• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Community News

Dr. Frederick Sanger Has Died, Age 95

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
November 26, 2013
in Community News, Genomics
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Dr. Frederick Sanger, recognized by many as the “father of genomics”, died Tuesday 19 November 2013, at the age of 95. The founding member of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, and the person after whom the Sanger Institute is named, he was known as an extremely modest and self-effacing man whose innumerable scientific contributions have had an extraordinary impact on molecular biology.

Frederick-Sanger

A pioneer of DNA sequencing, he started his scientific career by reading Natural Sciences as an undergraduate at St John’s College, Cambridge. He subsequently undertook a PhD, completed in 1943 with a thesis entitled “The metabolism of the amino acid lysine in the animal body”. After receiving his doctorate he continued to work at the University as a post doctorate, aiming to determine the entire sequence of amino acids in a protein chain.

Dr. Sanger is one of only four double Nobel laureates, and the only person ever to have won both prizes in chemistry. In 1958, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his research on protein structure and, in particular, the discovery of the structure of insulin. In 1962 he left the University and moved to the new UK Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) as Head of the Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry Division.

Whilst at the LMB, Sanger worked with colleagues in developing methods to sequence the nucleic acids DNA and RNA. His group produced the first complete sequence of a virus genome, of just over 5000 base-pairs; they went on to sequence the first human genome of about 16,000 base-pairs, and in 1982 they sequenced the genome of a virus of around 48,000 base-pairs. This work foreshadowed modern research into the human genome, including that done by the Sanger Institute.

It was this work on DNA that earned Sanger his second Nobel Prize in 1980, received jointly with Paul Berg (Stanford University) and Walter Gilbert (Harvard University), “for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids”. His development of the “dideoxy” or “Sanger” technique of sequencing is still used today, and allows 500-800 bases to be read at a time. Three years later, in 1983, Sanger retired.

Venki Ramakrishnan, Deputy Director of the LMB, added “Fred was one of the outstanding scientists of the last century and it is simply impossible to overestimate the impact he has had on modern genetics and molecular biology. Moreover, by his modest manner and his quiet and determined way of carrying out experiments himself right to the end of his career, he was a superb role model and inspiration for young scientists everywhere.”

Richard Henderson, former LMB Director remembers, “He was a superb hands-on scientist with outstanding judgement and skill, and an extremely modest yet encouraging way of interacting with his younger colleagues. I particularly remember one young scientist who had asked Fred for advice being told, ‘I think you should try harder’. The example he set will continue to motivate young scientists even now he has gone.”

Sir Gregory Winter, Master of Trinity College, is a former Head of Division of Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry at the LMB – a position which Sanger had also held. He said: “The impact of Fred Sanger’s work in reading the polymers of life has been felt in almost every area of biology and medicine; it is difficult to imagine a world without his contributions. Not only did his work provide deep insights into the chemical nature of life, but it had huge practical implications – it led directly to the sequencing of the human genome and also helped to lay the foundations of the modern biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.”

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Scicasts.

Tags: father of genomicsFrederick Sanger
Share14Tweet9Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

blank

Female scientists have responded to comments by Nobel laureate with #distractinglysexy

June 12, 2015
blank

Improving Genome Editing With Drugs

February 6, 2015

3-D maps of folded genome

December 13, 2014

Research reveals structure of key CRISPR complex

December 11, 2014
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • ChatPandaGPT

    Insilico Medicine brings AI-powered “ChatPandaGPT” to its target discovery platform

    61 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Northern and southern resident orcas hunt differently, which may help explain the decline of southern orcas

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • Skipping breakfast may compromise the immune system

    42 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Insular dwarfs and giants more likely to go extinct

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health issues sweeping new report

3000+ billion tons of ice lost from Antarctic Ice Sheet over 25 years 

Richard McIndoe, PhD, will direct Coordinating Unit for new, national research initiative in diabetes, obesity

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 48 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In