Kim Nasmyth facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kim Nasmyth FRS FMedSci
Nasmyth in 2017
Born	Kim Ashley Nasmyth (1952-10-10) 10 October 1952 (age 72)
Nationality	British
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	University of York (BSc) University of Edinburgh (PhD)
Known for	Cohesin
Spouse(s)	Anna Dowson ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	Two
Awards	EMBO Member (1985) Wittgenstein-Preis (1999) Gairdner Foundation International Award (2007) Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (1997) Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2018)
Scientific career
Fields	molecular biology, gene regulation, cell cycle control
Institutions	University of Oxford Research Institute of Molecular Pathology
Thesis	DNA replication in Schizosaccharomyces pombe (1977)
Doctoral advisor	Murdoch Mitchison
Notable students	Anton Gartner Angelika Amon Andrea Brand

Kim Ashley Nasmyth (born 18 October 1952) is a British scientist who studies genetics. He is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Oxford. He is also a Fellow at Trinity College, Oxford.

Professor Nasmyth is famous for his important discoveries about how chromosomes separate. This process happens when cells divide. His work helps us understand how our bodies grow and repair themselves.

Kim Nasmyth's Early Life and Learning

Kim Nasmyth was born in London in 1952. His parents were James Ashley (Jan) Nasmyth and Jenny Hughes. He went to Eton College in Berkshire. After that, he studied Biology at the University of York.

Studying Cell Division

Nasmyth continued his studies at the University of Edinburgh. There, he worked with a scientist named Murdoch Mitchison. His PhD research focused on how DNA copies itself in a type of yeast called fission yeast.

In Mitchison's lab, he made big steps in understanding the cell cycle in yeast. He found and studied specific changes in yeast that affected how their cells divided. He also helped find a gene product called DNA ligase in these changed yeast cells.

Kim Nasmyth's Scientific Discoveries

Kim Nasmyth explaining how DNA loops are formed using a climbing rope.

After his PhD, Nasmyth worked in Ben Hall's lab in Seattle. He learned new ways to copy genes in yeast. Working with Steve Reed, he copied the CDC28 gene from another type of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Understanding Gene Control

As a research leader in Cambridge, Nasmyth became interested in how yeast changes its mating type. He found that yeast keeps "silent" copies of its mating-type genes. These genes are not active but can be used later. This showed that where a gene is located on a chromosome can be very important. This was a new idea at the time.

This discovery made Nasmyth focus on how genes are turned on or off. He was one of the first to show that genes can be controlled by special parts of DNA far away from the gene itself.

Discovering Cohesin

The cohesin complex holding sister DNA strands together.

In 1986, Max Birnstiel invited Nasmyth to join the new Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria. Nasmyth became one of the first senior group leaders there. At the IMP, he went back to studying how cells divide.

In the mid-1990s, Nasmyth helped discover something called the APC/C. He showed that the APC/C helps chromosomes separate during cell division. He also found several genes needed for sister chromatid cohesion. This is how two identical copies of a chromosome stay together. We now know these genes make up the cohesin complex.

Nasmyth later showed that cohesin forms a ring shape. This ring holds the two sister chromatids together. The chromatids are released when cohesin is cut by another protein called separase. After Max Birnstiel retired, Nasmyth became the scientific director of the IMP in 1997.

Leading Research at Oxford

In 2006, Nasmyth moved from the IMP to become the head of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. He held this position until 2011. He still leads a research group there today. His research has been supported by important organizations like the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. He plans to retire from research in 2022.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Kim Nasmyth has received many important awards for his scientific work. These include:

Kim Nasmyth's Personal Life

Kim Nasmyth married Anna Dowson in 1982. They have two daughters. His younger brother, Luke Hughes, is a furniture designer.

Nasmyth enjoys skiing and climbing. He even says his climbing hobby helped him think about how cohesin works! He also co-owns a vineyard in the south of France. While living in Vienna, Nasmyth became an Austrian citizen.