Timothy John Mitchison is a cell biologist and systems biologist and Hasib Sabbagh Professor of Systems Biology at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

in the United States. He is known for his discovery, with Marc Kirschner, of dynamic instability in microtubules, for studies of the mechanism of cell division, and for contributions to

chemical biology Chemical biology is a scientific discipline between the fields of chemistry and biology. The discipline involves the application of chemical techniques, analysis, and often small molecules produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and m ...

Education and early life

Mitchison was educated at

Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School Haberdashers' Boys' School (formerly Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School) is a 4–18 boys Independent school (United Kingdom) in Elstree, Hertfordshire, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school was ...

and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

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 ...

where he was an undergraduate student of

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, from 1976 to 1979. He moved to the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

(UCSF) in 1979 for his PhD which was supervised by Marc Kirschner and investigated the dynamic instability of

microtubule Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nanometer, nm and have an inner diameter bet ...

Career and research

Mitchison returned to the UK for

postdoctoral research 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 ...

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 ...

(NIMR) in London. In 1988 he returned to San Francisco where he was appointed assistant professor at UCSF. In 1994 he wrote an opinion piece for the journal ''Chemistry & Biology'' titled "Towards a pharmacological genetics" which helped to launch the field of chemical genetics. In 1997 he moved to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

to become co-director of the Institute for Chemistry and Cell Biology at

, where he pioneered phenotype-based screening, discovering the small molecule monastrol – the first small-molecule inhibitor of

mitosis Mitosis () is a part of the cell cycle in eukaryote, eukaryotic cells in which replicated chromosomes are separated into two new Cell nucleus, nuclei. Cell division by mitosis is an equational division which gives rise to genetically identic ...

that does not target

tubulin Tubulin in molecular biology can refer either to the tubulin protein superfamily of globular proteins, or one of the member proteins of that superfamily. α- and β-tubulins polymerize into microtubules, a major component of the eukaryotic cytosk ...

. Monastrol was shown to inhibit kinesin-5, a motor protein. In 2003 he became Deputy Chair of the newly formed Department of Systems Biology, chaired by Marc Kirschner. He works on aspects of mesoscale biology including the self-organization of the cytoskeleton and of cytoplasm. He collaborates extensively with Christine Field on the mechanism of

cytokinesis Cytokinesis () is the part of the cell division process and part of mitosis during which the cytoplasm of a single eukaryotic cell divides into two daughter cells. Cytoplasmic division begins during or after the late stages of nuclear division ...

Awards and honors

Mitchison was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 1997 for “substantial contributions to the improvement of natural knowledge” One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: and served as president of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) in 2010. He was elected a member of the

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 ...

of the United States in 2014 and delivered the Keith R. Porter Lecture in 2013.

Personal life

Mitchison is married to scientist Christine M. Field with whom he has two children. Mitchison comes from a family of distinguished biologists; his father is Avrion Mitchison, his uncles are Denis Mitchison and

Murdoch Mitchison John Murdoch Mitchison (11 June 1922, Oxford – 17 March 2011, Edinburgh) was a British zoologist. Background Family Mitchison was the son of the Labour politician Dick Mitchison and his wife, the writer Naomi (née Haldane). The biolog ...

, his great uncle was J.B.S. Haldane and his great-grandfather

John Scott Haldane John Scott Haldane (; 2 May 1860 – 14/15 March 1936) was a Scottish physician physiologist and philosopher famous for intrepid self-experimentation which led to many important discoveries about the human body and the nature of gases. He al ...

. His grandparents were the politician Dick Mitchison and the writer

Naomi Mitchison Naomi Mary Margaret Mitchison, Baroness Mitchison (; 1 November 1897 – 11 January 1999) was a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and poet. Often called a doyenne of Scottish literature, she wrote more than 90 books of historical an ...

(née Haldane). His younger sister Hannah M. Mitchison is also a biologist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchison, Timothy John 1958 births Living people 20th-century British biologists 21st-century British biologists Alumni of Merton College, Oxford People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Harvard University faculty Systems biologists University of California, San Francisco alumni University of California, San Francisco faculty Haldane family Tim British biochemists