The early foundations for cloning and stem cell research were laid by the work of Nobel Prize winner Professor Sir John Gurdon, who has died aged 92. Knighted in 1995 for his services to developmental biology, one of Sir John’s most notable successes was to prove that cell specialisation is reversible by cloning a frog from cells extracted from a tadpole’s intestines.
A revolutionary idea at the time, somatic cell nuclear transfer directly influenced the cloning of Dolly the sheep and the development of induced pluripotent stem cells by Shinya Yamanaka. It was with Yamanaka that Sir John shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries in cell reprogramming. The Copley Medal, Lasker Award, and Wolf Prize in Medicine are among just a few of many other prizes won by this visionary.
Dubbed the ‘godfather of cloning’, Sir John’s achievements are even more remarkable considering that his school teachers deemed him unfit to be a scientist.
Raised in a small village in southern England, he attended Eton College where he was ranked, aged 15, at the very bottom of his year group of 250 students. His biology master described Sir John’s intention to be a scientist as ‘quite ridiculous’ because of his poor performance in class. And his insistence of ‘doing his work in his own way’. This damning report resulted in the young student being removed from further study of any science. Indeed, the College gave him no science education for the next three years and instead placed him in a class which studied Ancient Greek, Latin and a modern language.
It is fortunate that this early setback did not deter Sir John.
After a year of intensive study to gain an A-level in biology, he went on to obtain a first-class degree in zoology at Oxford University after switching from classics. From then on, Sir John’s career took off. It was while completing his Doctor of Philosophy degree that the biologist advanced the science of developmental biology. What he demonstrated was that the nucleus of a mature, differentiated cell could be transplanted into an egg cell and still develop into a normal frog that was genetically identical to the original tadpole.
After completing his DPhil, Sir John held a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology before returning to Oxford as an assistant lecturer in zoology. In 1972, he joined the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge and became the John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Cell Biology in the Department of Zoology.
Later, Sir John founded the Wellcome/CRUK Institute for Cell Biology and Cancer, later renamed the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge. A leading centre for research in developmental biology and cancer, the Institute was the vision of Sir John and Professor Ron Laskey whose joint aim was to bring together expertise in these two important research areas. From 1991 to 1995, he was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics then became Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, from 1995 to 2002.
Awarded an ESHRE honorary membership in 2014, Sir John leaves an enduring legacy. Until the end of his life, he conducted his own experiments, a choice which paid off over the years in the form of scientific breakthroughs.
His discoveries have fundamentally changed how those in the field understand cell identity and plasticity, and are central to regenerative medicine. Inevitably, cutting edge science raises ethical dilemmas, but Sir John believed that these are forgotten once people can see the benefits. His belief was that the most immediate advantage of cell replacement lies in testing drugs. In the long-term, cell replacement would also help those diagnosed with conditions such as Parkinson’s, diabetes and macular degeneration.
It’s not known whether the Gurdon family motto virtue flourishes in adversity was a source of inspiration during his career. What Sir John once disclosed was that he framed the school report from Eton and put it above his desk in Cambridge, a reminder of the need for self-belief. In an interview that he gave to ESHRE, Sir John said his advice to young scientists was that it is ‘better to do something you’re interested in than something you’re not’. And to work exceptionally hard.
John is survived by his wife Jean, his children Aurea and William, and two grandchildren.
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