Kenneth Murray

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Kenneth Murray (1983)

Sir Kenneth "Ken" Murray (born December 30, 1930 in East Ardsley , Yorkshire , † April 7, 2013 in Edinburgh , Scotland ) was a British molecular biologist . Best known for his contributions to research into the genetics of the hepatitis B virus and the development of a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine , he is considered a pioneer in genetic engineering .

Live and act

Murray grew up in Nottingham and left school at the age of 16 to work as a lab technician for Boots Pure Drug Company , a local pharmaceutical company, then for Glaxo . He initially attended tertiary education institutions on a part-time basis , but then earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Birmingham (1956) and a Ph.D. from Arthur Peacocke. in microbiology (1959).

From 1960 he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with J. Murray Luck at Stanford University , from 1964 with the Nobel Prize winner Frederick Sanger at the University of Cambridge . Since 1967 Murray was a faculty member at the University of Edinburgh in the Department of Molecular Biology - the first of its kind in the UK. From 1976 to 1984 he headed the department, and in 1984 he was given a full professorship.

In 1978, Kenneth Murray was one of the founders of Biogen , which is considered the first European biotechnology company, and was Director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg from 1979 to 1982 . From 1987 to 1989 he was a member of the Council of the Royal Society . In 1998 he retired, but was still scientifically active.

Murray first looked at histones and the structure of chromatin . He later researched DNA - protein interactions and developed methods for fragmenting DNA using restriction endonucleases (thus paving the way for DNA sequencing ) and for heterologous DNA recombination using lambda phage . This technique was also used to develop the hepatitis B vaccine.

Kenneth Murray had been married to molecular geneticist Noreen Murray († 2011) since 1958 , with whom he worked closely on a scientific basis. The couple remained childless. Together they founded with the income from the marketing of the hepatitis B vaccine to 12 million pounds sterling equipped Darwin Trust of Edinburgh in order to promote in Edinburgh research and teaching in the field of natural sciences, especially molecular biology. A library opened at the University of Edinburgh in 2012 is called The Noreen and Kenneth Murray Library .

Awards (selection)

Murray held honorary doctorates following universities: University of Birmingham (1995), University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (1995), The University of Edinburgh (1998), University of Dundee (2000), University of St Andrews (2008), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (2012).

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kenneth Murray. In: warrenalpert.org. Warren Alpert Foundation, accessed May 1, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Murray Kenneth. In: ae-info.org. Academia Europaea , accessed on May 1, 2019 .
  3. ^ Sir Kenneth Murray FRS FRSE, FMedSci. In: rse.org.uk. Royal Society of Edinburgh , accessed May 2, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Murray, Kenneth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murray, Ken
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British molecular biologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 30, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH East Ardsley , Yorkshire
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 2013
Place of death Edinburgh , Scotland