Sir Tim Hunt | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hunt atUCSF in 2009 | |
| Born | Richard Timothy Hunt (1943-02-19)19 February 1943 (age 82)[8] |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (BA, PhD) |
| Known for | Cell cycle regulation |
| Spouse | [8] |
| Children | Two daughters[8] |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cell cycle[1] (Biochemistry) |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | The synthesis of haemoglobin (1969) |
| Doctoral advisor | Asher Korner[2] |
| Doctoral students | |
Sir Richard Timothy Hunt (born 19 February 1943) is a Britishbiochemist and molecularphysiologist. He was awarded the 2001Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine withPaul Nurse andLeland H. Hartwell for their discoveries of protein molecules that control the division of cells. While studying fertilized sea urchin eggs in the early 1980s, Hunt discoveredcyclin, a protein that cyclically aggregates and is depleted during cell division cycles.
Hunt was born on 19 February 1943[8] inNeston,Cheshire, toRichard William Hunt, a lecturer inpalaeography in Liverpool, and Kit Rowland, daughter of a timber merchant.[9] After the death of both his parents, Hunt found his father had worked atBush House, then the headquarters ofBBC World Service radio, most likely in intelligence, although it is not known what he actually did.[9] In 1945, Richard became Keeper of the Western Manuscripts at theBodleian Library, and the family relocated toOxford. At the age of eight, Hunt was accepted into theDragon School,[8] where he first developed an interest in biology thanks to his science teacher, the German educatorGerd Sommerhoff.[9] When he was fourteen, he moved toMagdalen College School, Oxford, becoming even more interested in science and studying subjects such as chemistry and zoology.[9]
In 1961, he was accepted intoClare College, Cambridge to studyNatural Sciences, graduating in 1964 and immediately beginning work in the university Department of Biochemistry underAsher Korner.[9] There, he worked with scientists such asLouis Reichardt andTony Hunter.[9] A 1965 talk byVernon Ingram interested him inhaemoglobin synthesis, and at a Greek conference in 1966 on the subject, he persuaded the haematologist and geneticistIrving London to allow him to work in his laboratory atAlbert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, staying from July to October 1966.[9] His PhD was supervised by Asher Korner[2] and focused on haemoglobin synthesis in intactrabbitreticulocytes (immaturered blood cells), and was awarded in 1968.[2][10][11]
Following his PhD, Hunt returned to New York to work with London, in collaboration with Nechama Kosower, her husband Edward Kosower, and Ellie Ehrenfeld. While there, they discovered that tiny amounts ofglutathione inhibitedprotein synthesis inreticulocytes and that tiny amounts ofRNA killed the synthesis altogether. After returning to Cambridge, he again began work with Tony Hunter andRichard Jackson, who had discovered the RNA strand used to start haemoglobin synthesis. After 3–4 years, the team discovered at least two other chemicals acting as inhibitors.[9]
Hunt regularly spent summers working at theMarine Biological Laboratory atWoods Hole, Massachusetts, which was popular with scientists for its advanced summer courses, and in particular, with those interested in the study ofmitosis. The location provided a ready supply of surf clams (Spisula solidissima) andsea urchins (Arbacia punctulata) amongst the reefs and fishing docks, and it was these invertebrates that were particularly useful for the study of the synthesis of proteins in embryogenesis, as the embryos were simply generated with the application of filtered sea water, and the transparency of the embryo cells was well suited to microscopic study.[12]
It was at Woods Hole around July 1982, usingArbacia sea urchin eggs as his model organism, that he discoveredcyclin proteins.[9] Cyclins play a key role in regulating thecell-division cycle.[13] Hunt was observing the eggs undergo cell division after fertilization.[14] The study also included a control group where the eggs had been activated without fertilization by acalcium ionophore. The eggs were incubated with the amino acidmethionine in which some of the atoms were radioactive isotopes (radiolabelled), with samples being taken from the eggs at 10 minute intervals. During the egg development, the radioactive methionine was uptaken into the cells and used to make proteins. From the samples, proteins were precipitated and then separated by mass into distinct bands on a resolving gel mat, which were then observed by photographic film that could detect the radioactivity emitted by the proteins. Observing the changes in the bands across the samples, Hunt noticed that one of the proteins rose in abundance before disappearing during themitosis phase of cell division.[12] Hunt named the protein "cyclin" based on his observation of the cyclical changes in its levels.[15] It was later discovered that cyclins are continuously synthesised, but are specifically targeted forproteolysis during mitosis.[12] The discovery of cyclins was reported in a study published inCell in 1983.[16] Hunt later demonstrated that cyclins were also present in another sea urchin,Lytechinus pictus, as well as inSpisula clams.[12]
Hunt was aware that the discovery of cyclins was significant, but was initially unsure of how cyclins functioned in regard to cell division.[14] This was clarified in later papers in the 1980s and 1990s, some of which Hunt co-authored. These again utilized sea urchin eggs as well as eggs of the frogXenopus, and demonstrated that cyclins were present in the cells of most organisms, and combine withkinase enzymes (specificallycyclin-dependent kinases) to formmaturation-promoting factor (MPF). MPF has previously been identified in 1971 byYoshio Masui andClement Markert fromXenopus eggs. MPF induces mitosis, with the cyclic activation and inactivation of MPF being a key element in regulating and progressing the cell cycle.[14][12]
