Sir Martin Evans | |
|---|---|
 Evans in October 2007 | |
| Born | Martin John Evans (1941-01-01)1 January 1941 (age 84) Stroud,Gloucestershire, England |
| Education | |
| Known for | Discovering embryonicstem cells, and development of theknockout mouse andgene targeting. |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | Two sons and one daughter[1] |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Developmental biology |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Studies on the ribonucleic acid of early amphibian embryos |
| Doctoral students | Allan Bradley[2][3] Elizabeth Robertson |
| Website | cardiff |
Sir Martin John EvansFRS FMedSciFLSW (born 1 January 1941) is an English biologist[5] who, withMatthew Kaufman, was the first toculture miceembryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a laboratory in 1981. He is also known, along withMario Capecchi andOliver Smithies, for his work in the development of theknockout mouse and the related technology ofgene targeting, a method of using embryonic stem cells to create specific gene modifications in mice.[6][7] In 2007, the three shared theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their discovery and contribution to the efforts to develop new treatments for illnesses in humans.[8][9][10][11][12]
He won a major scholarship toChrist's College, Cambridge at a time when advances ingenetics were occurring there and became interested inbiology andbiochemistry.[citation needed] He then went toUniversity College London where he learned laboratory skills supervised by Elizabeth Deuchar. In 1978, he moved to the Department of Genetics, at theUniversity of Cambridge, and in 1980 began his collaboration withMatthew Kaufman. They explored the method of usingblastocysts for the isolation of embryonic stem cells. After Kaufman left, Evans continued his work, upgrading his laboratory skills to the newest technologies, isolated the embryonic stem cell of the early mouse embryo and established it in a cell culture. He genetically modified and implanted it into adult female mice with the intent of creating genetically modified offspring, work for which he was awarded theNobel Prize in 2007. In 2015, he was elected aFellow of the Learned Society of Wales.[13] Today,genetically modified mice are considered vital for medical research.
Evans was born inStroud,Gloucestershire, on 1 January 1941.[1][6] His mother was a teacher.[9] His father maintained a mechanical workshop and taught Evans to use tools and machines including a lathe.[9] Evans was close to his grandfather who was a choir master at aBaptist Church for over 40 years, and whose main interests were music, poetry, and the Baptist Church.[9] His mother's brother was a professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge.[9] As a boy Evans was quiet, shy and inquisitive.[11] He liked science, and his parents encouraged his education.[9] He remembers loving old science books and receiving an electric experimental set which he wanted for Christmas.[11] He attributes to a chemistry set, from which he learned basic chemistry, for the development of one of his "greatest amateur passions".[11] He went to middle school atSt Dunstan's College,[9] an independent school for boys inSouth East London, where he started chemistry and physics classes, and studied biology.[11] He worked hard studying for theUniversity of Cambridge entrance exams. At school he was one of the best pupils, although not at the top of the class.[9]
Evans won a major scholarship toChrist's College, Cambridge, at a time when there were many advances ingenetics being made. He studied zoology, botany and chemistry, but soon dropped zoology and added biochemistry, finding himself drawn to plant physiology and function.[11] He went to seminars bySydney Brenner and attended lectures byJacques Monod.[9] He graduated from Christ's College with aBA in 1963; although, he did not take hisfinal examinations, because he was ill withglandular fever.[6][7] He decided on a career examining genetic control of vertebrate development.[14] He moved toUniversity College London where he had a fortunate position as a research assistant, learning laboratory skills under Dr Elizabeth Deuchar. His goal at the time was "to isolate developmentally controlledm-RNA".[11] He was awarded aPhD in 1969.[15][1][6][16]
He became a lecturer in theAnatomy andEmbryology department at University College London, where he did research and taught PhD students and undergraduates.[16] In 1978, he moved to the Department of Genetics, at theUniversity of Cambridge, where his work in association withMatthew Kaufman began in 1980.[6] They developed the idea of usingblastocysts for the isolation of embryonic stem cells.[17]
