David Baulcombe

Sir David Charles Baulcombe
Born	1952 (age 58–59) Solihull, West Midlands
Residence	Norwich, Norfolk
Nationality	British
Fields	Plant Scientist and Geneticist
Institutions	Sainsbury Laboratory University of East Anglia University of Cambridge
Alma mater	University of Leeds University of Edinburgh
Known for	small interfering RNA
Notable awards	Royal Medal 2006, Knight Bachelor 2009, Harvey Prize 2009

Sir David Charles Baulcombe, FRS (born 1952) is a British plant scientist and geneticist. He is currently Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge.

Biography

David Baulcombe was born in Solihull, West Midlands (then Warwickshire). He received his B.Sc. degree in botany from the University of Leeds in 1973 at the age of 21. He proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, where he received his Ph.D. in botany in 1977. Baulcombe then spent the following three years as a post-doctoral fellow in North America, first at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) from January 1977 to November 1978, and then at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia, USA) until December 1980. Dr. Baulcombe returned to the United Kingdom then, where he joined the Plant Breeding Institute (PBI) in Cambridge and started his career as an independent scientist. At the PBI, Dr. Baulcombe initially held the position of Higher Scientific Officer, and was promoted to Principal Scientific Officer in April 1986.^[1] In August 1988 Dr. Baulcombe left Cambridge for Norwich. He joined the Sainsbury Laboratory as a Senior Research Scientist,^[2] and also served as Head of Laboratory between 1990–1993 and 1999-2003. In 1998 he was appointed Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia, and given a full professorship there in 2002.^[1] In March 2007 it was announced that Prof. Baulcombe would become the next Professor of Botany at Cambridge University as a Royal Society Research Professor, taking up his post in September 2007.^[3] He serves on several committees and study sections,^[4] was elected Member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 1997 and was president of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology 2003-2004. As of 2007^[update], he is also a senior advisor for The Embo Journal.^[5]

In June 2009, Baulcombe was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II.^[6] Sir David resides in Norwich. He is married and has four children. His interests include music, sailing and hill walking.^[1]

Contributions to science

Sir David Baulcombe's research interests and contributions to science are mainly in the fields of virus movement, genetic regulation, disease resistance, and gene silencing.

With Andrew Hamilton he discovered the small interfering RNA that is the specificity determinant in RNA-mediated gene silencing.^[7] Baulcombe's group demonstrated that while viruses can induce gene silencing, some viruses encode proteins that suppress gene silencing.^[4] After these initial observations in plants, many laboratories around the world searched for the occurrence of this phenomenon in other organisms. In 1998 Craig Mello and Andrew Fire reported a potent gene silencing effect after injecting double stranded RNA into C. elegans.^[8] This discovery was particularly notable because it represented the first identification of the causative agent for the phenomenon. Fire and Mello were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006 for their work. ^[9]

With other members of his research group at the Sainsbury Laboratory, Baulcombe also helped unravel the importance of small interfering RNA in epigenetics and in defence against viruses.

Honours and awards

Sir David Baulcombe has received the following honours and awards:

• 2001 elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
• 2002 elected Member of the Academia Europaea
• 2002 recipient of the Ruth Allen Award, awarded by the American Phytopathological Society
• 2002 recipient of the Kumho Science International Award in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, awarded by the Kumho Cultural Foundation, Korea
• 2003 co-recipient (with Craig Mello, Andrew Fire and Thomas Tuschl) of the Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences, awarded by Rockefeller University
• 2004 recipient of the M. W. Beijerinck Virology Prize, awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2005 elected Foreign Associate Member of the National Academy of Sciences
• 2005 co-recipient (with Craig Mello and Andrew Fire) of the Massry Prize, awarded by the Massry Foundation and the University of Southern California
• 2006 recipient of the Royal Society's Royal Medal
• 2008 co-recipient of the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, awarded by the Franklin Institute [1]
• 2008 co-recipient (with Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun) of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
• 2008 appointed Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
• 2009 knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2009 Birthday Honours List for services to plant science.
• 2009 recipient of the Harvey Prize, granted by the Technion Israeli Institute for Technology.
• 2010 recipient of the Wolf Prize in Agriculture.

