Tim Mitchison facts for kids

Timothy John Mitchison is a famous scientist. He studies cell biology, which is about how tiny cells work. He also works in systems biology, which looks at how all the parts of a living thing work together. He is a professor at Harvard Medical School in the United States.

Professor Mitchison is known for some really important discoveries. He helped find out how tiny parts inside cells, called microtubules, change and move. He also studies how cells divide, which is how living things grow. Plus, he has made big contributions to chemical biology, which uses chemistry to understand living things.

Early Life and Learning

Tim Mitchison went to Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School when he was younger. He then studied Biochemistry at the University of Oxford in England. This is where he earned his first degree between 1976 and 1979.

After that, he moved to the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 1979. There, he worked on his PhD, which is a very advanced degree. His teacher was Marc Kirschner. For his PhD, Tim Mitchison studied how microtubules, which are like tiny tubes inside cells, change and move.

Discoveries and Work

After finishing his PhD, Tim Mitchison went back to the UK. He did more research at the National Institute for Medical Research in London.

In 1988, he returned to San Francisco. He became a professor at UCSF. In 1994, he wrote an important article that helped start a new area of science called chemical genetics. This field uses chemicals to understand how genes work.

In 1997, he moved to Harvard University. There, he helped lead the Institute for Chemistry and Cell Biology. He found a new way to test chemicals to see what they do to cells. This led him to discover a small molecule called monastrol. This was the first chemical that could stop cells from dividing without affecting tubulin, another cell part. Scientists later found that monastrol stops a motor protein called kinesin-5.

In 2003, he became a leader in the new Department of Systems Biology at Harvard. He studies how parts of cells, like the cytoskeleton (which gives cells their shape) and cytoplasm (the jelly-like stuff inside cells), organize themselves. He often works with Christine Field to understand how cells divide into two.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Tim Mitchison has received many important awards for his work.

• In 1997, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
• He was the president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 2010.
• In 2014, he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States. This is another big honor.
• He also gave the Keith R. Porter Lecture in 2013, which is a special talk given by leading scientists.

Family Life

Tim Mitchison is married to a scientist named Christine M. Field. They have two children.

He comes from a family of many famous scientists.

• His father was Avrion Mitchison.
• His uncles were Denis Mitchison and Murdoch Mitchison.
• His great-uncle was J.B.S. Haldane.
• His great-grandfather was John Scott Haldane.
• His grandparents were the politician Dick Mitchison and the writer Naomi Mitchison.
• His younger sister, Hannah M. Mitchison, is also a biologist.