In 1990, he began work atImperial Cancer Research Fund, later known as theCancer Research UKLondon Research Institute, in the United Kingdom, where his work focused on understanding on what makes cell go cancerous, that is: proliferate uncontrollably, with the ordinary inhibitory signals switched off.[17] That same year, Hunt defined the concept ofshort linear motifs, parts of protein sequences that mediate interactions with other proteins.[18] In 1993, the bookThe Cell Cycle: An Introduction, which Hunt co-authored along with Andrew Murray, was published byOxford University Press.[19] Hunt had his own laboratory at the Clare Hall Laboratories until the end of 2010, and remains anEmeritus Group Leader at theFrancis Crick Institute.[20][21] He is a member of the Advisory Council for theCampaign for Science and Engineering.[22] He has served on the Selection Committee for theShaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine.[23] In 2010, Hunt joined the Academic Advisory Board of the Austrian think tank Academia Superior, Institute for Future Studies.[24]
Hunt has been a mentor and collaborator to researchers in the scientific community.[25][26] During his career, he has supervised numerous PhD students, includingHugh Pelham[3] andJonathon Pines.[5]
In addition to his scientific contributions, Hunt is a lifelong advocate for scientific research. After winning the Nobel Prize in 2001, he spent much of his time traveling the world, talking to both popular and specialist audiences. In these talks he offered his characteristic perspective on inquiry, which emphasizes the importance of having fun and being lucky.[27] He also believes that science benefits when power is given to young people, himself having been given full autonomy and authority at age 27.[28]
At the World Conference of Science Journalists inSeoul in June 2015, Hunt gave a impromptu toast at a lunch for female journalists and scientists. As recounted by an EU official, Hunt said:[29]
It's strange that such a chauvinist monster like me has been asked to speak to women scientists. Let me tell you about my trouble with girls. Three things happen when they are in the lab: you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry. Perhaps we should make separate labs for boys and girls? Now, seriously, I'm impressed by the economic development of Korea. And women scientists played, without a doubt, an important role in it. Science needs women, and you should do science, despite all the obstacles, and despite monsters like me.
Parts of the remarks were widely publicised on social media due to their perceived sexist nature, resulting in an intense online backlash, which some described as an act ofpublic shaming.[30] Hunt resigned from his honorary professorship atUniversity College London after the university told him to; he also resigned from several other research positions.[31] Hunt apologised and stated that the remarks were in jest. He said that they had been taken out of context, as the remarks had originally been reported without the words starting with "now seriously".[32] Hunt also stated he "did mean the part about having trouble with girls".[33] Some public figures and scientists, including some who had worked with Hunt, suggested that the backlash against him was disproportionate.[34][35][36][37]
Hunt was elected a member of theEuropean Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 1978, serving as a member of the organisation's Fellowship Committee 1990–1993, its Meeting Committee 2008–2009, and its governing body, the Council, 2004–2009.[38] He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1991,[39] his certificate of election reads:[40]
Distinguished for his studies of the control of protein synthesis in animal cells and for the discovery of cyclin, a protein which regulates theeukaryotic cell cycle. Together with Jackson and their students, he defined steps in formation of the initiation complex in protein synthesis, showing that the40S ribosomal subunit binds initiatortRNA before it bindsmRNA, and that this step was the target of inhibitors such as double-stranded RNA orhaem deficiency. They showed that inhibition of protein synthesis is mediated by reversiblephosphorylation of initiation factor eIF-2 by two distinct protein kinases and they elucidated the unexpected roles ofthioredoxin andthioredoxin reductase inprotein synthesis. With Ruderman and Rosenthal, he demonstrated selective translational control of mRNA in early clam embryos. This led to Hunt's discovery of cyclin as a protein which is selectively destroyed in mitosis. He subsequently cloned and sequenced cyclincDNA from sea urchins and frogs and showed by elegant mRNA ablation experiments that cyclin translation is necessary for mitosis in frog embryos. He has also shown that cyclin is a subunit of the mitosis-promoting factor which regulates entry into mitosis. His discovery and characterization of cyclin are major contributions to our knowledge of cell cycle regulation in eukaryotic cells.
Hunt was elected a fellow of the UK'sAcademy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 1998,[41] and a foreign associate of the USNational Academy of Sciences in 1999.[42]
In 2001, he was awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine withLeland Hartwell andPaul Nurse for their discoveries regardingcell cycle regulation bycyclin andcyclin-dependent kinases. The three laureates are cited "for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle," while Hunt in particular
is awarded for his discovery of cyclins, proteins that regulate the CDK function. He showed that cyclins are degraded periodically at each cell division, a mechanism proved to be of general importance for cell cycle control.[43]
In 2003, Hunt was made an honoraryFellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE).[44] In 2006, he was awarded theRoyal Society'sRoyal Medal, two of which are presented annually for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge", in his case for "discovering a key aspect of cell cycle control, the protein cyclin which is a component of cyclin dependent kinases, demonstrating his ability to grasp the significance of the result outside his immediate sphere of interest".[45]
Hunt was knighted in the2006 Birthday Honours for his service to science.[46]
Hunt is married to the immunologistMary Collins, who was provost of theOkinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, and is Director of the Blizard Institute Queen Mary University of London. The couple have two daughters.[8]
"All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available underCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." --"Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies".Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved9 March 2016.
including the Nobel Lecture 9 December 2001Protein Synthesis, Proteolysis, and Cell Cycle Transitions
Media related toTim Hunt at Wikimedia Commons
