Joseph Sambrook

Joseph Sambrook (born 1 March, 1939 in Liverpool, England) is internationally renowned for his studies of DNA tumour viruses and the molecular biology of normal and cancerous cells. He currently resides in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and daughter.

Education

Sambrook was educated at the University of Liverpool (BSc (hons) 1962) and he obtained his PhD at the Australian National University in 1966. He did postdoctoral research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (1966-67) and the Salk Institute (1967-69). In 1969 James Watson hired the young virologist, Joseph Sambrook to work at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. Sambrook established a tumor virus group that continues to the present day.

Achievements

Joseph Sambrook is best known for his studies on DNA tumour viruses and the molecular biology of normal and neoplastic cells. His Tumour Virus Group at Cold Spring Harbor identified and mapped all of the major genes of adenoviruses and SV40, determined their transcriptional control in infected and transformed cells, and elucidated the mechanism of integration of these viruses into the genome of the host cellFact|date=February 2007. He has also made important contributions to our understanding of intracellular traffic and protein folding and is an influential leader in the field of the molecular genetics of human cancer.

He returned to Australia in 1995 as Foundation Director of Research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute of Melbourne. He is the founder and director of The Kathleen Cunningham Consortium for research into familial breast cancer, KConFab. This national consortium for the study of familial aspects of breast cancer was set up in 1995.

Sambrook is also a published author of scientific books. His works include a set of books entitled "Molecular Cloning and Inspiring Science- Jim Watson and the Age of DNA".