Laurence Pearl facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Laurence Pearl
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Laurence Pearl in his office
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Laurence Harris Pearl
18 June 1956 Manchester, England
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| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | biochemistry |
| Known for | Work on HIV-1 protease, DNA repair Enzymes, Hsp90 and GSK-3 |
| Spouse(s) | Frances M. G. Pearl |
| Children | two sons, one daughter |
| Awards | |
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| Thesis | Crystallographic studies of endothiapepsin (1984) |
| Doctoral advisor | Tom Blundell |
Laurence Harris Pearl (born 18 June 1956) is a British biochemist and structural biologist. He studies the tiny building blocks of life, like proteins, to understand how they work. Currently, he is a Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Sussex and also works at the Institute of Cancer Research. His important research helps us learn more about serious diseases like HIV/AIDS and cancer.
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School and University Years
Laurence Pearl was born in Manchester, England. When he was a student at Manchester Grammar School, he loved being in school plays. He even acted alongside a famous director named Nicholas Hytner in a play called The Government Inspector.
After school, he went to University College London to study biochemistry. Biochemistry is the study of the chemical processes that happen inside living things. Later, he earned his Master's and PhD degrees from Birkbeck College. For his PhD, he studied a protein called endothiapepsin.
While at Birkbeck, he was part of the college's University Challenge team. This is a popular TV quiz show in the UK. In 1984, his team made it to the semi-finals and scored 430 points in one game, which was one of the highest scores ever on the show!
His Career Journey
After finishing his studies, Laurence Pearl worked as a researcher at Birkbeck College and the Institute of Cancer Research. In 1989, he became a lecturer at University College London (UCL). He then became a Professor of Structural Biology at UCL in 1996.
In 1999, he moved back to the Institute of Cancer Research to lead a new section focused on structural biology. Later, in 2009, he became the Head of the new School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex. He moved his laboratory there, to the MRC Genome Damage and Stability Centre.
Since 2017, he has held a special role, working at both the Institute of Cancer Research and the University of Sussex. This allows him to continue his important research in both places.
Amazing Discoveries
Laurence Pearl's research helps us understand how tiny parts of our bodies, like proteins, work. He focuses on how these parts are put together and how they cause human diseases like HIV/AIDS and cancer.
He is well-known for his early work on the HIV-1 protease. This is a protein that the HIV virus needs to spread. Understanding it helped scientists develop medicines to fight HIV. He also studied proteins involved in DNA repair, which fix damage to our DNA. Another important area of his work is the Hsp90 system, which helps other proteins fold correctly.
Even though his main goal is to understand how these things work, his lab also tries to use this knowledge to find new medicines. He even helped start a company called Domainex Ltd, which works on discovering new drugs.
Awards and Special Recognition
Laurence Pearl has received many important awards for his scientific work:
- In 2005, he became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO).
- In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
- In 2008, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, which is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
- In 2012, he joined the Academia Europaea.
- In 2011, he received a Senior Investigator Award from the Wellcome Trust, which supports important research.
In 2013, Laurence Pearl and his research team, along with another team from the Institute of Cancer Research, won the Cancer Research UK Translational Cancer Research Prize. They won this award for their work on the Hsp90 protein. They showed that Hsp90 could be a target for new cancer treatments and helped develop a drug called AUY922.
In 2018, he was given the Novartis Medal and Prize from the Biochemical Society. This award recognized his big contributions to understanding how proteins involved in DNA repair, cell signals, and protein activation work.
