Anthony R. Cashmore (b. 22 Jan 1941) is a

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

and plant

molecular biologist Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

, best known for identifying

cryptochrome Cryptochromes (from the Greek κρυπτός χρώμα, "hidden colour") are a class of flavoproteins found in plants and animals that are sensitive to blue light. They are involved in the circadian rhythms and the sensing of magnetic fiel ...

photoreceptor protein Photoreceptor proteins are light-sensitive proteins involved in the sensing and response to light in a variety of organisms. Some examples are rhodopsin in the photoreceptor cells of the vertebrate retina, phytochrome in plants, and bacteriorhod ...

s. These specialized proteins are critical for plant development and play an essential role in

circadian rhythms A circadian rhythm (), or circadian cycle, is a natural oscillation that repeats roughly every 24 hours. Circadian rhythms can refer to any process that originates within an organism (i.e., endogenous) and responds to the environment (is entrai ...

of plants and animals. A

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

in the Department of Biology at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, Cashmore led the Plant Science Institute from the time of his appointment in 1986 until his retirement in 2011. He was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2003.

Early life and education

Born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

(

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

) in 1941, Cashmore grew up in Manawaru and

Te Aroha Te Aroha is a rural town in the Waikato region of New Zealand with a population of 3,906 people in the 2013 census, an increase of 138 people since 2006. It is northeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton and south of Thames, New Zealand, T ...

. As a teenager, Cashmore worked in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

in the Grasslands Division of New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Cashmore enrolled at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

, majoring in chemistry and completing a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in 1962,

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in 1963, and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree in 1966. In 1968 Cashmore moved to Cambridge (UK) to pursue

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

studies at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Department of Chemistry, and later at the

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 ...

. In 1971 Cashmore moved to the United States, where he worked as a

Research Associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

in the laboratory of Michael Chamberlin at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

before returning to New Zealand. In 1979, Cashmore took a position at the

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and pro ...

(New York), first as a visiting scientist in the laboratory of Nam-Hai Chua, and then as an assistant professor, then Associate Professor. In 1986, Cashmore was appointed the Director of the Plant Science Institute at the

(

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

). He retired in 2011 and is currently an

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Professor of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Career

Prostratin

During his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

studies, Cashmore purified the

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

component of '' Pimelea prostrata'', a New Zealand toxic

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

. Using

partition chromatography Partition chromatography theory and practice was introduced through the work and publications of Archer Martin and Richard Laurence Millington Synge during the 1940s. They would later receive the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for their invention ...

, Cashmore purified and crystallized the active component, referred to as prostratin. Cashmore's studies showed that prostratin was strikingly similar to the co-carcinogenic

phorbol esters Phorbol esters are a class of chemical compounds found in a variety of plants, particularly in the families Euphorbiaceae and Thymelaeaceae. Chemically, they are ester derivatives of the tetracyclic diterpenoid phorbol. Biological activity Prote ...

croton oil Croton oil (''Crotonis oleum'') is an oil prepared from the seeds of '' Croton tiglium'', a tree belonging to the order Euphorbiales and family Euphorbiaceae, and native or cultivated in India and the Malay Archipelago. Small doses taken interna ...

, a relationship that was subsequently confirmed using

chemical synthesis Chemical synthesis (chemical combination) is the artificial execution of chemical reactions to obtain one or several products. This occurs by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions. In modern laboratory uses ...

and

x-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...

approaches.

Nucleic acid chemistry

Hydrazine degradation

Working with George Petersen (a New Zealand biochemist) at New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) (Palmerston North), Cashmore was introduced to the study of

nucleic acid Nucleic acids are large biomolecules that are crucial in all cells and viruses. They are composed of nucleotides, which are the monomer components: a pentose, 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The two main classes of nuclei ...

s and how selective chemical reagents could be used to determine the nucleic acid sequence of DNA. Cashmore and Petersen examined the use of

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...

as a tool to measure

purine Purine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound that consists of two rings (pyrimidine and imidazole) fused together. It is water-soluble. Purine also gives its name to the wider class of molecules, purines, which include substituted puri ...

nucleotides in samples of

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

. Recognizing that hydrazine-treated DNA subsequently exposed to

alkali In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...

conditions undergoes degradation, Cashmore defined a quantitative technique for measuring purine nucleotides in DNA samples. Subsequently,

