David Glover facts for kids

David Moore Glover (born March 28, 1948) is a British scientist who studies genetics. He is a Research Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology in the USA.

Professor Glover has held important roles at the University of Cambridge. He was the Balfour Professor of Genetics and a researcher for the Wellcome Trust. He was also a Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He helped start and was the first editor of Open Biology, a science journal from the Royal Society.

School Days

David Glover went to Broadway Technical Grammar School in Barnsley. He then studied at the University of Cambridge. He earned his PhD (a high-level university degree) from University College London. For his PhD, he worked in the labs of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.

His Scientific Journey

Early Discoveries

After his studies, David Glover worked at Stanford University in the USA. There, he was part of a big science breakthrough called the Recombinant DNA revolution. This is where scientists learned how to cut and paste DNA. He found special DNA pieces that interrupted genes in fruit flies (called Drosophila).

In 1975, he started his own lab at Imperial College London. He later showed that these special DNA pieces were actually ancient transposable elements. These are like "jumping genes" that can move around in an organism's DNA. He also worked with other scientists like Peter Rigby and Jean Beggs.

In 1978, he became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). This is a group for top scientists in Europe.

Studying Cell Division

While at Imperial College, Professor Glover received a special award. This allowed him to start new research using fruit flies. He used them to study how cells divide and grow. This process is called the cell cycle.

He looked closely at tiny parts inside cells called centrosomes. These centrosomes help cells divide properly. His work led him to discover and name two important proteins: Polo and Aurora protein kinases. These proteins are needed for centrosomes to work during cell division.

Moving to Dundee

In 1989, Professor Glover moved to the University of Dundee in Scotland. There, he helped set up new cancer research labs. He continued his work on the Polo protein. He showed that Polo is important not just in fruit flies, but also in other organisms like yeast. He found that a similar protein, which he named Plo1, was also needed for cell division in yeast.

He discovered that the Polo kinase protein works in a similar way in human cells. It helps with cell division and is often found in higher amounts in cancer cells. This led him to work with companies to create medicines that could stop Polo from working. These medicines could help treat cancer.

While in Dundee, he also found other parts of the cell division machinery. He discovered how certain proteins control cell division and how other proteins can stop it. His important work in Scotland led to him being chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).

Research in Cambridge

In 1999, Professor Glover became the head of the Genetics Department at the University of Cambridge. Here, he found another important protein called Aurora B kinase. This protein helps cells move through a stage of division called metaphase.

He also studied how tiny structures called centrioles copy themselves. He showed that a protein called Polo-like-kinase 4 (Plk4) is the main controller of this process. He even showed that Plk4 can make new centrioles appear in fruit fly eggs. His team also found other proteins that work with Plk4 to help centrioles copy correctly.

Current Work

In 2019, Professor Glover's lab moved to the California Institute of Technology in the USA. His team is now studying what happens when cells have too many centrosomes. They are looking at how this affects cell growth and how cells change in tissues like the skin and pancreas.

Personal Life

David Glover married Magdalena Żernicka-Goetz in the year 2000.