Laurence Pearl
Laurence Pearl | |
---|---|
Born | Laurence Harris Pearl 18 June 1956[5] Manchester, England |
Alma mater | |
Occupation | biochemistry |
Known for | Work on HIV-1 protease, DNA repair Enzymes, Hsp90 and GSK-3 |
Spouse | Frances M. G. Pearl[5] |
Children | two sons, one daughter[5] |
Awards | |
Scientific career | |
Fields |
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Institutions |
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Thesis | Crystallographic studies of endothiapepsin (1984) |
Doctoral advisor | Tom Blundell |
Website | sussex |
Laurence Harris Pearl
Education
Born in Manchester to a working class Jewish family,[5] he went to Manchester Grammar School where he was very active in school drama productions, appearing alongside Nicholas Hytner in The Government Inspector. Pearl read Biochemistry at University College London and then obtained MSc and PhD degrees in the Department of Crystallography at Birkbeck College, for studies of endothiapepsin under the supervision of Tom Blundell.[11] He was part of the
Career
Following
In 2009 he was appointed Head of the new School of Life Sciences at the
In 2017 he announced that he would be standing down as Head of the School of Life Sciences at Sussex.[13]
From 1 October he took up a joint appointment as Head of the Division of Structural Biology at the
Research and enterprise
His research focuses on understanding the structural basis for assembly, specificity and regulation of proteins and complexes involved in human diseases such as HIV/AIDS[14] and cancer.[15] He is particularly noted for his early work on the HIV-1 protease, proteins involved in DNA repair such as uracil-DNA glycosylase and DNA-PKcs and the Hsp90[7] molecular chaperone system. Although focussed on understanding basic mechanisms, his laboratory is committed to translating this understanding to the discovery of new drugs for patient benefit.[16]
He is a founder and CSO of Domainex Ltd,[17] an innovative biotech company that won the 2010 Life Sciences and Enterprise Programme of The Year Award,[18] and the "Innovation in Enabling Biotechnology" Prize at 2007 UKTI Bioentrepreneurial Company of the Year Awards.[19]
On arrival at Sussex he undertook the restructuring of the School of Life Sciences which resulted in nearly one third of the faculty accepting early retirement or leaving the university,[20] and rationalised the degree programs, stopping a number of poorly-recruiting Masters programmes. Sussex now ranks 8th in the UK in Biosciences in the 2012 Guardian University Guide,[21] and Chemistry, which had been threatened with closure in 2006, has been revitalised with the appointment of new Faculty in Organic and Synthetic Chemistry, and with the launch of a university-funded initiative in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery.[22]
Sussex ranked 10th overall in the UK for Biological Sciences, and 8th for research outputs in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF),[23] placing it on par with Cambridge and ahead of the majority of Russell Group Universities.
Awards and honours
Pearl was elected to membership of the
Pearl and his research team were awarded the 2013
Laurence Pearl was awarded the 2018 Novartis Medal and Prize[3][26] from the Biochemical Society for his significant contributions to our understanding of the biochemical and structural basis for assembly, specificity and regulation of the proteins and complexes that carry out DNA repair and DNA damage signalling, signal transduction, and chaperone-dependent protein activation.
References
- ^ a b c "EC/2008/32 Pearl, Laurence: Library and Archive Catalogue". London: The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 16 February 2014.
- ^ a b http://www.embo.org/embo-members/find-a-member.html Find an EMBO member
- ^ a b "2018 Award Winners | Biochemistry". 17 May 2019.
- ^ a b Laurence Pearl publications indexed by Google Scholar
- ^ a b c d "PEARL, Prof. Laurence Harris". Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press.(subscription required)
- S2CID 4304846.
- ^ PMID 16756493.
- ^ Laurence Pearl's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
- ^ Laurence Pearl appears in Stephen Curry's film - "I'm a Scientist"
- S2CID 10240500.
- ^ Pearl, Laurence (1984). Crystallographic studies of endothiapepsin (PhD thesis). Birkbeck College.
- ^ "University Challenge - Statistics".
- ^ "Head of School of Life Sciences steps down". 31 May 2017.
- ^ "Accredited Degree Programmes" (PDF).
- ^ "Chemical & Engineering News: Cover Story - Living on the Edge". Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
- PMID 18290764.
- ^ "Management Team".
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Press room".
- ^ "Sussex's future: Fewer staff, more students". 27 November 2009.
- TheGuardian.com. 16 May 2011.
- ^ "Sussex Drug Discovery Centre : University of Sussex".
- ^ "Results & submissions : REF 2014 : View results and submissions by UOA".
- ^ "Wellcome funds 'outstanding' cancer research at Sussex".
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "The Novartis Medal and Prize | Biochemical Society".