John Sulston
Sir John Edward Sulston PhD, FRS (born March 27, 1942) was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and then at Pembroke College, Cambridge graduating in 1963. He joined the Chemistry Department in Cambridge, gained his PhD 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.
He played a central role in both the Caenorhabditis elegans (worm) and human genome 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 John was made director of the newly established Sanger Centre (now the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute), located in Cambridgeshire, UK.
Following completion of the ' working draft ' of the human genome sequence in 2000, John retired from his role as director at the Sanger Centre. In 2002 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 Cambridge Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). 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. John is now a leading campaigner against the patenting of human genetic information. John E. Sulston was also a co-author of articles on the new Public Library of Science journal.
Sir Sulston is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
See also
- Apoptosis, especially Apoptosis#History and highlights in apoptosis research
- List of scientists who have published in Public Library of Science journals
External links
Biographies and profiles
- PLoS Biology: All for All
- 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
Publications
News and Press about John Sulston
- 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
