Malcolm Ferguson-Smith

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Malcolm Ferguson-Smith

Born
Malcolm Andrew Ferguson-Smith

(1931-09-05) 5 September 1931 (age 92) [1]
Glasgow, Scotland
Education Stowe School [1]
Alma mater University of Glasgow (MB ChB)
Children Anne Ferguson-Smith
Awards FRS
FRSE
Scientific career
Institutions Johns Hopkins University
University of Glasgow
University of Cambridge
Western Infirmary
Website research.vet.cam.ac.uk/research-staff-directory/principal-investigators/systems-pathology/malcom-ferguson-smith

Malcolm Andrew Ferguson-Smith, FRS , FRSE [2] (born 5 September 1931) [1] is a British geneticist. [3] [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Ferguson-Smith was born in Glasgow in 1931, the son of physician John Ferguson-Smith and educated at Stowe School. [1] He graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1955 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree.

Career and research

In 1955–1956 he was House Physician and House Surgeon at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow and in 1956–1958 Senior House Officer (SHO) and Registrar in Pathology.[ citation needed ]

Johns Hopkins

In 1959 he was appointed a Fellow in Medicine at the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore where he worked on chromosome analysis for nearly three years, establishing the first human chromosome diagnostic laboratory in the USA. [5]

Return to Glasgow

In 1961 he returned to the Department of Genetics at the University of Glasgow and was appointed successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader, becoming the first Burton Professor of Medical Genetics in 1973. Apart from teaching genetics to medical students his duties involved the establishment of a Regional Genetics Service for the West of Scotland. This provided opportunities for contributing to the human gene map using familial chromosome polymorphisms, deletion mapping, in situ hybridisation and chromosome sorting by flow cytometry. His work on mapping the Y-linked sex determinant in XX males led to the isolation of the mammalian sex-determining gene twenty-five years later. [5]

Gene mapping

In 1987 he was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Pathology at University of Cambridge and Director of the East Anglia Regional Genetics Service, where he furthered his research on gene mapping. He retired as Head of Pathology in 1998 and moved to the University Department of Veterinary Medicine. In 2002 he established the Cambridge Resource Centre for Comparative Genomics which produced and distributed chromosome-specific DNA from over 120 species of animals, birds and fish to scientists worldwide for research in biology, evolution and gene mapping. This data allowed comparisons between species to be made and mapped, illuminating the relationships between species and allowing research into genomic evolution. [5]

Publications

Awards and honours

In 1998 he was appointed as the scientist member of Lord Phillips' Committee to review the UK Government's original Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) inquiry and consider the emergence of BSE and new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) and the actions taken, reporting in 2000. [7]

He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 1978 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1983. [1] His papers are held at University of Glasgow. [5]

Personal life

He is the father of Anne Ferguson-Smith, Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics in Cambridge.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autosome</span> Any chromosome other than a sex chromosome

An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosomes is collectively known as atDNA or auDNA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oncogene</span> Gene that has the potential to cause cancer

An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philadelphia chromosome</span> Genetic abnormality in leukemia cancer cells

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chromosomal translocation</span> Phenomenon that results in unusual rearrangement of chromosomes

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Rowley</span> American human geneticist

Janet Davison Rowley was an American human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers, thus proving that cancer is a genetic disease. Rowley spent the majority of her life working in Chicago and received many awards and honors throughout her life, recognizing her achievements and contributions in the area of genetics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical genetics</span> Medicine focused on hereditary disorders

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">BCR (gene)</span>

The breakpoint cluster region protein (BCR) also known as renal carcinoma antigen NY-REN-26 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the BCR gene. BCR is one of the two genes in the BCR-ABL fusion protein, which is associated with the Philadelphia chromosome. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exosome component 2</span> Protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens

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Anne Carla Ferguson-Smith is a mammalian developmental geneticist. She is the Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and International Partnerships at the University of Cambridge. Formerly head of the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge, she is a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge and serves as President of the Genetics Society.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "FERGUSON-SMITH, Prof. Malcolm Andrew" . Who's Who . Vol. 2015 (online Oxford University Press  ed.). Oxford: A & C Black.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. "Malcolm Ferguson-Smith". royalsociety.org.
  3. Jones E M; Tansey E M, eds. (2014). Clinical Molecular Genetics in the UK c.1975-c.2000. UK: Queen Mary, University of London. freely available as a PDF download from the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group.
  4. "Codebreakers: Makers of Modern Genetics: the Malcolm Ferguson Smith papers". wellcomelibrary.org.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Tim Powell. "Ferguson-Smith, Malcolm Andrew, b.1931. Geneticist". Bath.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2010.
  6. Bartram, Claus R.; de Klein, Annelies; Hagemeijer, Anne; van Agthoven, Ton; van Kessel, Ad Geurts; Bootsma, Dirk; Grosveld, Gerard; Ferguson-Smith, Malcolm A.; Davies, Teresa; Stone, Marion; Heisterkamp, Nora; Stephenson, John R.; Groffen, John (1983). "Translocation of c-abl oncogene correlates with the presence of a Philadelphia chromosome in chronic myelocytic leukaemia". Nature . 306 (5940): 277–280. Bibcode:1983Natur.306..277B. doi:10.1038/306277a0. ISSN   0028-0836. PMID   6580527. S2CID   4322151.
  7. "BSE inquiry". bseinquiry.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 3 February 2001.