Sir Adrian Bird | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Adrian Peter Bird (1947-07-03)3 July 1947 (age 78)[15] Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, England[16] |
| Alma mater |
|
| Spouse | [15] |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | The cytology and biochemistry of DNA amplification in the ovary of Xenopus laevis (1972) |
| Doctoral advisor | Max Birnstiel[11][12][13] |
| Doctoral students | Rob Klose[14] |
| Website | birdlab |
Sir Adrian Peter Bird (born 3 July 1947) is a Britishgeneticist and Buchanan Professor of Genetics at theUniversity of Edinburgh. Bird has spent much of his academic career in Edinburgh, from receiving his PhD in 1970 to working at theMRC Mammalian Genome Unit and later serving as director of theWellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology. His research focuses on understandingDNA methylation andCpG islands, and their role in diseases such asRett syndrome.[17]
Bird was born inRowley Regis nearWolverhampton, England, but from age 4 lived in the town ofKidderminster, nearBirmingham.[18] He attended a grammar school inHartlebury, achieving grades CCD for hisA-level results. Whilst at school, Bird played cricket and hockey for a local team.[18] Bird received his PhD[11] from theUniversity of Edinburgh in 1970 for research supervised byMax Birnstiel,[11] following undergraduate study of Biochemistry at theUniversity of Sussex.[10]
Following his PhD, Bird went on topostdoctoral research positions, first atYale University withJoseph G. Gall, and then at theUniversity of Zurich before returning to Edinburgh in 1975 to work at theMRC Mammalian Genome Unit, where he would stay for 11 years.[19][20] It was here that Bird, along withEdwin Southern, mapped the methylation status of CpG dinucleotides alongribosomal RNA in theAfrican clawed frog.[19][21] From 1987 to 1990 Bird continued his research at theResearch Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna.
In 1990, Adrian Bird became Buchanan Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh. He helped create theWellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, also in Edinburgh, and served as its director from 1999 until 2011, when he was succeeded by David Tollervey.[22] From 2000 to 2010, he was also a governor of the Wellcome Trust, serving as deputy chairman during the latter three years.[22][23]
Bird is a trustee of the charitable organisationCancer Research UK and of the Rett Syndrome Research Trust.[22][24] He also serves as a Governance Board Member of theEdinburgh Cancer Research Centre.[25]
Bird's research has focused onCpG islands and their associated binding-factorMeCP2.[26] He led the team which first identified CpG islands—originally named "HpaII tiny fragments"[19]—in vertebrate genomes. These are short genomic regions with a high density ofCpG dinucleotides, and are commonly found in anunmethylated state within or nearby to an active gene'spromoter.
Bird's group discovered that the MeCP2 protein binds specifically to methylated CpG sites, and further that disruption of this interaction causes theautism spectrum disorderRett syndrome. The Bird lab also implicatednuclear receptor co-repressor 1 as an important binding partner in the MeCP2/methyl-CpG interaction.[26]
In 2007, the Bird laboratory published a paper in the journalScience[27] describing a proof-of-principle that the murine equivalent of Rett syndrome could be successfully reversed inlaboratory mice.[28] This was accomplished by reintroducing a functional MeCP2gene and proved successful even when the condition was at an advanced stage, hinting at the possibility of agene therapy approach to curing the human disease in the future.[28][29]
Bird was elected aFellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1989, his nomination read:
Adrian Bird is the leading authority on DNA methylation in animal cells. He demonstrated a rolling circle mechanism for ribosomal gene amplification. He showed that DNA methylation sites can be mapped using restriction enzymes and thus showed semi-conservative copying of methylation patterns. He showed convincingly that the doublet CpG is a source of mutation in vertebrates which led to the use of 'GpG' restriction enzymes to detect polymorphisms linked to genetic diseases. He discovered unmethylated 'HTF' islands at the 5i ends of housekeeping genes. This discovery has allowed new strategies for mapping and identifying genes and it has allowed Bird to propose that the unmethylated HTF islands identify DNA sequences to be kept constantly available within the nucleus.[30]
Bird was awarded theGabor Medal in 1999 "in recognition of his pioneering work in the study of global mechanisms by which transcription of the mammalian genome is regulated and for his exploration into the molecular basis of fundamental biological mechanisms, particularly his development of ways of analysing methylation patterns of eukaryotic DNA using endonucleases and the discovery of and continued research into a new class of DNA sequences found in all vertebrates".[31] He received theLouis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine in the same year,[23] and was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2005.
In 2011, he was a recipient of theGairdner Foundation International Award, "for his pioneering discoveries on DNA methylation and its role in gene expression."[32] The following year Bird won the 2012GlaxoSmithKline Prize.[22] In 2013, he was named aThomson Reuters Citation Laureate and received the 2013BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine "for his discoveries in the field of epigenetics".[20][33]
In 2013, Bird was tipped as a potential winner of theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "fundamental discoveries concerning DNA methylation and gene expression"[34] though the prize later went toJames Rothman,Randy Schekman andThomas C. Südhof.
He wasknighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to science.[35][36][37]
In 2016, he was elected as a foreign associate of theNational Academy of Sciences[38] and received theShaw Prize together withHuda Y. Zoghbi.[39] In 2017 he received the Charles Rudolphe Brupbacher Prize.[40]
He was awarded theBuchanan Medal of the Royal Society in 2018 for his medical discoveries,[41] and elected aFellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2001.[42] In 2020 he was awarded theBrain Prize.[43]
Adrian Bird is married to fellowgeneticist Cathy Abbott and has four children.[18][19] At age 66, Bird was quoted as having no plans to retire, saying "we [the research group] are still funded well and our work is still published in journals and as long as that continues, so will I."[18]
| International | |
|---|---|
| Academics | |
