Esteemed ISD member, Professor Sir John Gurdon, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2012. The 2012 Nobel Prize is shared jointly with Professor Shinya Yamanaka, Kyoto University, Japan.
Having carried out, nearly half a century ago, the key early nuclear transfer experiments demonstrating the conservation of the genome during the process of cell differentiation, John pioneered the use of amphibian oocytes and eggs as living test tubes for the analysis of gene expression at all levels. His past and present work has made major contributions to our understanding of development and cell differentiation, but has also had widespread application to many other problems in molecular and cell biology. Some previous reviews summarize different parts of this work, including a general review in Ann.Rev.Cell Devel.Biol. 22:1-22 (2006) From nuclear transfer to nuclear reprogramming: the reversal of cell differentiation.
| Short Biography
ETON COLLEGE: John’s father was a banker in India and his mother was a PT teacher. In his early years at Eton, Science was far from his forté. He obtained the lowest marks in biology of all the 250 boys in his year and his school report in 1949 described his grasp of the subject as ‘disastrous’. His Teacher wrote: ‘I believe he has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous.’John has framed that report and it sits on his desk… (see image blow)A Nobel prize for the school science dunce: Godfather of cloning was bottom of class at Eton is a report and recorded interview in the MailOn-Line. OXFORD: John read Zoology at Christ Church, graduating with a PhD In nuclear transplantation in Xenopus, under Michael Fischberg. He obtained the first clone of genetically identical adult animals and demonstrated genetic totipotency of somatic cell nuclei by obtaining sexually mature frogs from the nuclei of intestinal epithelium. CAL-TECH POSTDOC: John’s postdoctoral work at Cal-Tech, was on bacteriophage genetics. CAMBRIDGE: From Cal-Tech, he moved to the MRC Molecular Biology Laboratory, Cambridge whose Chairman was Max Perutz. John subsequently became Head of the Cell Biology Division. In 1983, he accepted the John Humphrey Plummer Professorship of Cell Biology in the University of Cambridge Zoology Department. With Prof R Laskey, John initiated the Cancer Research Campaign Unit of Molecular Embryology in the Zoology Department. In 1990 he moved to the new Wellcome CRC Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology in Cambridge, and served as Chairman from 1990-2001. In 2001, the Institute was renamed The Gurdon Institute. From 1995 to 2002, John was Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. From 1995 to 2000, John was Governor of the Wellcome Trust. And from 2001-2011 he was Chairman of the Company of Biologists. |
The Scientific Work of J B Gurdon Nuclear TransplantationJ B Gurdon was the first to obtain sexually mature adult animals (including isogenic clones) from transplanted somatic nuclei of embryos, and later from intestinal epithelium nuclei of feeding larvae. He and colleagues subsequently obtained feeding stage larvae from nuclei of terminally differentiated skin, and of cultured cells grown from several adult organs. To achieve this, he modified the technique of nuclear transfer in Rana for use in Xenopus, working out methods of egg penetration and enucleation. His work is notable for the use of genetically marked nuclei in all experiments. more… Microinjection of macromolecules To simplify the analysis of nucleo-cytoplasmic interactions, Gurdon started injecting purified macromolecules instead of complete nuclei. He first demonstrated the correct replication of DNA injected into the cytoplasm of eggs. Gurdon and colleagues then discovered that purified rabbit globin mRNA injected into Xenopus oocytes gave an intense synthesis of rabbit globin, demonstrating the general, and at the time very surprising, conclusion that purified mRNA can be brought into normal and efficient translational use after direct injection into the cytoplasm of a living cell. These experiments were followed by mRNA injection into fertilized eggs, thereby achieving the translation of globin mRNA in differentiated muscle and nerve cells. These results first established the lack of species and cell-type specificity during the mRNA translation in living cells, more… Mechanisms of Concentration-Dependent Cell Signalling A related direction of Gurdon’s work has been to analyze mechanisms of cell interactions involved in cell fate determination and cell differentiation in embryos. His work has focussed on the effect of the morphogen activin, in Xenopus. He has used cell dissociation/reaggregation, single cell transplantation, and the identification of new genes to analyze mechanisms of signalling between cells, especially those involving concentration-dependent processes. His contributions include more… |
