Dame Janet Maureen Thornton, (born 23 May 1949) is a senior scientist and director emeritus at the

European Bioinformatics Institute The European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) is an intergovernmental organization (IGO) which, as part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) family, focuses on research and services in bioinformatics. It is located on the Wel ...

(EBI), part of the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

(EMBL). She is one of the world's leading researchers in structural

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and Bioinformatics software, software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, ...

, using computational methods to understand protein structure and function. She served as director of the EBI from October 2001 to June 2015, and played a key role in

ELIXIR An elixir is a sweet liquid used for medical purposes, to be taken orally and intended to cure one's illness. When used as a dosage form, pharmaceutical preparation, an elixir contains at least one active ingredient designed to be taken orall ...

Education

Thornton attended Bury Grammar School until 1967, where she was

head girl The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

. After graduating in physics from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

, Thornton completed a master's degree in

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, and a PhD in

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 ...

, Mill Hill, London in 1973.

Career and research

After her PhD, Thornton worked in molecular biophysics with

David Chilton Phillips David Chilton Phillips, Baron Phillips of Ellesmere (7 March 1924 – 23 February 1999) was a pioneering, British structural biologist and an influential figure in science and government. Education and early life David was the son of Charles ...

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 ...

. In 1978, she returned to the National Institute for Medical Research, and following that took up to a Fellowship at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

, part of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In 1990 she was appointed Professor and Director of the Biomolecular Structure and Modeling Unit in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at

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 ...

and later also was appointed to the Bernal Chair in the Crystallography Department at

. Thornton was Director of the

(EBI) from 2001 to 2015, on the Wellcome Genome Campus at

Hinxton Hinxton is a village in South Cambridgeshire, England. The River Cam runs through the village, as does the Cambridge to Liverpool Street station, Liverpool Street railway, though the village has no station. Hinxton parish's southern boundarie ...

near

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 ...

. She was an organiser of the

Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) is an annual academic conference on the subjects of bioinformatics and computational biology organised by the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). The principal focus of the con ...

(ISMB) and European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB) joint Conference in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 2004. Thornton's work is highly interdisciplinary, interfacing with structural biology, bioinformatics, biological chemistry and chemoinformatics, amongst others. She was an early pioneer in

structure validation Macromolecular structure validation is the process of evaluating reliability for 3-dimensional atomic models of large biological molecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. These models, which provide 3D coordinates for each atom in the molecu ...

for

protein 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 diffract in specific directions. By measuring the angles and ...

, developing the widely used ProCheck software. Together with Christine Orengo, she introduced the

CATH Cath may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Cath Bishop (born 1971), British former rower and 2003 world champion * Cath Carroll (born 1960), British musician and music journalist * Cath Coffey (), one of the earliest members of British rap band Stereo ...

classification of protein structure. Her group developed a robust enzyme classification, comparison and annotation tool – the EC-BLAST which calculates similarity between enzymes based on chemical reactions by capturing the bond change(s), reaction centre(s) or structural similarity between them. From 2008 to 2012, she co-ordinated the four-year preparatory phase of the European life sciences data infrastructure

. As of 2013 she remains on the ELIXIR board as one of

EMBL The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

's scientific delegates. Her research has been funded by the Medical Research Council, the

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds science, scient ...

(BBSRC), 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 ...

, and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Doctoral students and postdocs

Thornton has supervised several

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 ...

and

postdoctoral researcher 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 ...

s including

Sarah Teichmann Sarah Amalia Teichmann (born 15 April 1975) is a German scientist, the former head of cellular genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and a visiting research group leader at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). She serves as direc ...

and David Jones.

Awards and honours

Thornton was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1999. She became a member of the

European Molecular Biology Organisation 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 2000, a foreign associate of the US

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, and 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) in 2014. Thornton is a

supernumerary Supernumerary means "exceeding the usual number". Supernumerary may also refer to: * Supernumerary actor, a performer in a film, television show, or stage production who has no role or purpose other than to appear in the background, more common ...

fellow of

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...

. She was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) is one of the most prestigious awards conferred by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom. Existing Fellows include award winning scientists and Nobel prize winners. FRSC awa ...

(FRSC) in 2017. Thornton's nomination for the Royal Society reads Her citation on election to the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academy, National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its ...

reads: Thornton was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in 2000 and

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(DBE) in the

2012 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours List 2012 was released on 16 June 2012 in the United Kingdom, on 11 June 2012 in Australia on 4 June 2012 in New Zealand,The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' named Thornton number 86 of their "Eureka 100" British scientists in 2010. She was awarded the

Suffrage Science award The Suffrage Science award is a prize for women in science, engineering and computing founded in 2011, on the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day by the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS). There are three categories of awar ...

in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Janet 1949 births Living people Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Alumni of King's College London Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Female fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge Fellows of the International Society for Computational Biology Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Academics of University College London British bioinformaticians Alumni of the University of Nottingham Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Place of birth missing (living people) National Institute for Medical Research faculty Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Fellows of the Royal Society Women bioinformaticians People educated at Bury Grammar School (Girls)