Adrian Peter Bird

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Adrian Bird

Sir Adrian Peter Bird CBE FRS FRSE (born July 3, 1947 ) is a British geneticist and professor at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh , United Kingdom. He is considered one of the pioneers in the scientific field of epigenetics .

Life

After graduating from the University of Sussex in East Sussex , United Kingdom with a degree in Biochemistry , Bird earned a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. As a postdoctoral fellow , he worked at Yale University in New Haven , Connecticut , and the University of Zurich in Zurich , Switzerland . In 1987 he joined the newly established Research Institute for Molecular Pathology (IMP) of Boehringer Ingelheim and Genentech in Vienna , Austria .

1990 Bird Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh, where he helped was the Wellcome Trust Center for Cell Biology (Wellcome Trust Center for Cell Biology ) build. Bird has headed the center since 1999, and from 2000 to 2010 he was one of the ten governors ( trustees ) of the Wellcome Trust, a not-for-profit trust that manages approximately £ 13.4 billion in assets (as of 2006).

Since 2013 Thomson Reuters has counted him among the favorites for a Nobel Prize ( Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates ) due to the number of his citations .

Act

Bird made important contributions to elucidating the role of DNA methylation in gene regulation . He proved the existence of non-methylated CpG islands and was able to show their importance for the mapping of genes . He has elucidated the role of deamination of CpG dinucleotides in the development of the genome . Bird also isolated a group of proteins (the methyl-CpG-binding domain proteins , MDB) that regulate the expression of these genes by binding to methylated genes in CpG islands . Bird was able to show that disorders of these genes are associated with certain neuronal diseases, developmental disorders and an increased sensitivity to oncogenes .

Bird managed to reverse the symptoms of Rett syndrome in mice (as a model organism ). Bird is considered one of the leading experts in research into the MECP2 gene, the mutation of which is responsible for the majority of cases of Rett syndrome.

Awards (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. gov.uk (PDF).
  2. ^ Institute of Cancer Research Chief Executive to become Deputy Chairman of Wellcome Trust at wellcome.ac.uk; Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  3. 2013 Predictions at Thomson Reuters (sciencewatch.com); Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  4. ^ A b Prix ​​Charles-Léopold Mayer. List of award winners (PDF, 1.8 MB, status 2014) at academie-sciences.fr; accessed on February 1, 2016.
  5. ^ Sir Adrian Bird, PhD - Rett Syndrome Research Trust. In: reverserett.org. August 17, 2015, accessed March 28, 2018 .
  6. ^ Fellows of the Royal Society (royalsociety.org); Retrieved April 22, 2011.
  7. ^ Membership directory: Adrian Bird. Academia Europaea, accessed October 27, 2017 .
  8. RSE Fellows ( Memento of May 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, 160 kB) at the Royal Society of Edinburgh (royalsoced.org).
  9. Gabor previous winners 2007-1989 ( Memento of 7 January 2011 at the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ Fondation Louis-Jeantet - Lauréats. In: jeantet.ch. Retrieved February 11, 2016 (French).
  11. Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, June 11, 2005 (PDF, 149 kB) at the BBC (bbc.co.uk); Retrieved April 23, 2011
  12. ^ Index of Winners - Gairdner Foundation. In: gairdner.org. Accessed March 28, 2018 (English).
  13. ^ Royal Society GlaxoSmithKline Prize and Lecture at the Royal Society (royalsociety.org); Retrieved July 22, 2013.