Allan Maxam Allan Maxam (born October 28, 1942) is one of the pioneers of molecular genetics. He was one of the contributors to develop a DNA sequencing method at Harvard University, while working as a student in the laboratory of Walter Gilbert. Walter Gi ...

and

Walter Gilbert Walter Gilbert (born March 21, 1932) is an American biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate. Education and early life Walter Gilbert was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1932, into a Jewish family, the so ...

employed the hydrazine degradation approach to develop

Maxam–Gilbert sequencing Maxam–Gilbert sequencing is a method of DNA sequencing developed by Allan Maxam and Walter Gilbert in 1976–1977. This method is based on nucleobase-specific partial chemical modification of DNA and subsequent cleavage of the DNA backbone at ...

, the first widely adopted method for DNA sequencing.

tRNA

Working with Dan Brown at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, Cashmore demonstrated that the reagent methoxyamine reacted with a limited number of

cytosine Cytosine () (symbol C or Cyt) is one of the four nucleotide bases found in DNA and RNA, along with adenine, guanine, and thymine ( uracil in RNA). It is a pyrimidine derivative, with a heterocyclic aromatic ring and two substituents attac ...

residues in

tRNA Transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA), formerly referred to as soluble ribonucleic acid (sRNA), is an adaptor molecule composed of RNA, typically 76 to 90 nucleotides in length (in eukaryotes). In a cell, it provides the physical link between the gene ...

. Later, Cashmore used the

RNA sequencing RNA-Seq (named as an abbreviation of RNA sequencing) is a technique that uses next-generation sequencing to reveal the presence and quantity of RNA molecules in a biological sample, providing a snapshot of gene expression in the sample, also kn ...

procedure that had recently been developed by

Fred Sanger Frederick Sanger (; 13 August 1918 – 19 November 2013) was a British 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 other prot ...

to identify the reactive cytosine residues in a

tyrosine -Tyrosine or tyrosine (symbol Tyr or Y) or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine is one of the 20 standard amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. It is a conditionally essential amino acid with a polar side group. The word "tyrosine" is ...

suppressor A silencer, also known as a sound suppressor, suppressor, or sound moderator, is a gun barrel#Muzzle, muzzle device that suppresses the muzzle blast, blast created when a gun (firearm or airgun) is discharged, thereby reducing the sound inten ...

tRNA of ''

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

''. Studying a mutant of this tRNA, Cashmore identified a new reactive cytosine residue at the base of loop III. This finding suggested that

base pair A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA ...

ing of conserved residues occurred supporting one of the early models proposed for the three dimensional structure of transfer RNA.

Biosynthesis of RuBisCO

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), thought to be the world's most abundant protein, utilizes photosynthetic energy to fix carbon dioxide through the conversion of

ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate Ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP) is an organic substance that is involved in photosynthesis, notably as the principal acceptor in plants. It is a colourless anion, a double phosphate ester of the ketopentose (ketone-containing sugar with five c ...

to two molecules of

3-phosphoglycerate 3-Phosphoglyceric acid (3PG, 3-PGA, or PGA) is the conjugate acid of 3-phosphoglycerate or glycerate 3-phosphate (GP or G3P). This glycerate is a biochemically significant metabolic intermediate in both glycolysis and the Calvin-Benson cycle. T ...

. It is an

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

of interest in the field of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

due to its role in fixing carbon dioxide. At New Zealand's DSIR Palmerston North, Cashmore studied the biosynthesis of RuBisCO, a multi- subunit (eight large and eight small subunits) protein located in plant

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle, organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant cell, plant and algae, algal cells. Chloroplasts have a high concentration of chlorophyll pigments which captur ...

s. Using selective inhibitors of protein synthesis Cashmore showed that in contrast to the RuBisCO large subunit (which was known to be synthesized on chloroplast ribosomes), the small subunit of RuBisCO was produced as a soluble

precursor protein A protein precursor, also called a pro-protein or pro-peptide, is an inactive protein (or peptide) that can be turned into an active form by post-translational modification, such as breaking off a piece of the molecule or adding on another molecule ...

cytoplasm The cytoplasm describes all the material within a eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, including the organelles and excluding the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. The material inside the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell a ...

ribosome Ribosomes () are molecular machine, macromolecular machines, found within all cell (biology), cells, that perform Translation (biology), biological protein synthesis (messenger RNA translation). Ribosomes link amino acids together in the order s ...

s. The soluble precursor protein is subsequently processed and imported into chloroplasts.

