Phillip Allen Sharp facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Phillip Allen Sharp
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Sharp with the Winthrop-Sears Medal in 2007
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| Born | June 6, 1944 Falmouth, Kentucky, U.S.
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| Spouse(s) |
Ann Holcombe
(m. 1964) |
| Children | 3 |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Biologist |
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Phillip Allen Sharp (born June 6, 1944) is an American geneticist and molecular biologist. He is famous for co-discovering RNA splicing. This big discovery helped him win the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with another scientist, Richard J. Roberts.
They found out that genes in living things are not just one long string of information. Instead, they have parts called introns that need to be cut out. This cutting and pasting process, called RNA splicing, allows our bodies to make different proteins from the same genetic instructions.
Sharp's current work focuses on tiny pieces of RNA called small RNAs. He studies how these small RNAs help control what genes do in our bodies. His lab also looks at how gene regulation works in angiogenesis (forming new blood vessels) and when cells are under stress.
Life and Education
Phillip Sharp was born on June 6, 1944, in Falmouth, Kentucky. His parents were Kathrin and Joseph Walter Sharp. In 1964, he married Ann Holcombe, and they have three daughters.
Sharp went to Union College where he studied chemistry and mathematics. He then earned his Ph.D. (a high-level degree) in chemistry in 1969 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
After getting his Ph.D., he continued his research at the California Institute of Technology until 1971. There, he studied small loops of DNA called plasmids. Later, he worked at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory with James D. Watson. He studied how genes are used to make proteins in human cells.
Career in Science
In 1974, Phillip Sharp joined the MIT. He became the director of MIT's Center for Cancer Research from 1985 to 1991. This center is now known as the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
He also led the Biology department at MIT from 1991 to 1999. From 2000 to 2004, he was the founder and director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research.
Today, Sharp is an Institute Professor and Professor of Biology Emeritus at MIT. He is also a member of the Koch Institute. He helps lead the advisory board of the MIT Jameel Clinic. Sharp also helped start several important companies like Biogen and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.
Awards and Recognition
Besides the Nobel Prize, Phillip Sharp has received many other important awards. In 2004, he was given the National Medal of Science. This is one of the highest honors for scientists in the United States.
He also won the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Distinguished Achievement in the Sciences in 1999. In 1988, he received the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University.
Sharp is a member of many important science groups. These include the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. In 2011, he became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in the UK. He was also elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012.
To honor him, Pendleton County, Kentucky, where Sharp was born, named its middle school after him.
Community Involvement
Phillip Sharp enjoys sharing his love for science. In October 2010, he took part in the USA Science and Engineering Festival. He had lunch with middle and high school students, talking informally about science. He is also on the festival's Advisory Board.
In 2011, MIT listed him as one of the top 150 innovators and ideas from the university.
In 2016, Sharp helped organize a letter from Nobel laureates. This letter supported "Precision Agriculture," which includes using GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and Golden Rice.
See also
In Spanish: Phillip Allen Sharp para niños
- History of RNA biology
- List of RNA biologists
- MIT Department of Biology
