Barbara Mary Frances Pearse FRS (born 24 March 1948, Wraysbury,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a British biological scientist. She works at the Medical Research Council

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 ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, United Kingdom.

Education

Barbara Pearse attended the independent Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton in Greater London, and gained her undergraduate degree from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in 1969.

Career

She was appointed to the scientific staff of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1982.

Research

Pearse's main contributions lie in the structure of coated vesicles. Pearse first purified coated vesicles; she also discovered the

clathrin Clathrin is a protein that plays a role in the formation of coated vesicles. Clathrin was first isolated by Barbara Pearse in 1976. It forms a triskelion shape composed of three clathrin heavy chains and three light chains. When the triskel ...

coat molecule in 1975. Coated pits and vesicles were first seen in thin sections of tissue in the electron microscope by Thomas Roth and Keith Porter in 1964. The importance of them for the clearance of LDL from blood was discovered by R. G. Anderson, Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein in 1976.

Awards and honours

She was visiting professor in

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

(1984-5). She was elected a member of

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 2,100 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO) in 1982 and awarded the EMBO Gold Medal in 1987. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1988.

Personal life

She is married to Mark Bretscher, another scientist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearse, Barbara 1948 births 20th-century British biologists 20th-century British women scientists 21st-century British biologists 21st-century British women scientists Academics of the University of Cambridge Academics of University College London Alumni of University College London British women biologists Fellows of the Royal Society Female fellows of the Royal Society Living people Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School People from Buckinghamshire People from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Stanford University faculty