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Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: a Biography George G Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information FRED SANGER – DOUBLE NOBEL LAUREATE A BIOGRAPHY Considered ‘the father of genomics’, Fred Sanger (1918–2013) paved the way for the modern revolution in our understanding of biology. His pioneering methods for sequencing proteins, RNA and, eventually, DNA earned him two Nobel Prizes. He remains one of only four scientists (and the only British scientist) ever to have achieved that distinction. In this first full biography of Fred Sanger to be published, Brownlee traces Sanger’s life from his birth in rural Gloucestershire to his retirement in 1983 from the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Along the way, he highlights the remarkable extent of Sanger’s scientific achievements and provides a real portrait of the modest man behind them. Including an extensive transcript of a rare interview with Sanger by the author, this biography also considers the wider legacy of Sanger’s work, including his impact on the Human Genome Project and beyond. George G. Brownlee is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Pathology at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He studied under Fred Sanger at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, where he later became an independent researcher. He is a recipient of the Biochemical Society’s Colworth and Wellcome Trust Medals, a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences and is an EMBO Member. He received the Haemophilia Medal (France) and gave the Owren Lecture (Norway) for his pioneering work on haemo- philia. He retired in 2008 to write this biography. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information FRED SANGER DOUBLE NOBEL LAUREATE A BIOGRAPHY George G. Brownlee Sir William Dunn School of Pathology and Lincoln College, University of Oxford © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107083349 © G. G. Brownlee, 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Brownlee, George G., 1942– Fred Sanger, double Nobel laureate : a biography / George G. Brownlee, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology and Lincoln College, University of Oxford. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-107-08334-9 (Hardback) 1. Sanger, Frederick, 1918–2013. 2. Biochemists–Great Britain–Biography. I. Title. qp511.8.s325b76 2015 572.092–dc23 [B] 2014021241 ISBN 978-1-107-08334-9 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information edward george brownlee (1973–1995) He helped me prepare for my interview of Fred Sanger © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information Contents List of figures viii Foreword by Sir Edwin Southern xv Acknowledgements and original sources xviii Brief chronology xxi Honours xxii Introduction xxv 1 · A Quaker upbringing 1 2 · How about studying insulin? 9 3 · Radioactive sequencing of proteins and nucleic acids 16 4 · Interview of Fred by the author in 1992: Early life 40 5 · Interview of Fred by the author in 1992: Insulin and the Biochemistry Department, University of Cambridge 68 6 · Interview of Fred by the author in 1992: Nucleic acids at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge 98 7 · Post-Sanger sequencing: high-throughput automated sequencing 136 8 · Cancer: the impact of new-generation sequencing 146 9 · Commentaries on Fred Sanger’s scientific legacy 153 Paul Berg, Elizabeth Blackburn, Sir John Sulston, David Bentley and Paul Nurse Epilogue 167 Appendix: Complete bibliography of Fred Sanger 171 Notes 179 Index 190 vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information List of figures Figure 1. Father, Frederick Sanger (left) and grandfather, Theodore Crewdson with Fred as a baby (right). (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) page 41 Figure 2. Fred Sanger, 8 months, April 1919. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and the Biochemical Society, with permission.) 42 Figure 3. Grandfather Crewdson’s house, Styal, Cheshire. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 44 Figure 4. Fred, aged about 3, next to Aunt Daisy, Uncle Dilworth (behind), grandfather Crewdson and brother Theo, about 1922. (Courtesy Peter Sanger.) 44 Figure 5. Fred’s mother, Cicely Crewdson Sanger. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 45 Figure 6. Frederick, father, and Cicely, mother. (Courtesy Peter Sanger.) 46 Figure 7. Fred (left) and brother Theo (right) as toddlers. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 47 Figure 8. Fred, 5 years old, in 1923. (Courtesy Peter Sanger.) 49 Figure 9. Mother, Cicely, with Fred and Theodore and baby ‘May’ (Mary). (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 50 Figure 10. Fred (far left) and Theo with mother, Cicely, and young ‘May’ (Mary) at their house ‘Far Leys’ in Tanworth-in-Arden, Warwickshire, about 1925. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 51 Figure 11. Fred (left), sister May (centre) and elder brother, Theo (right). (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 52 viii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information LIST OF FIGURES Figure 12. Theo and Fred (behind) with father, Frederick, and Jimmy, the donkey. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 53 Figure 13. Fred, aged 13, at home at his workbench. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 56 Figure 14. Fred at his forge with May, 1933. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 56 Figure 15. Ruth Sanger FRS (1918–2001)in1972. (Copyright Godfrey Argent Studio.) 57 Figure 16. Fred, at Cambridge, aged 18. (Courtesy Peter Sanger.) 60 Figure 17. Left: Ernest Baldwin (1909–1969). (The Biochemical Society, with permission.) Right: Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861–1947), Royal Society portrait (by kind permission of the executors of the Meredith Frampton estate). 61 Figure 18. Malcolm Dixon (1899–1985) aged about 50. (Copyright Ramsey and Muspratt, with permission.) 62 Figure 19. Joseph Needham (1900–95) in the Biochemistry Department, Cambridge, 1937. (Stephen Burch, with permission.) 63 Figure 20. Joan Howe, 1940. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 64 Figure 21. Marriage to Joan Howe, December 1940. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 65 Figure 22. Wedding of Fred and Joan Howe, December 1940. (Courtesy Peter Sanger.) 66 Figure 23. Fred and Joan, about 1942. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 67 Figure 24. Fred at Winsford Hospital, near Bristol, cleaning the toilet, 1940. (Courtesy Peter Sanger and The Biochemical Society, with permission.) 69 Figure 25. The ‘old’ (left) and ‘new’ (right) Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge. Both are currently in use. 70 ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-08334-9 - Fred Sanger Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography George G. Brownlee Frontmatter More information
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