Light-regulated enhancer sequences

, Cashmore studied

DNA sequences A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the ...

associated with light regulated

expression Expression may refer to: Linguistics * Expression (linguistics), a word, phrase, or sentence * Expression (mathematics), Symbolic description of a mathematical object * Fixed expression, a form of words with a specific meaning * Idiom, a type of ...

of a

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

nuclear RuBisCO small subunit gene. For these studies, Cashmore collaborated with scientists in the laboratory of

Jeff Schell Jozef Stefaan "Jeff", Baron Schell (20 July 1935 – 17 April 2003) was a Belgian molecular biologist. Schell studied zoology and microbiology at the University of Ghent, Belgium. From 1967 to 1995, he worked as a professor at the university. F ...

and

Marc Van Montagu Marc, Baron Van Montagu (born 10 November 1933 in Ghent) is a Belgian molecular biologist. He was full professor and director of the Laboratory of Genetics at the faculty of Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) and scientific director of the ...

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

(Belgium). Using

transgenic A transgene is a gene that has been transferred naturally, or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques, from one organism to another. The introduction of a transgene, in a process known as transgenesis, has the potential to change the ...

plant cells, they demonstrated that in the pea plant, light-regulated

was mediated by a 1 kilobase (kb) promoter fragment. In a second study, this DNA fragment was shown to have the properties of an enhancer sequence, functioning in either orientation and when fused to a normally non-light-regulated promoter.

Cryptochrome

In 1881,

Francis Darwin Sir Francis Darwin (16 August 1848 – 19 September 1925) was a British botanist. He was the third son of the naturalist and scientist Charles Darwin. Biography Francis Darwin was born at Down House, Downe, Kent in 1848. He was the third s ...

and

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

demonstrated that plants exhibited a phototropic response to blue light. Elusive to discovery, scientists gave the name

to the photoreceptor factor(s) responsible for this effect. Interested in adopting the "power of ''Arabidopsis'' genetics" for the study of light regulation, in 1980 Cashmore, working with post-doctoral student Margaret Ahmad, identified ''Arabidopsis''

mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...

s that showed reduced sensitivity to blue light. Using

DNA sequencing DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine. The ...

and complementation techniques, Cashmore and Ahmed

cloned 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 ...

the gene and discovered that the mutants were

allele An allele is a variant of the sequence of nucleotides at a particular location, or Locus (genetics), locus, on a DNA molecule. Alleles can differ at a single position through Single-nucleotide polymorphism, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), ...

s of a previously identified ''hy4'' mutant. Ahmad and Cashmore called this blue light photoreceptor "cryptochrome", and it is now referred to as CRY1. Cashmore's research group identified a second member of the cryptochrome family (CRY2) using

cDNA library A cDNA library is a combination of cloned cDNA (complementary DNA) fragments inserted into a collection of host cells, which constitute some portion of the transcriptome of the organism and are stored as a "library". cDNA is produced from fully t ...

screening. This research was the foundation that led to the identification of CRY proteins in other plant species, bacteria, fungi, animals, and humans, as well as research that defined the pivotal role of these proteins in

circadian clock A circadian clock, or circadian oscillator, also known as one’s internal alarm clock is a biochemical oscillator that cycles with a stable phase and is synchronized with solar time. Such a clock's ''in vivo'' period is necessarily almost exact ...

regulation across species and as the primary sensory molecule enabling light-dependent magnetic compass orientation in migratory birds. Today, light-based diagnostic and therapeutic wearable photonic healthcare devices, are based on the function of the cryptochrome photoreceptors.

Human behavior, free will and consciousness

In recent years, Cashmore turned his attention to the topic of human behavior, studying the concepts of

free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

and

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

. In a publication on this topic, Cashmore noted that in popular discussions regarding the relative importance of

nature vs nurture Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the relative influence on human beings of their genetic inheritance (nature) and the environmental conditions of their development ( nurture). The alliterative expression ...

