John Gurdon

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John B. Gurdon
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This article is about the Nobel-winning biologist. For other people with the same name, see John Gurdon (disambiguation).

Sir

John Gurdon

Developmental Biology
InstitutionsUniversity of Oxford
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
University of Cambridge
California Institute of Technology
ThesisNuclear transplantation in Xenopus (1960)
Doctoral advisorMichail Fischberg[1]
Doctoral studentsDouglas A. Melton
Edward M. De Robertis
Websitewww.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/john-gurdon

Sir John Bertrand Gurdon

nuclear transplantation[2][3][4] and cloning.[1][5][6][7]

Awarded the

stem cells.[8]

Career

Gurdon attended

Edgeborough prep school before Eton College, where he ranked last out of the 250 boys in his year group at biology, and was in the bottom set in every other science subject.[9] A schoolmaster wrote a report stating, "I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous."[10][11][12] Gurdon explains it is the only document he ever framed; he also told a reporter: "When you have problems like an experiment doesn't work, which often happens, it's nice to remind yourself that perhaps after all you are not so good at this job and the schoolmaster may have been right!"[13]

Gurdon went up to

Caltech,[17] he returned to England where his early posts were in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford (1962–71).[18]

Gurdon spent much of his research career at the

Cambridge, becoming its chairman until 2001. He served as a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1991–1995, then Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge
, from 1995 to 2002.

Gurdon married Jean Elizabeth Margaret Curtis, by whom he has a son and a daughter.[19]

Research

A video from an
cybrid
(bottom) embryos.

Nuclear transfer

In 1958, Gurdon, then at the

blastula cells[23] and the successful induction of polyploidy in the stickleback, Gasterosteus aculatus, in 1956 by Har Swarup reported in Nature.[24] At that time he could not conclusively show that the transplanted nuclei derived from a fully differentiated cell. This was finally shown in 1975 by a group working at the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland.[25]
They transplanted a nucleus from an antibody-producing lymphocyte (proof that it was fully differentiated) into an enucleated egg and obtained living tadpoles.

Gurdon's experiments captured the attention of the scientific community as it altered the notion of development and the tools and techniques he developed for nuclear transfer are still used today. The term clone[26] (from the ancient Greek word κλών (klōn, "twig")) had already been in use since the beginning of the 20th century in reference to plants. In 1963 the British biologist J. B. S. Haldane, in describing Gurdon's results, became one of the first to use the word "clone" in reference to animals.

Messenger RNA expression

Gurdon and colleagues also pioneered the use of Xenopus (genus of highly aquatic frog) eggs and oocytes to translate microinjected messenger RNA molecules,[27] a technique which has been widely used to identify the proteins encoded and to study their function.

Recent research

Gurdon's recent research has focused on analysing intercellular signalling factors involved in

cell differentiation, and on elucidating the mechanisms involved in reprogramming the nucleus in transplantation experiments, including the role of histone variants,[28][29] and demethylation of the transplanted DNA.[30]

Politics and religion

Gurdon has stated that he is politically "middle of the road", and religiously agnostic because "there is no scientific proof either way". During his time as

Master of Magdalene, Gurdon caused some controversy by suggesting that Fellows might occasionally be allowed to deliver "an address on anything they would like to talk about" in college chapel services.[31] In an interview with EWTN.com, Gurdon declared "I'm what you might call liberal-minded. I'm not a Roman Catholic. I'm a Christian, of the Church of England."[32]

Honours and awards

Gurdon was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1971, before appointment as Knight Bachelor in 1995
.

Elected to the

American Association of Anatomists.[35]

In 2004, the

Fellow of the Zoological Society (FZS), he has received honorary doctorates including Hon DSc (Oxon) and Hon ScD (Cantab) as well as many other awards and medals.[17]

Nobel Prize

In 2012, Gurdon was awarded, jointly with

pluripotent".[39]
His Nobel Lecture was called "The Egg and the Nucleus: A Battle for Supremacy".

Insignia of a Knight Bachelor

References

  1. ^
    PMID 18426972
    .
  2. PMID 12821779
    .
  3. S2CID 6185731
    .
  4. PMID 19095934
    .
  5. PMID 19132124
    .
  6. S2CID 12271157
    .
  7. PMID 10761853
    .
  8. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – 2012 Press Release". Nobel Media AB. 8 October 2012.
  9. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  10. ^ "Sir John B. Gurdon – Biographical". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  11. ^ Gurdon Institute (25 August 2016), Gurdon Institute | John Gurdon's 'Journey of a lifetime' lecture, March 2016, retrieved 3 June 2017
  12. ^ "None of us should ever be written off". Western Gazette. 18 October 2012. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  13. ^ Collins, Nick (8 October 2012). "Sir John Gurdon, Nobel Prize winner, was 'too stupid' for science at school". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  14. ^ Nuclear transplantation in Xenopus (Thesis). Thesis DPhil—University of Oxford. 1960.
  15. ^ Gurdon, John (1961). Studies on nucleocytoplasmic relationships during differentiation in vertebrates (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford.(subscription required)
  16. ^ www.zoo.cam.ac.uk
  17. ^ a b Rodney Porter Lectures: Biography
  18. ^ www.chch.ox.ac.uk
  19. ^ www.burkespeerage.com
  20. PMID 22131902
    .
  21. S2CID 4254765
    .
  22. PMID 13951335
    .
  23. PMID 16589125
    .
  24. ^ Swarup H. Production of heteroploidy in the three-spined stickle back (Gasterosteus aculeatus L) Nature in 1956;178:1124–1125. doi: 10.1038/1781124a0; http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v178/n4542/abs/1781124a0.html
  25. S2CID 23153308
    .
  26. S2CID 4302017
    .
  27. S2CID 4160808
    .
  28. PMID 20212135
    .
  29. PMID 21552206
    .
  30. S2CID 23201099
    .
  31. ^ Johnny Michael (11 October 2012). "John Gurdon on ethics, politics, religion, and anti-theism". upublish.info. Archived from the original on 28 March 2013.
  32. ^ Ann Schneible (4 December 2013). "Nobel Prize Winner Participates at Vatican Conference".
  33. ^ "John Bertrand Gurdon". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  34. ^ "John B. Gurdon". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  35. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  36. ^ "The Gurdon Institute". Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  37. ^ "2014 – Event listing from April onwards". Royal College of Physicians. Archived from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  38. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  39. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012". NobelPrize.org. 8 October 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Gurdon.
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Academic offices
Preceded by Fullerian Professor of Physiology
1985–1991 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge

1994–2002 		Succeeded by
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