John Sutherland (chemist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Sutherland
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Sutherland in 2017
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| Born |
John David Sutherland
24 July 1962 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Awards | Darwin Medal (2014) Tilden Prize (2011) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Manchester Laboratory of Molecular Biology |
| Thesis | Genetic engineering of penicillin biosynthesis (1988) |
| Doctoral advisor | Jack Baldwin |
John David Sutherland (born 24 July 1962) is a British chemist. He works at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). He is well-known for his research into how life might have started on Earth.
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Education
John Sutherland studied chemistry at the University of Oxford. He earned his first degree in 1984. Later, he completed his PhD degree at Oxford as well.
Career and Research
Sutherland taught organic chemistry at the University of Oxford for eight years. In 1998, he became a professor at the University of Manchester. He worked there until 2010. After that, he moved to Cambridge to join the Medical Research Council (UK) Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Since 2013, he has been a Simons Investigator. This means he helps lead important research on the origin of life.
How Life Might Have Started
In 2009, Sutherland and his team made a big discovery. They found a way to create important building blocks for RNA. RNA is a molecule that many scientists believe was key to early life. This idea is called the "RNA World hypothesis." Before their work, it was very hard to make these RNA building blocks (called pyrimidine nucleotides) in a lab, using conditions like those on early Earth.
Sutherland's method was special. Instead of trying to build the parts of RNA one by one, he found a way to make them from simpler chemicals. These chemicals, like cyanoacetylene and cyanamide, were likely present on early Earth. This discovery showed a possible way for life's first molecules to form naturally.
Awards for Origin of Life Research
In June 2012, John Sutherland and his colleague Matthew Powner won the Origin of Life Challenge. This award recognized their important work in understanding how life began.
In 2015, Sutherland published another key paper in the science journal Nature Chemistry. He showed that the same simple chemicals that form RNA building blocks could also create parts of lipids (fats) and amino acids (which make up proteins). This suggests that many of life's essential molecules might have come from a common set of chemical reactions on the early Earth. This idea was praised by Nobel Prize winner Jack W. Szostak, who also studies the origins of life.
Sutherland also supports a field called systems chemistry. This area of chemistry looks at how many different chemicals can work together in complex ways to create new things.
Honours and Awards
John Sutherland has received several important awards for his work:
- 2009: The Max Tishler Prize Lectureship, Harvard University, USA
- 2011: The Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Prize
- 2012: Co-winner of the Origin of Life Challenge
- 2014: The Royal Society Darwin Medal
- 2017: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
