British biologist and academic (1942?2018)
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
[
edit
]
Sulston was born in
Fulmer, Buckinghamshire
, England
[19]
to Arthur Edward Aubrey Sulston and Josephine Muriel Frearson, nee Blocksidge.
[6]
[20]
His father was an Anglican priest and administrator of the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
. His mother quit her job as an English teacher at
Watford Grammar School
, to care for him and his sister Madeleine.
[21]
and home-tutored them until he was five. At age five he entered the local preparatory school, York House School, where he soon developed an aversion to games. He developed an early interest in science, having fun with dissecting animals and sectioning plants to observe their structure and function.
[5]
Sulston won a scholarship to
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
[6]
and then to
Pembroke College, Cambridge
graduating in 1963 with a
Bachelor of Arts
[6]
degree in
Natural Sciences (Chemistry)
. He joined the
Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
, after being interviewed by
Alexander Todd
[5]
[22]
and was awarded his
PhD
in 1966 for research in
nucleotide
chemistry.
[4]
Career
[
edit
]
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
[
when?
]
to work on the neurobiology of
Caenorhabditis elegans
at the
Medical Research Council
(MRC)
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
[8]
and
human genome
[27]
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
Human Genome Project
began. At this point he was made director of the newly established
Sanger Centre
(named after
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
[
edit
]
Sulston was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1986
.
[2]
His certificate of election reads:
John Sulston is distinguished for his work on the molecular and developmental genetics of
Caenorhabditis elegans
. His initial research was in the field of chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides. Sulston began his work on C. elegans in 1974 characterising its DNA. Since then he has carried out a wide range of genetical and developmental studies on the nematode but his major research has been on the developmental lineage and
mutations
that affect it. In a series of studies, culminating in a paper published in 1983, Sulston has analysed and described the total cell lineage of the nematode making it the first organism for which the origin of every cell is exactly known. This work is the basis for the study of mutations affecting lineages and is the foundation on which detailed studies of development in this organism will be based. Sulston has now turned his attention to an analysis of the genome of C. elegans and was constructing a total physical map using a novel method of analysing cloned DNA fragments.
[30]
He was elected an
EMBO Member
in 1989
[1]
and awarded the
George W. Beadle Award
in 2000.
[3]
In 2001 Sulston gave the
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
on
The Secrets of Life
. In 2002, he won the
Dan David Prize
and the
Robert Burns Humanitarian Award
. Later, he shared the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
[31]
with
Sydney Brenner
and
Robert Horvitz
, both of whom he had collaborated with at the MRC
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
American Academy of Achievement
.
[32]
In 2006, he was awarded the George Dawson Prize in Genetics by
Trinity College Dublin
.
[33]
In 2013, Sulston was awarded 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
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"John Sulston EMBO profile"
.
people.embo.org
. European Molecular Biology Organization.
- ^
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
)
- ^
a
b
Kimble, J. (2001).
"The 2000 George W. Beadle Medal. John Sulston and Robert Waterston"
.
Genetics
.
157
(2): 467?468.
doi
:
10.1093/genetics/157.2.467
.
PMC
1461515
.
PMID
11370623
.
- ^
a
b
c
Sulston, John Edward (1966).
Aspects of oligoribonucleotide synthesis
.
repository.cam.ac.uk
(PhD thesis). University of Cambridge.
doi
:
10.17863/CAM.16307
.
EThOS
uk.bl.ethos.648083
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
John E. Sulston
on Nobelprize.org
, accessed 11 October 2020
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Anon (2015).
"Sulston, Sir John (Edward)"
.
Who's Who
(online
Oxford University Press
ed.). A & C Black.
doi
:
10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.36669
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Wilson, R.
; Ainscough, R.; Anderson, K.; Baynes, C.; Berks, M.; Bonfield, J.; Burton, J.; Connell, M.; Copsey, T.; Cooper, J.; Coulson, A.; Craxton, M.; Dear, S.; Du, Z.;
Durbin, R.
; Favello, A.; Fraser, A.; Fulton, L.; Gardner, A.; Green, P.; Hawkins, T.; Hillier, L.; Jier, M.; Johnston, L.; Jones, M.; Kershaw, J.; Kirsten, J.; Laisster, N.; Latreille, P.; Lightning, J. (1994). "2.2 Mb of contiguous nucleotide sequence from chromosome III of C. Elegans".
Nature
.
368
(6466): 32?38.
Bibcode
:
1994Natur.368...32W
.
doi
:
10.1038/368032a0
.
PMID
7906398
.
S2CID
21450455
.
- ^
a
b
Sulston, J.; Brenner, S. (1974).
"The DNA of Caenorhabditis elegans"
.
Genetics
.
77
(1): 95?104.
doi
:
10.1093/genetics/77.1.95
.
PMC
1213121
.
PMID
4858229
.
- ^
a
b
Sulston, J. E.; Schierenberg, E.; White, J. G.; Thomson, J. N. (1983). "The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans".
Developmental Biology
.
100
(1): 64?119.
doi
:
10.1016/0012-1606(83)90201-4
.
PMID
6684600
.
- ^
Sulston, J. E.; Horvitz, H. R. (1977). "Post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans".
Developmental Biology
.
56
(1): 110?156.
doi
:
10.1016/0012-1606(77)90158-0
.
PMID
838129
.
- ^
Sulston, J.; Mallett, F.; Staden, R.; Durbin, R.; Horsnell, T.; Coulson, A. (1988). "Software for genome mapping by fingerprinting techniques".
Computer Applications in the Biosciences
.
4
(1): 125?132.
doi
:
10.1093/bioinformatics/4.1.125
.
PMID
2838135
.
- ^
Kolata, Gina (15 March 2018).
