Ronald Laskey

Laskey (right) with Nic Jones

Ronald Alfred "Ron" Laskey (born January 26, 1945 ) is a British cell biologist, embryologist and cancer researcher.

Life

He was Charles Darwin Professor of Animal Embryology at Cambridge from 1983 to 2011. He was also Founder and Honorary Director of the Cancer Cell Unit of the Medical Research Council from 2001 to 2010.

He dealt with the control of DNA replication and the transport of RNA and proteins between the nucleus and the cytoplasm (discovery of the importin ). While studying DNA replication in frog eggs, he introduced the concept of licensing factors , complex molecules that trigger a cell cycle when they penetrate the cell nucleus .

He was able to develop an in vitro system for the replication of human DNA. In cancer research, he found indications that some proteins in the cell nucleus can serve as specific markers for certain types of cancer.

In 1998 he received the Louis Jeantet Prize . In 2001 he gave the Croonian Lecture , in 2014 the Lifetime Achievement Award from Cancer Research UK and he received the Colworth Medal. In 1984 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 2011 he became a CBE . He was President of the Biochemical Society and the British Society for Cell Biology. He was also Vice President of the Academy of Medical Sciences and he is a member of the Academia Europaea . In 2009 he received the Royal Medal of the Royal Society.

In 1991 he co-founded the Wellcome Trust / Cancer Research Campaign Institute (now the Wellcome Trust / Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute).

He released CDs of Songs for Cynical Scientists .

Web links

• Cambridge website
• Interview in Current Biology, Volume 25, 2015, pp. R 313-314
• Entry at the Academia Europaea

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Appreciation at the Louis Jeantet Prize (French).
2. ^ Membership directory: Ronald Laskey. Academia Europaea, accessed July 24, 2017 .