Jamshed Rustom Tata, FRS (13 April 1930 – 8 October 2020) was an Indian-born British endocrinologist who spent most of his career at the

National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR became part of the new F ...

researching thyroid hormones. His key discovery was that thyroid hormones control

metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops including birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and different ...

in frogs by regulation the action of genes.

Early life and education

Jamshed Rustom Tata was born in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

on 13 April 1930. He was awarded his BSc from Bombay University in 1949, then MSc from the

Indian Institute of Science The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a Public university, public, Deemed university, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The ...

in 1951. He then went to University of Paris and was awarded his PhD in 1954.

Scientific career

Tata started his scientific career as a postdoctoral fellowship at

Sloan-Kettering Institute Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in Manhattan in New York City. MSKCC is one of 72 National Cancer Institute– designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Its main campus is ...

between 1954–56 and then moved to NIMR (National Institute for Medical Research, London) in 1956. He spent most of his career at NIMR, except for a two-year spell as visiting scientist at the University of Stockholm (1960-1962). He was a staff scientist (1962-1973). In 1973 he became Head of the Division of Developmental Biochemistry and continued in this post till his retirement in 1996. After retirement he continued as a visiting scientist at NIMR till the site closed in 2016. While at NIMR he worked closely with

Rosalind Pitt-Rivers Rosalind Venetia Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers FRS ( Henley; 4 March 1907 – 14 January 1990) was a British biochemist. She became the second president of the European Thyroid Association in 1971; she succeeded Jean Roche and was followed by Jack Gro ...

and co-authored a number of books with her. Tata was recognised for his work on

thyroid hormones File:Thyroid_system.svg, upright=1.5, The thyroid system of the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 rect 376 268 820 433 Thyroid-stimulating hormone rect 411 200 849 266 Thyrotropin-releasing hormone rect 297 168 502 200 Hypothalamus rect 66 216 386 ...

, discovering that the hormones act by regulating the activity of genes, rather than controlling metabolism, authoring over 200 papers, including a history of developmental biology at NIMR Tata was awarded the

Colworth Medal The Colworth Medal is awarded annually by the Biochemical Society to an outstanding research biochemist under the age of 35 and working mainly in the United Kingdom. The award is one of the most prestigious recognitions for young scientists in the ...

by 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 ...

in 1964. He was elected as FRS in 1973

Personal life and death

Tata lived in

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross, close to the Hertfordshire border. It was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it b ...

, London for the last 60 years of his life. He died in London on 8 October 2020, at the age of 90. His French wife, Renée, predeceased him. They are survived by their two sons and one daughter.

References

1930 births 2020 deaths Indian endocrinologists British people of Parsi descent British Zoroastrians Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy National Institute for Medical Research faculty Scientists from Mumbai {{India-scientist-stub