John Sulston facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Sulston
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Sulston in 2008
|
|
| Born |
John Edward Sulston
27 March 1942 Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England
|
| Died | 6 March 2018 (aged 75) |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | British |
| Education | Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA, PhD) |
| Known for | Genome sequencing of Caenorhabditis elegans and humans Sulston score Apoptosis |
| Spouse(s) |
Daphne Edith Bate
(m. 1966) |
| Children | 1 son, 1 daughter |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Aspects of oligoribonucleotide synthesis (1966) |
| Doctoral advisor | Colin Reese |
| Influences | |
Sir John Edward Sulston (1942–2018) was a British scientist. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002. He shared the prize with Sydney Brenner and Robert Horvitz. They won for their work on how cells develop and how some cells are programmed to die.
Sulston was a leader in understanding the human genome. This is the complete set of instructions for building a human. He also worked at the University of Manchester. He believed that scientific information should be free for everyone. He was against people trying to own or patent genes.
Contents
Early Life and Education
John Sulston was born in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England. His father was a priest. His mother was an English teacher. She taught him and his sister at home until he was five.
At age five, he went to York House School. He became very interested in science. He enjoyed dissecting animals and looking at plants closely. This helped him understand how things work.
Studying at Cambridge
Sulston won a scholarship to Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood. Then he went to Pembroke College, Cambridge. He studied Natural Sciences, focusing on chemistry. He earned his first degree in 1963.
He continued his studies at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge. In 1966, he earned his PhD. His research was about the chemistry of nucleotides. These are the building blocks of DNA and RNA.
Scientific Career and Discoveries
After his PhD, Sulston worked in California from 1966 to 1969. He was a researcher at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. There, he met Leslie Orgel, Francis Crick, and Sydney Brenner. These meetings made him want to study biology.
Mapping the Worm's Cells
Sydney Brenner convinced Sulston to return to Cambridge. He joined the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). Sulston began studying a tiny worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. He mapped all of the worm's nerve cells.
He then worked on mapping the worm's entire genome. In 1998, the full genome of C. elegans was published. This made it the first animal to have its complete genetic code known.
Leading the Human Genome Project
Sulston played a key role in sequencing the human genome. He showed that large-scale genome projects were possible. He became the director of the Sanger Centre. This center was named after Frederick Sanger. It is located in Cambridgeshire, England.
In 2000, the first draft of the human genome was finished. After this, Sulston stepped down as director of the Sanger Centre. He wrote a book about his work called The Common Thread.
Awards and Recognition
John Sulston received many awards for his scientific work. In 1986, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
Nobel Prize Winner
In 2002, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shared it with Sydney Brenner and Robert Horvitz. They were recognized for their discoveries about how genes control cell development. They also found out how cells are programmed to die.
One of Sulston's most important contributions was mapping the cell division of C. elegans. He and his team traced every cell from the beginning of the worm's life.
Other Honours
In 2001, Sulston gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. These are famous science talks for young people. In 2004, he received the Golden Plate Award. In 2017, he was given the Order of the Companions of Honour. This is a special award for services to science and society.
Sulston was a strong supporter of making scientific information public. He believed that genetic information should be free for everyone. He thought it was wrong to profit from such research.
Personal Life
John Sulston married Daphne Bate in 1966. She was a research assistant. They had two children, Ingrid and Adrian. The family lived in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire. John often volunteered in his local library.
Sulston was raised in a Christian family. However, he became an atheist during his time at Cambridge. He was a supporter of Humanists UK. In 2003, he signed the Humanist Manifesto. This document shares humanist beliefs.
John Sulston passed away on March 6, 2018. He was 75 years old.
Images for kids
-
Sulston in 2008
-
The Sulston Laboratories of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute are named in Sulston's honour.
