John Bertrand Gurdon
Born	(1933-10-02) 2 October 1933 (age 78)
Nationality	British
Fields	Developmental biology
Institutions	University of Oxford University of Cambridge California Institute of Technology
Known for	Nuclear transfer, cloning
Notable awards	Wolf Prize in Medicine (1989) Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (2009)

Sir John Bertrand Gurdon (JBG), FRS (born 2 October 1933) is a British developmental biologist. He is best known for his pioneering research in nuclear transplantation^[1][2][3] and cloning. ^[4][5][6][7] He was recently awarded the Lasker Award.

Career[link]

After attending Eton College, Gurdon went up to Christ Church, Oxford, to study classics but switched to zoology. For his PhD he studied nuclear transplantation in the frog Xenopus with Michael Fischberg at Oxford, and then did postdoctoral work at Caltech.^[8] His early posts were at the Department of Zoology of the University of Oxford (1962–71).

Gurdon has spent much of his research career in Cambridge, UK, first at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (1971–83) and then at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge (1983–date). In 1989, he was a founding member of the Wellcome/CRC Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer (later Wellcome/CR UK) in Cambridge, and was its Chair until 2001. He was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics 1991-1995, and Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge from 1995 to 2002.

Research[link]

Nuclear transfer[link]

In 1958, Gurdon, then at Oxford University, successfully cloned a frog using intact nuclei from the somatic cells of a Xenopus tadpole.^[9][10] This was an important extension of work of Briggs and King in 1952 on transplanting nuclei from embryonic blastula cells ^[11]

Gurdon’s experiments captured the attention of the scientific community and the tools and techniques he developed for nuclear transfer are still used today. The term clone^[12] (from the Greek word klōn, meaning “twig”) had already been in use since the beginning of the 20th century in reference to plants. In 1963 the British biologist J. B. S. Haldane, in describing Gurdon’s results, became one of the first to use the word clone in reference to animals.

Messenger RNA expression[link]

Gurdon and colleagues also pioneered the use of Xenopus (genus of highly aquatic frog) eggs and oocytes to translate microinjected messenger RNA molecules,^[13] a technique which has been widely used to identify the proteins encoded and to study their function.

Recent research[link]

Gurdon's recent research has focused on analysing intercellular signalling factors involved in cell differentiation, and on elucidating the mechanisms involved in reprogramming the nucleus in transplantation experiments, including demethylation of the transplanted DNA.^[14]

Honours and awards[link]

Gurdon was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1971, and was knighted in 1995. In 2004, the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer was renamed the Gurdon Institute^[15] in his honour. He has also received numerous awards, medals and honorary degrees.^[8] He has been awarded the 2009 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research award.

References[link]

External links[link]

• John Gurdon interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 20th August 2008 (film)

• Wolf Prize in Medicine 1978-2008 edited by John Gurdon (film)

John B (born John Bryn Williams, 1977, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England) is an English DJ and electronic music producer. He is widely recognised for his eccentric clothing and wild hair and his production of several cutting edge drum and bass tracks.

John B ranked #76 in DJ Magazine 's 2010 Top 100 DJs annual poll, announced on 27 October 2010.^[1]

Biography[link]

Williams started producing music around the age of 14,^[2] and now is the head of drum and bass record label Beta Recordings, together with its more specialist^[3] drum and bass sub-labels Nu Electro,^[4] Tangent, and Chihuahua. He also has releases on Formation Records, Metalheadz and Planet Mu.

Williams was ranked 1st drum and bass DJ on the 2009 DJMag's top 100.^[5] and #92 on the DJ List as of October 3, 2009.^[6]

He attended Durham University.

Style[link]

While his trademark sound has evolved through the years, it generally involves female vocals and trance-like synths (a style which has been dubbed "trance and bass", "trancestep" and "futurestep" by listeners). His most recent concentration is an 1980s electroclash influenced fusion of electro and drum and bass, which was dubbed 'electrostep'. At first (around early 2002), this style seemed odd and comical to some in the drum and bass community.^[7] However, this move has given John the ability to carry his style of drum and bass forward. He has dabbled in darkstep, jazzstep and various other styles in his time. When he DJs, he is known to spin both drum and bass and electrohouse, sometimes with other genres such as disco and rock, in the same sets.