel laureates
- Signers of the Humanist Manifesto