Publications

• Hamilton, A.; Voinnet, O.; Chappell, L.; Baulcombe, D. (2002). "Two classes of short interfering RNA in RNA silencing". The EMBO journal 21 (17): 4671–4679. PMC 125409. PMID 12198169. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=125409.  edit
• Papaefthimiou, I.; Hamilton, A.; Denti, M.; Baulcombe, D.; Tsagris, M.; Tabler, M. (2001). "Replicating potato spindle tuber viroid RNA is accompanied by short RNA fragments that are characteristic of post-transcriptional gene silencing". Nucleic Acids Research 29 (11): 2395–2400. doi:10.1093/nar/29.11.2395. PMC 55696. PMID 11376158. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=55696.  edit
• Dalmay, T.; Hamilton, A.; Rudd, S.; Angell, S.; Baulcombe, D. (2000). "An RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene in Arabidopsis is required for posttranscriptional gene silencing mediated by a transgene but not by a virus". Cell 101 (5): 543–553. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80864-8. PMID 10850496.  edit
• Burton, R.; Gibeaut, D.; Bacic, A.; Findlay, K.; Roberts, K.; Hamilton, A.; Baulcombe, D.; Fincher, G. (2000). "Virus-induced silencing of a plant cellulose synthase gene". The Plant cell 12 (5): 691–706. PMC 139921. PMID 10810144. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=139921.  edit
• Dalmay, T.; Hamilton, A.; Mueller, E.; Baulcombe, D. (2000). "Potato virus X amplicons in arabidopsis mediate genetic and epigenetic gene silencing". The Plant cell 12 (3): 369–379. PMC 139837. PMID 10715323. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=139837.  edit
• Jones, L.; Hamilton, A.; Voinnet, O.; Thomas, C.; Maule, A.; Baulcombe, D. (1999). "RNA-DNA interactions and DNA methylation in post-transcriptional gene silencing". The Plant cell 11 (12): 2291–2301. PMC 144133. PMID 10590159. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=144133.  edit
• Hamilton, A. J.; Baulcombe, D. C. (1999). "A species of small antisense RNA in posttranscriptional gene silencing in plants". Science 286 (5441): 950–952. doi:10.1126/science.286.5441.950. PMID 10542148.  edit
• Hamilton, W.; Boccara, M.; Robinson, D.; Baulcombe, D. (1987). "The complete nucleotide sequence of tobacco rattle virus RNA-1". The Journal of general virology 68 ( Pt 10): 2563–2575. PMID 3668507.  edit
• Boccara, M.; Hamilton, W.; Baulcombe, D. (1986). "The organisation and interviral homologies of genes at the 3' end of tobacco rattle virus RNA1". The EMBO journal 5 (2): 223–229. PMC 1166722. PMID 16453668. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1166722.  edit

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "David Baulcombe cv". http://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/research/baulcombe/cv.html. Retrieved 15 September 2009. ^{[self-published source?]}
2. ^ Baulcombe, D. (2007). "David Baulcombe". Current Biology 17 (3): R73–R74. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.022. PMID 17328111.  edit
3. ^ Cambridge University Department of Plant Sciences news
4. ^ ^{a b} American Phytopathological Society
5. ^ Embo editorial board
6. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 59090. p. 1. 13 June 2009.
7. ^ Hamilton, A. J.; Baulcombe, D. (1999). "A Species of Small Antisense RNA in Posttranscriptional Gene Silencing in Plants". Science 286 (5441): 950–952. doi:10.1126/science.286.5441.950. PMID 10542148.  edit
8. ^ Fire, A; Xu, Siqun; Montgomery, Mary K.; Kostas, Steven A.; Driver, Samuel E.; Mello, Craig C. (Feb 1998). "Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans". Nature 391 (6669): 806–11. Bibcode 1998Natur.391..806F. doi:10.1038/35888. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 9486653. 
9. ^ Daneholt, Bertil. "Advanced Information: RNA interference". The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2006/adv.html. Retrieved 2007-01-25. 

External links

• Interview with Professor Baulcombe from in-cites website
• Biography from the American Phytopathological Society 2002 Awards (p.4)

Persondata
Name	Baulcombe, David Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1952
Place of birth	Solihull, West Midlands
Date of death
Place of death