Sir Richard Lavenham Gardner, FRSB, FRS (born 10 June 1943) is a British

embryologist Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

and

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

, and was previously a

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Research Professor. Since 1982, he has been Chair of the Royal Society Working Group on

human embryo Human embryonic development or human embryogenesis is the development and formation of the human embryo. It is characterised by the processes of cell division and cellular differentiation of the embryo that occurs during the early stages of deve ...

research,

stem cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

s and

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical genomes, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction; this reproduction of an organism by itself without ...

. He was the President of the

Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology (IoB) was a professional body for biologists, primarily those working in the United Kingdom. The Institute was founded in 1950 by the Biological Council: the then umbrella body for Britain's many learned biological societie ...

from 2006 to 2008, President of the Institute of Animal Biotechnology from 1986 to 2006 and is currently Chair of Trustees of the Animals in Science – Education Trust.

Early life and education

Gardner was born in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

, Surrey. His father, a professional artist specialising in

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

, was killed a few weeks later during the landings on

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

. Gardner was educated at

St John's School, Leatherhead St John's School in Leatherhead, Surrey is a fully co-educational private school for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school offers day, weekly and flexible boarding for approximately 800 pupils. St John's was founded in 1851 to educate the sons of ...

and later studied Natural Sciences at

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The colle ...

before doing a PhD in the University's Physiology Department with Nobel Laureate, Robert Edwards. In 1973 he was appointed to a University Lectureship at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

where, from 1978 until his retirement in 2008, he held a Royal Society Research Professorship.

Scientific career

Gardner pioneered the transplantation of cells and tissues between

blastocyst The blastocyst is a structure formed in the early embryonic development of mammals. It possesses an inner cell mass (ICM) also known as the ''embryoblast'' which subsequently forms the embryo, and an outer layer of trophoblast cells called the ...

stage mouse

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

s and their reconstruction from their component tissues. He was the first to apply clonal analysis to study

cell fate Within the field of developmental biology, one goal is to understand how a particular cell develops into a specific cell type, known as fate determination. In an embryo, several processes play out at a molecular level to create an organism. These pr ...

and

potency Potency may refer to: * Potency (pharmacology), a measure of the activity of a drug in a biological system * Virility * Cell potency, a measure of the differentiation potential of stem cells * In homeopathic dilutions, potency is a measure of ho ...

in mammals, and used this strategy to provide conclusive evidence against early segregation of the mammalian

germline In biology and genetics, the germline is the population of a multicellular organism's cells that develop into germ cells. In other words, they are the cells that form gametes ( eggs and sperm), which can come together to form a zygote. They dif ...

. Blastocyst injection was later adopted almost universally for assessing the developmental potential of embryonic stem (ES) cells and their competence to colonise the germline following

genetic modification Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including th ...

. With Robert Edwards, he also established proof of principle for

preimplantation genetic diagnosis Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD or PIGD) is the genetic profiling of embryos prior to implantation (as a form of embryo profiling), and sometimes even of oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered in a similar fashion to prenatal ...

. His main research interests include investigating the fate and deployment of cells in early mammalian development with particular emphasis on clonal analysis, establishing the origin and efficient derivation of stem cells from early embryos, and determining the extent to which pre-patterning normally directs early development in mammals. For many years, Gardner chaired the Royal Society's ad hoc committee on 'human embryo research', and later its working group on 'stem cells and cloning' and in this role he often advised on the scientific and ethical implications of cloning, attempting to clarify the complexities of the topic for a public audience. He served as President of the Institute of Animal Technology from 1986 to 2006 and the Institute of Biology (now the

Royal Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research. Fo ...

) from 2006 to 2008. He is a trustee of the Edwards and Steptoe Research Trust and chair of the Animals in Science Education Trust. He gave the Cumberland Lodge Annual Lecture in 2010, and the British Fertility Society's

Patrick Steptoe Patrick Christopher Steptoe CBE FRS (9 June 1913 – 21 March 1988) was an English obstetrician and gynaecologist and a pioneer of fertility treatment. Steptoe was responsible with biologist and physiologist Robert Edwards and the nurse and ...

Memorial Lecture in 2015.

Selected publications

* * *
Gardner, R.L. and Lyon, M.F. (1971). X-chromosome inactivation studied by injection of a single cell into the mouse blastocyst. ''Nature 231'', 385-386.Gardner, R.L., Lyon, M.F., Evans, E.P. and Burtenshaw, M.D. (1985). Clonal analysis of X-chromosome inactivation and the origin of the germ line in the mouse embryo. ''J. Embryol. exp. Morph., 88'', 349–363.
* ttps://www.jstor.org/stable/2396311?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Gardner, R.L. (1985). Clonal analysis of early mammalian development. ''Phil. Trans. R. Soc, B; 312'', 163–178.br>Gardner, R.L. and Cockroft, D.L. (1998). Complete dissipation of coherent clonal growth occurs before gastrulation in the precursor tissue of the fetus in the mouse. ''Development. 125'',2397–2402.Brook, F.A. and Gardner, R.L. (1997). The origin and efficient derivation of embryonic stem cells in the mouse. ''Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 94'', 5709–5712.Gardner, R. L. (2001) Specification of embryonic axes begins before cleavage in normal mouse development. ''Development 128'', 839–847.Gardner, R. L. (2007) The axis of polarity of the mouse blastocyst is specified before blastulation and independently of the zona pellucida. ''Hum. Reprod. 22'', 798–806.Gardner, R. L. (2010) Normal bias in the direction of fetal rotation depends on blastomere compositionduring early cleavage in the mouse. ''PLOS ONE 5'', 1–5

Awards and honours

*1977 –

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

's Scientific Medal *1979 – Elected

Fellow of The Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

*1999 –

March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology The March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology is awarded once a year by the March of Dimes. The Prize honors outstanding scientists who profoundly advance the science that underlies our understanding of pregnancy, parturition, and Prenatal dev ...

*2001 – Royal Society's

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

*2004 – Albert Brachet Prize of the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts *2005 – Knighthood for services to Biological Sciences *2012 – Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Cambridge

References

External links

Professor Sir Richard Gardner, University of York

Professor Sir Richard Gardner, St Catharine's College, Cambridge

'40 Years of IVF – The Biology' – 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Richard 1943 births Living people People from Dorking People educated at St John's School, Leatherhead Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge British geneticists British embryologists Academics of the University of York Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Medal winners Knights Bachelor