Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
) is a Kenyan-British developmental biologist who has been Marshall–Walton Professor at the
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...
/
Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...
Gurdon Institute
The Gurdon Institute is a research facility at the University of Cambridge, specialising in developmental biology and cancer biology.
History
The Institute was founded in 1989 to provide a rich, collaborative environment for scientists working i ...
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 ...
since 1992, and Director of Germline and Epigenomics Research since 2013.
Education
Surani was educated at
Plymouth University
The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...
(BSc), the
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...
(MSc) and the University of Cambridge (PhD) where his research was supervised by Robert Edwards, who later 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, acco ...
. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
Career and research
Surani co-discovered mammalian
genomic imprinting
Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that causes genes to be expressed or not, depending on whether they are inherited from the female or male parent. Genes can also be partially imprinted. Partial imprinting occurs when alleles from b ...
with
Davor Solter
Davor Solter (born March 22, 1941) is a Yugoslavian-born developmental biologist, particularly known for his pioneering work on mammalian genomic imprinting. He is Emeritus Member and Director, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics; ...
in 1984, and subsequently examined its mechanism and the functions of imprinted genes. He later established the genetic basis for
germ cell
A germ cell is any cell that gives rise to the gametes of an organism that reproduces sexually. In many animals, the germ cells originate in the primitive streak and migrate via the gut of an embryo to the developing gonads. There, they unde ...
specification, using a
single-cell analysis
In cell biology, single-cell analysis and subcellular analysis refer to the study of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and cell–cell interactions at the level of an individual cell, as opposed to more conventional metho ...
in mice. This genetic network also initiates the unique resetting of the
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 ...
epigenome
In biology, the epigenome of an organism is the collection of chemical changes to its DNA and histone proteins that affects when, where, and how the DNA is expressed; these changes can be passed down to an organism's offspring via transgenerat ...
, including comprehensive erasure of
DNA methylation
DNA methylation is a biological process by which methyl groups are added to the DNA molecule. Methylation can change the activity of a DNA segment without changing the sequence. When located in a gene promoter (genetics), promoter, DNA methylati ...
towards re-establishing full genomic potency. Epigenetic modifications and re-establishments of imprints then generate functional differences between parental genomes whilst aberrant imprints contribute to human disease.
Surani's research is identifying key regulators of human
germ line development
In developmental biology, the cells that give rise to the gametes are often set aside during embryonic cleavage. During development, these cells will differentiate into primordial germ cells, migrate to the location of the gonad, and form the ...
and epigenome reprogramming, revealing differences between humans and mice attributable to their divergent
pluripotent
Cell potency is a cell's ability to differentiate into other cell types.
The more cell types a cell can differentiate into, the greater its potency. Potency is also described as the gene activation potential within a cell, which like a continuum ...
states and early postimplantation development. He is also investigating
transposable element
A transposable element (TE), also transposon, or jumping gene, is a type of mobile genetic element, a nucleic acid sequence in DNA that can change its position within a genome.
The discovery of mobile genetic elements earned Barbara McClinto ...
s, host defence mechanisms,
noncoding RNA
A non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is a functional RNA molecule that is not translated into a protein. The DNA sequence from which a functional non-coding RNA is transcribed is often called an RNA gene. Abundant and functionally important types of non-co ...
s, and the potential for transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in mammals.
Awards and honours
Surani has received several awards for his work including the
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 ...
(2010), the
Gabor Medal
The Gabor Medal is Awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society, one of the medals awarded by the Royal Society for "acknowledged distinction of interdisciplinary work between the life sciences with other disciplines".
The medal was creat ...
(2001) and the
Mendel Lectures
The Mendel Lectures is a series of lectures given by the world's top scientists in genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, medicine and related areas which has been held in the refectory of the St Thomas's Abbey, Brno, Augustian Ab ...
(2010). He received the
Canada Gairdner International Award
The Canada Gairdner International Award is given annually by the Gairdner Foundation at a special dinner to five individuals for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a ...
, with
Davor Solter
Davor Solter (born March 22, 1941) is a Yugoslavian-born developmental biologist, particularly known for his pioneering work on mammalian genomic imprinting. He is Emeritus Member and Director, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics; ...
, "For the discovery of mammalian genomic imprinting that causes parent-of-origin specific gene expression and its consequences for development and disease." He won the
Rosenstiel Award
The Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research is awarded by Brandeis University. It was established in 1971 "as an expression of the conviction that educational institutions have an important role to play in the en ...
in 2006, with Solter and
Mary Lyon
Mary Mason Lyon (; February 28, 1797 – March 5, 1849) was an American pioneer in women's education. She established the Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts, (now Wheaton College) in 1834. She then established Mount Holyoke Fem ...
, for "pioneering work on epigenetic gene regulation in mammalian embryos".