, an element that is commonly missing is awareness that individuals are responsible for neither their genetic inheritance nor their environment. Based on this observation, he therefore asked "where does this notion of free will come from?" and challenged the

scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many "working group, sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional acti ...

to reconsider the concept of free will. Applying the

scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...

to probe the concept from a

Philosophy of Information The philosophy of information (PI) is a branch of philosophy that studies topics relevant to information processing, representational system and consciousness, cognitive science, computer science, information science and information technolog ...

approach, Cashmore argued that all

biological systems A biological system is a complex Biological network inference, network which connects several biologically relevant entities. Biological organization spans several scales and are determined based different structures depending on what the system is ...

– including humans – obey the laws of chemistry and physics. Cashmore further suggested that the concept of free will '' "is an illusion, akin to religious beliefs or the outdated belief in

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

''", equivalent to the continuing belief in Cartesian duality, and therefore contradictory to society's interpretation of

accountability In ethics and governance, accountability is equated with answerability, culpability, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public secto ...

in the

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

system. The article stimulated discussion and analysis by scientists in the fields of

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

behavioral sciences Behavioural science is the branch of science concerned with human behaviour.Hallsworth, M. (2023). A manifesto for applying behavioural science. ''Nature Human Behaviour'', ''7''(3), 310-322. While the term can technically be applied to the st ...

, and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. Scientist and author

Jerry Coyne Jerry Allen Coyne (born December 30, 1949) is an American biologist and skeptic known for his work on speciation and his commentary on intelligent design. A professor emeritus at the University of Chicago in the Department of Ecology and Evolu ...

stated that after reading this article on

determinism Determinism is the Metaphysics, metaphysical view that all events within the universe (or multiverse) can occur only in one possible way. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes ov ...

and the criminal justice system, he was ‘instantly converted to determinism’.

Honors and awards

Cashmore was a Professor of Biology at the

and Director of the Plant Science Institute there until his retirement in 2011. Since 2011, he has been a Professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania (Department of Biology). Cashmore has authored more than 100 refereed research papers and has served on the editorial boards of the publications Plant Molecular Biology,

The Plant Journal ''The Plant Journal'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of plant science published by Wiley-Blackwell for the Society for Experimental Biology. It was established in 1991 and is currently edited by Katherine J. Denby. The journal is published ...

, and the

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scie ...

. He was elected to the

in 2003.http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20002156.html

Selected publications

Journal articles

* Herrera-Estrella L, Van den Broeck G, Maenhaut R, Van Montagu M, Schell J, Timko M, and Cashmore A (1984) Light-inducible and chloroplast-associated expression of a chimaeric gene introduced into ''Nicotiana tabacum'' using a Ti plasmid vector.

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

310, 115–120. * Timko MP, Kaush AP, Castresana C, Fassler J, Herrera-Estrella L, Van den Broeck G, Van Montagu M, Schell J, and Cashmore AR (1985) Light regulation of plant gene expression by an upstream enhancer-like element.

318, 579–582. * Ahmad M and Cashmore AR (1993) ''HY4'' gene of ''A. thaliana'' encodes a protein with characteristics of a blue-light photoreceptor.

366, 162–166. * Lin C, Robertson D, Ahmad M, Raibekas A, Jorns M, Dutton P, and Cashmore A. (1995) Association of flavin adenine dinucleotide with the Arabidopsis blue light receptor CRY1.

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

269, 968–970. * Cashmore, A (2010) The Lucretian swerve: The biological basis of human behavior and the criminal justice system.

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of S ...

107 (10), 4499–4504.

Patents

* *

Book chapters

* Jarillo J, Capel J, and Cashmore AR (2004) Chapter 8: Physiological and molecular characteristics of plant circadian clocks, in ''Molecular Biology of Circadian Rhythms''

Personal life

Cashmore was born in

(

), to parents Nancy and Norman Cashmore. He is married to American

Neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...

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 ...

Nancy Bonini Nancy M. Bonini (born 1959) is an American neuroscientist and geneticist, best known for pioneering the use of ''Drosophila'' as a model organism to study neurodegeneration of the human brain. Using the ''Drosophila'' model approach, Bonini's la ...

References

External links

�
Google Scholar – Anthony R. Cashmore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cashmore, Anthony 1941 births Living people New Zealand biochemists New Zealand molecular biologists University of Auckland alumni Rockefeller University faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty University of Pennsylvania Department of Biology faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences