Philip Ingham facts for kids

Philip William Ingham (born March 19, 1955) is a famous British geneticist. A geneticist is a scientist who studies genes and heredity. He was born in Liverpool, England.

Professor Ingham has worked at top universities around the world. For 18 years, he was a professor in Singapore at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine. This school is a team effort between Nanyang Technological University and Imperial College London. He also led the Living Systems Institute at the University of Exeter in the UK.

A Scientist's Journey

Philip Ingham went to school at Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby. He then studied at Queens' College, Cambridge. At first, he studied philosophy and theology, but he switched to genetics and graduated with a degree in that field.

He earned his doctorate degree, a Ph.D., from the University of Sussex. After that, he worked in France and then returned to the United Kingdom. He worked for a famous research organization now called Cancer Research UK.

Later, he moved to the University of Sheffield. There, he started a special center to study how living things grow and develop. His amazing work has earned him many awards and honors.

Awards and Recognition

Because of his important discoveries, Professor Ingham has received many honors.

• In 1995, he was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization.
• In 2001, he became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
• In 2002, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, one of the highest honors for a scientist in the UK.
• In 2014, he won the Waddington Medal from the British Society for Developmental Biology.

Major Scientific Discoveries

Professor Ingham has made several huge discoveries that changed how we understand biology. He has studied how animals develop from a single cell into a complex creature.

The trithorax Gene

As a young scientist, Ingham discovered a new gene in fruit flies (Drosophila). He named this gene trithorax. He found that this gene is like a memory keeper for cells. It helps cells remember what they are supposed to become, like a skin cell or a muscle cell.

This was a major breakthrough. Today, scientists know that similar genes, called Trithorax-group proteins, are found in almost all animals, including humans. They play a key role in how our bodies are built and stay healthy.

The Hedgehog Signalling Pathway

Ingham also studied how the bodies of fruit flies are divided into segments, or parts. This led him to study a process called the Hedgehog signalling pathway. Think of it as a communication system that cells use to talk to each other.

This "talk" tells cells where to go and what to do as an animal grows. Ingham's research helped identify the main parts of this system. He found that a protein called Patched acts like an antenna, or receptor, that receives the "Hedgehog" signal.

Finding Sonic hedgehog

In 1993, Ingham and his team made another incredible discovery. They found genes in vertebrates (animals with backbones) that were very similar to the hedgehog gene in fruit flies. One of these genes was named Sonic hedgehog, after the video game character.

This discovery was very important. Scientists learned that the Hedgehog pathway is crucial for the development of many animals, including people. When this pathway doesn't work correctly, it can lead to certain types of cancer. Because of Ingham's work, new medicines have been created to target this pathway and fight cancer.

Using Zebrafish for Research

Professor Ingham was one of the first scientists to use the zebrafish as a model organism. Zebrafish are small, striped fish that are easy to study. Their babies are transparent, so scientists can watch their organs grow in real time.

By studying zebrafish, Ingham and other researchers can learn about how vertebrates develop. They can also study human diseases in a new way, which helps in finding new treatments.