After Kaufman left to take up a professorship in Anatomy in Edinburgh, Evans continued his work, branching out eclectically, "drawn into a number of fascinating fields of biology and medicine."[11] In October 1985, he visited theWhitehead Institute,Cambridge, Massachusetts, for one month of practical work to learn the most recent laboratory techniques.[7][18]
In the 1990s, he was a fellow atSt Edmund's College, Cambridge. In 1999, he became Professor of Mammalian Genetics and Director of the School of Biosciences atCardiff University,[6][19] where he worked until he retired at the end of 2007.[20] He became aKnight Bachelor in the2004 New Year Honours in recognition of his work in stem cell research.[6][21] He received theaccolade fromPrince Charles atBuckingham Palace on 25 June 2004.[22] In 2007, he was awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along withMario Capecchi andOliver Smithies for their work in discovering a method for introducinghomologous recombination in mice employing embryonic stem cells.[8] Evans was appointed president ofCardiff University and was inaugurated into that position on 23 November 2009.[23] Subsequently, Evans became Chancellor ofCardiff University in 2012.[24] He is an Honorary Fellow ofSt Edmund's College, Cambridge.[25]
Evans and Kaufman isolated theembryonic stem cells from early embryos (embryoblasts) of mice and established them in cell cultures. These early embryonic cells have the potential to differentiate into any of the cells of the adult organism. They modified these stem cells genetically and placed them in the wombs of female mice so they would give birth to genetically modified offspring.[26]
In 1981, Evans and Kaufman published results for experiments in which they described how they isolated embryonic stem cells frommouseblastocysts and grew them incell cultures.[26][27] This was also achieved byGail R. Martin, independently, in the same year.[28] Eventually, Evans was able to isolate theembryonic stem cell of the early mouse embryo and establish it in acell culture. He then genetically modified it and implanted it into adult female mice with the intent of creating genetically modified offspring, the forebears of the laboratory mice that are considered so vital to medical research today.[26] The availability of these cultured stem cells eventually made possible the introduction ofspecific gene alterations into thegerm line of mice and the creation oftransgenic mice to use as experimental models for human illnesses.[26]
Evans and his collaborators showed that they could introduce a newgene into cultured embryonic stem cells and then use suchgenetically transformed cells to makechimeric embryos.[29] In some chimeric embryos, the genetically altered stem cells producedgametes, thus allowing transmission of the artificially inducedmutation into future generations of mice.[30] In this way,transgenic mice with induced mutations in the enzymeHypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) were created.[31] The HPRT mutations were produced byretroviral insertion; it was proposed that by taking advantage ofgenetic recombination between the normal HPRT gene and an artificial gene sequenced added to the cultured embryonic stem cells, "it may also eventually be possible to produce specific alterations inendogenous genes throughhomologous recombination with cloned copies modified in vitro".[26] The production of transgenic mice using this proposed approach was accomplished in the laboratories ofOliver Smithies,[32] and ofMario Capecchi.[33]
When Evans was a student in Cambridge he met his wife, Judith Clare Williams,[1] at a lunch held by his aunt, wife of an astronomy professor.[9] After they were engaged, their relationship did not go well and Judith went to live in Canada; however, a year later she returned to England and they married.[9] In 1978, they moved from London to Cambridge with their young children, where they lived for more than 20 years before moving to Cardiff. They have one daughter and two sons.[1][34] Their older son was a student at the University of Cambridge and their younger son was a boarder atChrist Church Cathedral School in Oxford and sang in Christ Church Cathedral choir.[9]
His wife Judith Clare Williams, granddaughter ofChristopher Williams, was appointedMBE for her services to practice nursing in the1993 New Year Honours.[35][36] She was diagnosed with breast cancer at about the time the family moved to Cardiff. She works for breast cancer charities, and Martin Evans has become a trustee of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.[9]
Evans has won numerous awards including:
, accessed 11 October 2020 including the Nobel LectureEmbryonic Stem Cells: The Mouse Source Vehicle for Mammalian Genetics and Beyond| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chancellor of Cardiff University (previously known as President) 2009–2017 | Succeeded by |
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