Sir John Edward Sulston (27 March 1942 – 6 March 2018) was a British biologist and academic who won the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

for his work on the cell lineage and

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...

of the worm '' Caenorhabditis elegans'' in 2002 with his colleagues

Sydney Brenner Sydney Brenner (13 January 1927 – 5 April 2019) was a South African biologist. In 2002, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with H. Robert Horvitz and Sir John E. Sulston. Brenner made significant contributions to work ...

and

Robert Horvitz Howard Robert Horvitz ForMemRS NAS AAA&S APS NAM (born May 8, 1947) is an American biologist best known for his research on the nematode worm ''Caenorhabditis elegans'', for which he was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, ...

. He was a leader in human genome research and Chair of the

Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation The Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation (iSEI) is a research institute founded at the University of Manchester in 2007 with a mission to examine the role and moral responsibilities of science, technology and innovation in the contemporar ...

at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

. Sulston was in favour of science in the public interest, such as free public access of scientific information and against the patenting of genes and the privatisation of genetic technologies.Ivan Oransky, Adam Marcu
John Sulston. obituary
7 April 2018, The Lancet

Early life and education

Sulston was born in

Fulmer, Buckinghamshire Fulmer is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south Buckinghamshire, England. The village has along most of its northern border a narrow buffer zone, green buffer from Gerrards Cross and is heavily wooded adjoining neighbour ...

, England to Arthur Edward Aubrey Sulston and Josephine Muriel Frearson, née Blocksidge. His father was an Anglican priest and administrator of the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organization (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Part ...

. His mother quit her job as an English teacher at Watford Grammar School, to care for him and his sister Madeleine. and home-tutored them until he was five. At age five he entered the local preparatory school, York House School, where he soon developed an aversion to games. He developed an early interest in science, having fun with dissecting animals and sectioning plants to observe their structure and function. Sulston won a scholarship to Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood and then to Pembroke College, Cambridge graduating in 1963 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in Natural Sciences (Chemistry). He joined the

Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge The Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry is the University of Cambridge's chemistry department. It was formed from a merger in the early 1980s of two separate departments that had moved into the Lensfield Road building decades earlier: the Depart ...

, after being interviewed by Alexander Todd and was awarded his PhD in 1966 for research in

nucleotide Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecule ...

chemistry.

Career

Between 1966 and 1969 he worked as a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in

La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

, California. His academic advisor Colin Reese had arranged for him to work with

Leslie Orgel Leslie Eleazer Orgel FRS (12 January 1927 – 27 October 2007) was a British chemist. He is known for his theories on the origin of life. Biography Leslie Orgel was born in London, England, on . He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in chemi ...

, who would turn his scientific career onto a different pathway. Orgel introduced him to Francis Crick and

, who worked in Cambridge. He became inclined to biological research. Although Orgel wanted Sulston to remain with him, Sydney Brenner persuaded Sulston to return to Cambridge to work on the neurobiology of '' Caenorhabditis elegans'' at the Medical Research Council (MRC)

Laboratory of Molecular Biology The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...

(LMB). Sulston soon produced the complete map of the worm's neurons. He continued work on its DNA and subsequently the whole genome sequencing. In 1998, the whole genome sequence was published in collaboration with the Genome Institute at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, so that ''C. elegans'' became the first animal to have its complete genome sequenced. Sulston played a central role in both the ''C. elegans'' and

human genome The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as DNA within the 23 chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and in a small DNA molecule found within individual mitochondria. These are usually treated separately as the ...

sequencing projects. He had argued successfully for the sequencing of ''C. elegans'' to show that large-scale genome sequencing projects were feasible. As sequencing of the worm genome proceeded, the Human Genome Project began. At this point he was made director of the newly established

Sanger Centre The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is located on the Wellcome Ge ...

(named after

Fred Sanger Frederick Sanger (; 13 August 1918 – 19 November 2013) was an English biochemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice. He won the 1958 Chemistry Prize for determining the amino acid sequence of insulin and numerous othe ...