"John E. Sulston, 75, Dies; Found Clues to Genes in a Worm"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Waterston, Robert H.; Ferry, Georgina (2019).
"Sir John Edward Sulston CH. 27 March 1942 ? 6 March 2018"
.
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
.
67
: 421?447.
doi
:
10.1098/rsbm.2019.0014
.
S2CID
186212646
.
- ^
Ferry, Georgina (11 March 2018).
"Sir John Sulston obituary"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
14 July
2023
.
- ^
"Professor Sir John Sulston - personal details"
. The University of Manchester.
Archived
from the original on 11 October 2009
. Retrieved
6 November
2014
.
- ^
Gitschier, Jane (2006).
"Knight in Common Armor: An Interview with Sir John Sulston"
.
PLOS Genetics
.
2
(12): e225.
doi
:
10.1371/journal.pgen.0020225
.
PMC
1756915
.
PMID
17196043
.
- ^
Sulston, J. (2002).
"A conversation with John Sulston"
.
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine
.
75
(5?6): 299?306.
PMC
2588810
.
PMID
14580111
.
- ^
a
b
Ivan Oransky, Adam Marcus
John Sulston. obituary
7 April 2018, The Lancet
- ^
a
b
c
Ferry, Georgina (11 March 2018).
"Sir John Sulston obituary"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"John E. Sulston"
.
NNDB
. Soylent Communications
. Retrieved
21 April
2014
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
Brown, D. M.;
Kornberg, H.
(2000). "Alexander Robertus Todd, O.M., Baron Todd of Trumpington. 2 October 1907 -- 10 January 1997: Elected F.R.S. 1942".
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
.
46
: 515?532.
doi
:
10.1098/rsbm.1999.0099
.
S2CID
73076704
.
- ^
Sulston, J.E.; Horvitz, H.R. (1977). "Post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode,
Caenorhabditis elegans
".
Developmental Biology
.
56
(1): 110?156.
doi
:
10.1016/0012-1606(77)90158-0
.
PMID
838129
.
- ^
Wilson, Richard K.
(1999). "How the worm was won: the C. elegans genome sequencing project".
Trends in Genetics
.
15
(2): 51?58.
doi
:
10.1016/S0168-9525(98)01666-7
.
ISSN
0168-9525
.
PMID
10098407
.
- ^
The
C. elegans
Sequencing Consortium (1998). "Genome Sequence of the Nematode
C. elegans
: A Platform for Investigating Biology".
Science
.
282
(5396): 2012?2018.
Bibcode
:
1998Sci...282.2012.
.
doi
:
10.1126/science.282.5396.2012
.
PMID
9851916
.
- ^
"
Caenorhabditis genome
sequencing"
. Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
. Retrieved
22 April
2014
.
- ^
Lander, E. S.
; Linton, M.; Birren, B.; Nusbaum, C.; Zody, C.; Baldwin, J.; Devon, K.; Dewar, K.; Doyle, M.; Fitzhugh, W.; Funke, R.; Gage, D.; Harris, K.; Heaford, A.; Howland, J.; Kann, L.; Lehoczky, J.; Levine, R.; McEwan, P.; McKernan, K.; Meldrim, J.; Mesirov, J. P.; Miranda, C.; Morris, W.; Naylor, J.; Raymond, C.; Rosetti, M.; Santos, R.; Sheridan, A.; et al. (February 2001).
"Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome"
(PDF)
.
Nature
.
409
(6822): 860?921.
Bibcode
:
2001Natur.409..860L
.
doi
:
10.1038/35057062
.
ISSN
0028-0836
.
PMID
11237011
.
- ^
Brownlee, George G.
(2015).
"Frederick Sanger CBE CH OM. 13 August 1918 ? 19 November 2013"
.
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
.
61
. Royal Society publishing: 437?466.
doi
:
10.1098/rsbm.2015.0013
.
ISSN
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.
S2CID
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.
- ^
Sulston, John; Ferry, Georgina (2002).
The Common Thread a Story of Science, Politics, Ethics, and the Human Genome
(1st ed.). Washington, DC: Joseph Henry Press.
ISBN
978-0-309-08409-3
.
- ^
"Certificate of Election EC/1986/35: John Edward Sulston"
. London: The Royal Society. Archived from
the original
on 8 July 2019.
- ^
John Sulston: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2002
- ^
"Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement"
.
www.achievement.org
.
American Academy of Achievement
.
- ^
"Nobel Laureate, Dr John Sulston, Receives the TCD Dawson Prize in Genetics"
. 18 October 2006.
- ^
"Rutherford Memorial Lecturer"
. Royal Society of New Zealand
. Retrieved
11 September
2013
.
- ^
"No. 61962"
.
The London Gazette
(Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B26.
- ^
"Nobel Laureate awarded our Alumni Medal"
. Retrieved
10 March
2018
.
- ^
Sulston, John (2002).
The Common Thread
. Bantam. pp.
22
.
ISBN
978-0309084093
.
- ^
"Our achievements"
. 10 May 2018.
- ^
"Distinguished Supporters"
. British Humanist Association
. Retrieved
4 October
2012
.
- ^
"Notable Signers"
.
Humanism and Its Aspirations
. American Humanist Association. Archived from
the original
on 5 October 2012
. Retrieved
4 October
2012
.
- ^
"Wikileaks' Julian Assange tells of 'smear campaign'
"
. BBC. 17 December 2010
. Retrieved
21 April
2014
.
- ^
Booth, Robert (8 October 2012).
"Julian Assange supporters ordered to forfeit £93,500 bail money"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"Julian Assange's backers lose £200,000 bail money"
. 4 September 2012.
External links
[
edit
]
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