John Sulston

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Spouse
Daphne Edith Bate
(m. 1966)
[6]
Children1 son, 1 daughter[6]
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
ThesisAspects of oligoribonucleotide synthesis (1966)
Doctoral advisorColin Reese[4][5]
Websitesanger.ac.uk/people/faculty/honorary-faculty/john-sulston

Sir John Edward Sulston

CH FRS MAE (27 March 1942 – 6 March 2018[12][13]) was a British biologist and academic who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the cell lineage and genome of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans in 2002 with his colleagues Sydney Brenner and Robert Horvitz at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology.[14] He was a leader in human genome research and Chair of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester.[15][16][17]
Sulston was in favour of science in the public interest, such as free public access of scientific information and against the patenting of genes and the privatisation of genetic technologies.[18]

Early life and education

Sulston was born in

Alexander Todd[5][22] and was awarded his PhD in 1966 for research in nucleotide chemistry.[4]

Career

Between 1966 and 1969 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.[20] His academic advisor Colin Reese[4][5] had arranged for him to work with Leslie Orgel, who would turn his scientific career onto a different pathway. Orgel introduced him to Francis Crick and Sydney Brenner, who worked in Cambridge. He became inclined to biological research.[21]

Although Orgel wanted Sulston to remain with him, Sydney Brenner persuaded Sulston to return to Cambridge[

Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). Sulston soon produced the complete map of the worm's neurons.[23] He continued work on its DNA and subsequently the whole genome sequencing. In 1998, the whole genome sequence was published in collaboration with the Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis,[24]
[25] so that C. elegans became the first animal to have its complete genome sequenced.[26]

Sulston played a central role in both the C. elegans

Fred Sanger[28]), located in Cambridgeshire
, England.

In 2000, after the 'working draft' of the human genome sequence was completed, Sulston retired from directing the Sanger Centre. With Georgina Ferry, he narrated his research career leading to the human genome sequence in The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics, and the Human Genome (2002).[29]

Awards and honours

Sulston was elected a

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.[9]

In 2004, Sulston received the Golden Plate Award of the

Royal Society of New Zealand's Rutherford Memorial Lecture, which he gave on the subject of population pressure.[34]

He was appointed a

Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to science and society.[35]

On 23 October 2017 he was awarded the Cambridge Chemistry Alumni Medal.[36]

Sulston was a leading campaigner against the patenting of human genetic information.

Personal life

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
are named in Sulston's honour.

John Sulston met Daphne Bate, a research assistant in Cambridge.[19] They got married in 1966[19] just before they left for US for postdoctoral research. Together they had two children. Their first child, Ingrid, was born in La Jolla in 1967, and their second, Adrian, later in England.[37] The couple lived in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire where they were active members of the local community:[citation needed] John regularly volunteered in the local library and in working parties at Magog Down; he was a Trustee of Cambridge Past, Present and Future.[38][verification needed]

Although brought up in a Christian family, Sulston lost his faith during his student life at Cambridge, and remained an atheist.[5][20] He was a distinguished supporter of Humanists UK.[39] In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel Laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto.[40]

Sulston was in favour of free public access of scientific information. He wanted genome information freely available, and he described as "totally immoral and disgusting" the idea of profiteering from such research. He also wanted to change patent law, and argued that restrictions on drugs such as the anti-viral drug

Tamiflu by Roche are a hindrance to patients whose lives are dependent on them.[20]

In December 2010, Sulston backed Julian Assange by acting as a bail surety for him, according to Assange's attorney Mark Stephens.[41] Sulston forfeited £15,000 of the £20,000 pledged in June 2012, as Assange had entered the embassy of Ecuador to escape the jurisdiction of the English courts.[42][43]

Sulston died on 6 March 2018 of stomach cancer, aged 75 years.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b "John Sulston EMBO profile". people.embo.org. European Molecular Biology Organization.
  2. ^ a b Anon (1986). "Sir John Sulston FMedSci FRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. --"Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^
    PMID 11370623
    .
  4. ^
  5. ^ a b c d e John E. Sulston on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata, accessed 11 October 2020
  6. ^ required.)
  7. .
  8. ^ .
  9. ^ .
  10. .
  11. .
  12. ^ Kolata, Gina (15 March 2018). "John E. Sulston, 75, Dies; Found Clues to Genes in a Worm". The New York Times.
  13. S2CID 186212646
    .
  14. . Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Professor Sir John Sulston - personal details". The University of Manchester. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  16. PMID 17196043. Open access icon
  17. .
  18. ^ a b Ivan Oransky, Adam Marcus John Sulston. obituary 7 April 2018, The Lancet
  19. ^ a b c Ferry, Georgina (11 March 2018). "Sir John Sulston obituary". The Guardian.
  20. ^ a b c d "John E. Sulston". NNDB. Soylent Communications. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  21. ^ a b "John Sulston Biography Nobel Prize in Medicine". American Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 23 April 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  22. S2CID 73076704
    .
  23. .
  24. .
  25. .
  26. ^ "Caenorhabditis genome sequencing". Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  27. PMID 11237011
    .
  28. .
  29. .
  30. ^ "Certificate of Election EC/1986/35: John Edward Sulston". London: The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019.
  31. ^ John Sulston: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002
  32. American Academy of Achievement
    .
  33. ^ "Nobel Laureate, Dr John Sulston, Receives the TCD Dawson Prize in Genetics". 18 October 2006.
  34. ^ "Rutherford Memorial Lecturer". Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  35. ^ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B26.
  36. ^ "Nobel Laureate awarded our Alumni Medal". Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  37. .
  38. ^ "Our achievements".
  39. ^ "Distinguished Supporters". British Humanist Association. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  40. ^ "Notable Signers". Humanism and Its Aspirations. American Humanist Association. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  41. ^ "Wikileaks' Julian Assange tells of 'smear campaign'". BBC. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  42. ^ Booth, Robert (8 October 2012). "Julian Assange supporters ordered to forfeit £93,500 bail money". The Guardian.
  43. ^ "Julian Assange's backers lose £200,000 bail money". 4 September 2012.

External links

Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by
Sanger Institute

1993–2000
Succeeded by