), located in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

, England. In 2000, after the 'working draft' of the human genome sequence was completed, Sulston retired from directing the Sanger Centre. With Georgina Ferry, he narrated his research career leading to the human genome sequence in ''The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics, and the Human Genome'' (2002).

Awards and honours

Sulston was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1986. -- His certificate of election reads: He was elected an

EMBO Member Membership of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is an award granted by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in recognition of "research excellence and the outstanding achievements made by a life scientist". , 88 EMB ...

in 1989 and awarded the George W. Beadle Award in 2000. In 2001 Sulston gave the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sc ...

on ''The Secrets of Life''. In 2002, he won the

Dan David Prize The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding ...

and the

Robert Burns Humanitarian Award The Robert Burns Humanitarian Award is an award presented annually around the time of Robert Burns' birthday to a group or individual who has saved, improved or enriched the lives of others or society as a whole, through self-sacrifice, selfless ...

. Later, he shared the

with

and

, both of whom he had collaborated with at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), for their discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'. One of Sulston's most important contributions during his research years at the LMB was to elucidate the precise order in which cells in ''C. elegans'' divide. In fact, he and his team succeeded in tracing the nematode's entire embryonic cell lineage. In 2004, Sulston received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

. In 2006, he was awarded the George Dawson Prize in Genetics by

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. In 2013, Sulston was awarded the

Royal Society of New Zealand Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

Rutherford Memorial Lecture The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physica ...

, which he gave on the subject of population pressure. He was appointed a

Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...

(CH) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to science and society. On 23 October 2017 he was awarded the Cambridge Chemistry Alumni Medal. Sulston was a leading campaigner against the patenting of human genetic information.

Personal life

EBI and Sanger Center, Genome campus, Cambridgeshire

John Sulston met Daphne Bate, a research assistant in Cambridge. They got married in 1966 just before they left for US for postdoctoral research. Together they had two children. Their first child, Ingrid, was born in

in 1967, and their second, Adrian, later in England. The couple lived in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire where they were active members of the local community: John regularly volunteered in the local library and in working parties at Magog Down; he was a Trustee of Cambridge Past, Present and Future. Although brought up in a Christian family, Sulston lost his faith during his student life at Cambridge, and remained an atheist. He was a distinguished supporter of Humanists UK. In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel Laureates who signed the

Humanist Manifesto ''Humanist Manifesto'' is the title of three manifestos laying out a humanist worldview. They are the original '' Humanist Manifesto'' (1933, often referred to as Humanist Manifesto I), the ''Humanist Manifesto II'' (1973), and ''Humanism and I ...

. Sulston was in favour of free public access of scientific information. He wanted genome information freely available, and he described as "totally immoral and disgusting" the idea of profiteering from such research. He also wanted to change patent law, and argued that restrictions on drugs such as the anti-viral drug

Tamiflu Oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, is an antiviral medication used to treat and prevent influenza A and influenza B, viruses that cause the flu. Many medical organizations recommend it in people who have complications or are at hi ...

by Roche are a hindrance to patients whose lives are dependent on them. In December 2010, Sulston backed Julian Assange by acting as a bail surety for him, according to Assange's attorney Mark Stephens. Sulston forfeited £15,000 of the £20,000 pledged in June 2012, as Assange had entered the embassy of Ecuador to escape the jurisdiction of the English courts. Sulston died on 6 March 2018 of stomach cancer, aged 75 years.

References

External links

Freeview Video of Fredrick Sanger in conversation with John Sulston by the Vega Science Trust
* ttps://www.sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1131145 John Sulston interviewed by Alan Macfarlane 16 September 2008 (video)*
The public servant: John SulstonBritish Scientists share 2002 Nobel Prize
from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''
John Sulston profile
on the Stapleford Cambridge website where he lives {{DEFAULTSORT:Sulston, John 1942 births 2018 deaths British Nobel laureates Fellows of the Royal Society British humanists English atheists English former Christians Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Cambridge Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine Academics of the University of Manchester Knights Bachelor Wellcome Trust English Nobel laureates Human Genome Project scientists Caenorhabditis elegans Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour People from South Bucks District