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Christopher John Marshall FRS FMedSci (19 January 1949 – 8 August 2015) was a British scientist who worked as director of the Division for Cancer Biology at the
Institute of Cancer Research The Institute of Cancer Research (the ICR) is a public research institute and a member institution of the University of London in London, United Kingdom, specialising in oncology. It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the Royal Ma ...
. Marshall was distinguished for research in the field of tumour cell signalling. His track record includes the discovery of the ''N-Ras'' oncogene , the identification of
farnesylation Prenylation (also known as isoprenylation or lipidation) is the addition of hydrophobic molecules to a protein or a biomolecule. It is usually assumed that prenyl groups (3-methylbut-2-en-1-yl) facilitate attachment to cell membranes, similar to ...
of Ras proteins, and the discovery that Ras signals through the
MAPK/ERK pathway The MAPK/ERK pathway (also known as the Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK pathway) is a chain of proteins in the cell (biology), cell that communicates a signal from a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor on the surface of the cell to the DNA in the nucleus of the cel ...
. These findings have led to therapeutic development of inhibitors of Ras farnesylation, MEK and B-Raf.


Early life

Marshall was born in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, UK, and educated at the
King Henry VIII School, Coventry King Henry VIII School is a coeducational private day school located in Coventry, England, comprising a senior school (ages 11–18) and associated preparatory school (ages 3–11). The senior school has approximately 574 pupils (of which 167 a ...
. He then studied Natural Sciences 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 ...
followed by a
DPhil 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 ...
in cell biology at the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
. His graduate studies were followed by post-doctoral work at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratories at Lincoln's Inn Fields (now part of the
Francis Crick Institute The Francis Crick Institute (formerly the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation) is a biomedical research centre in London, which was established in 2010 and opened in 2016. The institute is a partnership between Cancer Research UK, Im ...
) in London and the
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Dana–Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) is a comprehensive cancer treatment and research center in Boston, Massachusetts. Dana-Farber is the founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center, Harvard's Comprehensive Cancer Center designated ...
in Boston.


Oncogene research

In 1980, Marshall moved to The
Institute of Cancer Research The Institute of Cancer Research (the ICR) is a public research institute and a member institution of the University of London in London, United Kingdom, specialising in oncology. It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the Royal Ma ...
in London, and began studies to identify human cancer genes. This work, in collaboration with his colleague
Alan Hall Alan Hall FRS (19 May 1952 – 3 May 2015) was a British cell biologist and a biology professor at the Sloan-Kettering Institute, where he was chair of the Cell Biology program. Hall was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1999. Early ...
, resulted in the identification of NRAS, a new human oncogene. Subsequent work from his laboratory showed that NRAS has important roles in leukaemia and others demonstrated the role of NRAS in melanoma. Following the identification of NRAS, Marshall concentrated on studying how NRAS and the two other RAS genes, HRAS and KRAS, act in cancer. His work in the field of cell signalling showed how RAS and other signalling proteins are involved in transmitting signals from outside of the cell all the way to the cell nucleus. His work laid the foundation for studies that showed the importance of the ''BRAF'' cancer gene in melanoma. At the time of his death, Marshall's laboratory studied the cell signalling mechanisms that allow cancer cells to disseminate through the body. In particular, these studies were focused on signal transduction pathways regulated by Ras and Rho family of small GTPases.


Students and alumni

Several post-doctoral fellows and graduate students who trained in Professor Marshall's laboratory have gone on to prestigious positions: * Professor Karen Vousden FRS, CRUK Chief Scientist and Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute, London, UK. * Professor John Hancock, IBP Chair and Professor, University of Texas Medical School, USA. * Professor Alison Lloyd, Professor of Cell Biology, University College London, UK. * Professor Richard Marais, Head of Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, UK. * Professor Mike Olson, Beatson Institute, Glasgow, UK. * Professor Erik Sahai, Group Leader, Francis Crick Institute, London, UK. * Professor Victoria Sanz-Moreno, Group Leader, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. * Dr Faraz Mardakheh, Group Leader, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.


Awards and honours

*
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 ...
* Elected a
Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...
of the
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 ...
(FRS) * Elected a
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) is an award for medical scientists who are judged by the UK Academy of Medical Sciences for the "excellence of their science, their contribution to medicine and society and the range of the ...
(FMedSci) * Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences * The Sterling Lecture (University of Pennsylvania) * The Walter Huppert lecture (British Association for Cancer Research) * The CH Li Memorial Lecture (University of California, Berkeley) * 1999 Novartis Medal of the
Biochemical Society The Biochemical Society is a learned society in the United Kingdom in the field of biochemistry, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences. It was founded in 1911 and acquired the existing '' Biochemical Journal'' the following year. T ...
* 2008
Buchanan Medal The Buchanan Medal is awarded by the Royal Society "in recognition of distinguished contribution to the medical sciences generally". The award was created in 1897 from a fund to the memory of London physician Sir George Buchanan (1831–1895). It ...
of the Royal Society * 2011
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 ...
Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research Award.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Christopher Fellows of the Royal Society 1949 births 2015 deaths Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Health professionals from Birmingham, West Midlands People educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry