David Baulcombe

Last updated

Sir
David Baulcombe
FRS FMedSci MAE
Sir David Baulcombe.jpg
Born
David Charles Baulcombe

(1952-04-07) 7 April 1952 (age 73) [1] [2]
Solihull, England
NationalityBritish
Alma mater
Known for
SpouseRose Eden (m. 1976) [3] [2]
Children1 son, 3 daughters [3] [2]
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Thesis The Processing and Intracellular Transport of Messenger RNA in a Higher Plant  (1976)
Doctoral advisor John Ingle
Doctoral students
Website

Sir David Charles Baulcombe (born 7 April 1952 [1] [2] ) is a British plant scientist and geneticist. As of October 2024 he was Head of Group, Gene Expression, in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and the Edward Penley Abraham Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany Emeritus at Cambridge. [7] He held the Regius botany chair in that department from 2007 to 2020. [8] [ independent source needed ].

Contents

Early life and education

David Baulcombe was born on 7 April 1952 in the United Kingdom, in Solihull, Warwickshire, [1] [8] (in England's Midlands), into "a non-scientific family". [9]

As a child growing up in England’s West Midlands, David Baulcombe developed a fascination for algae, mosses, and other ‘lower plants’, which eventually led him to study botany at Leeds before shifting his focus to molecular biology. [10]

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in botany from the University of Leeds in 1973, [9] at the age of 21,[ citation needed ] and continued his studies at the University of Edinburgh, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1976/1977 [9] [11] (for research on Messenger RNA in vascular plants supervised by John Ingle[ citation needed ]).

Career

After his doctoral research, Baulcombe spent the next three years as a postdoctoral fellow in North America,[ citation needed ] in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and then in Athens, Georgia, in the United States [9] (respectively, at McGill University from January 1977-November 1978, and then the University of Georgia thereafter, until December 1980[ citation needed ]). Baulcombe returned to the United Kingdom then, where he was given the opportunity to create his own research group at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge [9] (PBI, the John Innes Centre [ citation needed ]). At the PBI, Baulcombe initially held the position of Higher Scientific Officer, and was promoted to Principal Scientific Officer in April 1986. [3] [ self-published source? ]

In August 1988 Baulcombe left Cambridge for Norwich.[ citation needed ] He joined the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich in 1988, and as of 2007 was a senior research scientist, [9] and also served as head of laboratory between 1990 and 1993 and between 1999 and 2003.[ citation needed ] In 1998 he was appointed honorary professor at the University of East Anglia, and given a full professorship there in 2002. [3] [ self-published source? ] In March 2007 it was announced that Baulcombe would become the next Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge (as a Royal Society Research Professor[ citation needed ]), taking up his post in September 2007. [12] Accordingly, in 2008, Baulcombe was also named as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.[ citation needed ] In 2009, the Cambridge professorship was renamed "Regius Professor of Botany". [13] He was succeeded in the chair by Ottoline Leyser in 2020. [14]

Baulcombe "serves on several [professional] committees and study sections", [8] [ independent source needed ]and was president of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology from 2003–2004.[ citation needed ] In the approximate period of 2007-2009, Baulcombe was a Senior Advisor to The EMBO Journal . [15] He also served on the Life Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2015.[ citation needed ]

Research

An annotation regarding Baulcombe's 2001 nomination to The Royal Society read that he had

made an outstanding contribution to the inter-related areas of plant virology, gene silencing and disease resistance... discover[ing] a specific signalling system and an antiviral defence system in plants... [leading] to the development of new technologies that promise to revolutionise gene discovery in plant biology. [16] [ better source needed ][ verification needed ]

Hence, his research interests have mainly been in botany and fundamental biology, in the fields of virus movement, genetic regulation, disease resistance, and RNA and more generally, gene silencing.[ according to whom? ] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [ independent source needed ]

In 1998 Craig Mello, Andrew Fire, and colleagues reported a potent gene silencing effect—observations on the mechanism of RNA interference—after injecting double stranded RNA into Caenorhabditis elegans , [29] [30] a discovery notable as a detailed description of what proved to be the correct mechanism of a broad class of phenomena. [29] Baulcombe then, with Andrew Hamilton, discovered a small interfering RNA that is the specificity determinant in RNA-mediated gene silencing in plants. [31] [ independent source needed ] Baulcombe's group demonstrated "that while viruses can induce gene silencing some viruses encode proteins that suppress gene silencing". [8] [ independent source needed ] After these initial observations, many laboratories around the world searched for the occurrence of this phenomenon in other organisms.[ citation needed ] (The leaders of the team reporting the correct mechanism of the phenomena, Fire and Mello, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2006 for their work, [29] although some have argued that Baulcombe was among those overlooked for that year's prize. [32] )

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.[ citation needed ]

Honours and awards

In June 2009, Baulcombe was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2009 Birthday Honours List, "for services to plant science". [33]

Baulcombe has also received the following honours and awards:

Personal life

Baulcombe stated in a post dated 2017 that outside of the laboratory, he "promote[s] the use of plant biotechnology for crop improvement... [and that he is] particularly interested in technologies addressing problems in developing countries." [34] He has said he works on plants "because their products are good to eat and wear and write on—and also because plants are often good models for general biology. [15]

As of this date,[ when? ] Baulcombe resided in Norwich.[ citation needed ] He has been married to Rose Eden since 1976, and they have four children. [3] [2] His interests include music, sailing, and hill walking. [3]

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 PAS Staff & Baulcombe, David (7 October 2024). "Ordinary Academicians: Prof. David Baulcombe". Vatican City: The Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS). Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Staff of Who's Who & Baulcombe, David Charles (2014). "Baulcombe, Prof. Sir David (Charles)" . Who's Who (online ed.). Oxford, England: OUP. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U12688.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bailcombe, David (7 October 2024). "David Baulcombe—Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). PlantSci.Cam.Ac.UK. University of Cambridge . Retrieved 7 October 2024.[ self-published source? ]
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Staff of the Royal Society & Baulcombe, David (7 October 2024). "Fellows Directory: Professor Sir David Baulcombe FMedSci FRS". RoyalSociety.org. London: The Royal Society . Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  5. ↑ Voinnet, Olivier (2001). Molecular analysis of post-transcriptional gene silencing : mechanisms and roles. copac.jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of East Anglia. OCLC   556857695. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.390649.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ Martienssen, Robert A. (1986). The molecular genetics of alpha-amylase gene families in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). copac.jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC   499910070. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.382600.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ University of Cambridge Staff & Baulcombe, David (7 October 2024). "Head of Group: Sir David Baulcombe". PlantSci.Cam.Ac.UK. University of Cambridge . Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 APS Staff & Baulcombe, David Charles (2003). "Ruth Allen Award [2002 awardee biography]" (PDF). Phytopathology. 93 (1). St. Paul, MN: American Phytopathological Society (APS): 23. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2024. David Charles Baulcombe was born in Solihull, Warwickshire, United Kingdom in 1952. He received his B.S. degree in botany from the University of Leeds and his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. Since 1988, Dr. Baulcombe has been at the Sainsbury Laboratory Norwich, U.K. ... Dr. Baulcombe also has demonstrated that while viruses can induce gene silencing some viruses encode proteins that suppress gene silencing. Dr. Baulcombe is internationally renowned for his research and serves on several committees and study sections. In 2001, Dr. Baulcombe was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Staff of Curr. Biol. & Baulcombe, David (6 February 2007). "Q & A: David Baulcombe" (interview). Current Biology . 17 (3): R73 –R74. Bibcode:2007CBio...17R..73B. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.022 . PMID   17328111. S2CID   20568141. David Baulcombe was born in the Midlands of the UK into a non-scientific family. He studied botany as an undergraduate at Leeds University (BSc 1973) and started his own research group at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge after his PhD in Edinburgh (1977) and spells as a postdoc in Montreal and Athens Georgia. He has been in the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich since 1988 where he is a senior research scientist. His research interests have spanned plant hormones, root nodule symbioses, disease resistance, virology and over the last ten years have focused on RNA silencing and epigenetics. David has served as President of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology and his research has been recognised by various awards, including elections to the Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences (foreign associate). His current interests include a systems approach to understanding the role of short silencing RNA in regulatory networks.
  10. ↑ "David Baulcombe | Gruber Foundation". gruber.yale.edu. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  11. ↑ Baulcombe, David (1976). The Processing and Intracellular Transport of Messenger RNA in a Higher Plant (PhD thesis). University of Edinburgh. hdl:1842/14914. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.641386. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg Note, the EThOS link appearing here is a [ dead link ].
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 University of Cambridge Staff (28 March 2007). "News and Events—Current News". PlantSci.Cam.Ac.UK. University of Cambridge, Department of Plant Sciences. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2024. The Department is pleased to announce the election of Professor David Baulcombe FRS, as the new Professor of Botany with effect from 1 September 2007. Professor Baulcombe, is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre in Norwich. Trained as a botanist, his research interests are in the area of plant gene expression generally. As a result of his studies of expressing viral genes in plants, he established the role of small RNAs in RNA silencing, a mechanism for regulation of gene expression that is universal (see an interview). Professor Baulcombe has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards in recognition of his work, including the Massry Prize from the Massry Foundation, University of Southern California in 2005 and the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Science from the Wiley Foundation, Rockefeller University, both shared with Craig Mello and Andrew Fire. He was elected to the Royal Society in 2001, and as a foreign associate member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) in 2005.
  13. ↑ "A new Regius Professor for the University". 24 November 2009. Archived from the original on 27 November 2009.
  14. ↑ Hlaba, K. L. (14 May 2020). "Professor Ottoline Leyser DBE FRS elected as Regius Professor of Botany". www.globalfood.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  15. 1 2 EMBO Journal Staff & Baulcombe, David (January 2009). "Editorial Team" Senior Advisors—David C. Baulcombe". Nature.com. Heidelberg, Germany: EMBO Press. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2024. David Baulcombe is in The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich. His lab works on viruses, disease resistance and gene silencing using a combination of genetic, molecular and biological approaches. David works on plants because their products are good to eat and wear and write on - and also because plants are often good models for general biology.
  16. ↑ WebCitation.org Staff, and Anon. (2014) [2001]. "Archive item details: Repository—GB 117 The Royal Society". WebCitation.org. [Field = Citation]. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. David Baulcombe has made an outstanding contribution to the inter-related areas of plant virology, gene silencing and disease resistance. He discovered a specific signalling system and an antiviral defence system in plants. This led to the development of new technologies that promise to revolutionize gene discovery in plant biology.. This citation purports to be an archived result of a search of a Royal Society database, from the Repository, "GB 117", providing "EC/2001/03" as a reference number (Ref No). A Google Advanced Search of the quoted material returns no leads on the web. Search of the URL and other content fields at Web.Archive.org also fails.
  17. ↑ Baulcombe, D. (2004). "RNA silencing in plants". Nature. 431 (7006): 356–363. Bibcode:2004Natur.431..356B. doi:10.1038/nature02874. PMID   15372043. S2CID   4421274.
  18. ↑ 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. doi:10.1093/emboj/cdf464. PMC   125409 . PMID   12198169. (Erratum:  doi:10.15252/embj.201570050, PMID   26291654,  Retraction Watch)
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ 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. S2CID   2103803.
  21. ↑ 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. Bibcode:2000PlanC..12..691B. doi:10.1105/tpc.12.5.691. PMC   139921 . PMID   10810144.
  22. ↑ 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. Bibcode:2000PlanC..12..369D. doi:10.1105/tpc.12.3.369. PMC   139837 . PMID   10715323.
  23. ↑ 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. Bibcode:1999PlanC..11.2291J. doi:10.1105/tpc.11.12.2291. PMC   144133 . PMID   10590159.
  24. ↑ 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 (10): 2563–2575. doi: 10.1099/0022-1317-68-10-2563 . PMID   3668507.
  25. ↑ 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. doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04202.x. PMC   1166722 . PMID   16453668.
  26. ↑ Lu, J.; Zhang, C.; Baulcombe, D. C.; Chen, Z. J. (2012). "Maternal siRNAs as regulators of parental genome imbalance and gene expression in endosperm of Arabidopsis seeds". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109 (14): 5529–5534. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.5529L. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1203094109 . PMC   3325730 . PMID   22431617.
  27. ↑ Baulcombe, D. C.; Saunders, G. R.; Bevan, M. W.; Mayo, M. A.; Harrison, B. D. (1986). "Expression of biologically active viral satellite RNA from the nuclear genome of transformed plants". Nature. 321 (6068): 446. Bibcode:1986Natur.321..446B. doi:10.1038/321446a0. S2CID   4309327.
  28. ↑ Achard, P.; Herr, A; Baulcombe, D. C.; Harberd, N. P. (2004). "Modulation of floral development by a gibberellin-regulated microRNA". Development. 131 (14): 3357–65. doi:10.1242/dev.01206. PMID   15226253. S2CID   15553199.
  29. 1 2 3 Daneholt, Bertil (2006). "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006: Advanced Information—RNA interference". NobelPrize.org. Stockholm, Sweden: The Nobel Foundation. [Section "The discovery of RNA interference"]. Archived from the original on 23 October 2006. Retrieved 25 January 2007. Andrew Fire and Craig Mello published their break-through study on the mechanism of RNA interference in Nature in 1998...
  30. ↑ Fire, A.; Xu, S.; Montgomery, M. K.; Kostas, S. A.; Driver, S. E.; Mello, C. C. (1998). "Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans". Nature. 391 (6669): 806–811. Bibcode:1998Natur.391..806F. doi:10.1038/35888. PMID   9486653. S2CID   4355692.
  31. ↑ 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.
  32. ↑ Westly, Erica (6 October 2008). "No Nobel for You: Top 10 Nobel Snubs". ScientificAmerican.com. London and Berlin: Springer Nature. [Slide 7.) Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe--missed out on the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology]. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2012. ...many felt the scientists who did the research that helped lead to Fire and Mello's discovery--Ambros... and Ruvkun... working with worms and Baulcombe..., plants...--deserved a place in Nobel history as well... Nobel committees rarely revisit research areas for which they've already handed out prizes. In 2008, though, Ambros, Ruvkun and Baulcombe started racking up prestigious honors, such as the Franklin Medal and the Lasker Award, suggesting they might still have a shot at sharing their own Nobel some day.
  33. ↑ From the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthoods, St. James’s Palace, London, recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 59090, 13 June 2009, see Supplement 1, p. 1.
  34. 1 2 EMBO Staff & Baulcombe, David (2017) [1997]. "Details: EMBO Member David Baulcombe". People.EMBO.org. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. University of Cambridge—United Kingdom—EMBO 1997—Disease resistance, RNA and epigenetics in plants—Much of my current research follows from the discovery in my Norwich laboratory of a novel type of regulatory RNA – siRNA. Current projects in the laboratory focus on the mechanisms of siRNA-mediated regulation and their influence on natural variation. Outside the laboratory I promote the use of plant biotechnology for crop improvement. I am particularly interested in technologies addressing problems in developing countries.
  35. ↑ AE Staff & Baulcombe, David (2024) [2002]. "Members of the Academy of Europe: David Baulcombe". AE-Info.org. London and München: Academia Europaea (AE). Retrieved 7 October 2024. David Baulcombe / Membership Number: 2159 / Membership type: Ordinary / Section: Cell & Developmental Biology / Elected: 2002.
  36. ↑ Wiley Foundation Staff (2003). "The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences: Our Award Recipients—2003". Wiley.com. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Foundation, John Wiley & Sons . Retrieved 7 October 2024. The 2nd annual Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences was awarded to Andrew Z. Fire, Craig C. Mello, Thomas Tuschl, and David Baulcombe for their respective contributions to discoveries of novel mechanisms for regulating gene expression by small interfering RNAs (siRNA).
  37. ↑ Staff of the Royal Society (2006). "Medals and Awards: Royal Medals". RoyalSociety.org. Lond, England: The Royal Society. [p. 5]. Archived from the original on 18 April 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2007.
  38. ↑ Staff of The Franklin Institute (2024) [April 2006]. "The Franklin Institute Awards: David Baulcombe [Benjamin Franklin Medal]". FI.edu. Philadelphia, PA: The Franklin Institute . Retrieved 8 October 2024. DavidBaulcombe / Year—2008 / Subject—Life Science / Award—Benjamin Franklin Medal / Affiliation—University of Cambridge... / Citation—With Gary Ruvkun and Victor Ambros, for their discovery of small RNAs that turn off genes. Their pioneering work initiated a paradigm shift in our perception of the ways genes are regulated, and this insight is making possible major new genetic tools for basic research, and for improving agriculture and human health.. See also this archive of an earlier web post, archive date 15 May 2008.
  39. ↑ Green, Pamela (April 2011). "2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science is Presented to..." . Journal of the Franklin Institute. 348 (3). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier: 500ff. doi:10.1016/j.jfranklin.2010.05.004 . Retrieved 8 October 2024. 2008 Benjamin Franklin medal in life science is Presented to Victor Ambros, Ph.D. (University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts), Gary Ruvkun, Ph.D. (Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts) and David Baulcombe, Ph.D., FRS (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK).
  40. ↑ Staff of the Royal Society (7 October 2024). "Awards: Humphry Davy and Claude Bernard Lectures". RoyalSociety.org. London: The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  41. ↑ "David Baulcombe International Balzan Prize Foundation". balzan.org. Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  42. ↑ "Epigenetics researcher a 2012 Balzan prizewinner | Laboratory Product News". Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  43. ↑ "2014 Gruber Genetics Prize Press Release | The Gruber Foundation". gruber.yale.edu. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  44. ↑ MGC Staff (2024) [2014]. "McClintock Prize Past Winners—2014: David C. Baulcombe (University of Cambridge)". MaizeGDB.org. Madison, Wisconsin: Maize Genetics Cooperation (MGC). Retrieved 7 October 2024. The Maize Genetics Executive Committee would like to announce that the winner of the inaugural McClintock Prize for Plant Genetics and Genome Studies is Prof. Sir David Baulcombe of the University of Cambridge. This award is in recognition of his exceptional contributions in the field of plant epigenetics, a field in which Dr. McClintock was one of the pioneers.
  45. ↑ "List of all Honorary Graduates and Chancellor's Medallists". warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
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