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Guy Dodson (1937–2012) PERSONAL NEWS Guy Dodson (1937–2012) Guy Dodson, an internationally renowned Tom Blundell, Ted Baker, Margaret Ad- enzymes that act on carbohydrates. His structural biologist and a great friend of ams and myself, was even born when she efforts on TB proteins included those on India, passed away at York, England on initiated the work on insulin in 1935. proteins involved in regulation of tran- 24 December 2012. He was an outstanding Guy continued to work on insulin, first at scription, an effort in which B. Gopal, macromolecular crystallographer and an Oxford and subsequently at York. Next currently at Indian Institute of Science in unobtrusive, but effective leader. Above to Dorothy, Guy has spent the maximum Bangalore, was involved as a postdoc- all, he was a splendid human being, full number of years working on insulin. toral fellow. He has also worked on prion of fun, warmth and generosity. Indeed, Guy has been associated with proteins and proteins from Salmonella Guy was born on 13 January 1937 at Dorothy longer than anyone else. typhimurium. His studies on DNA gyrase Palmerston North, New Zealand. He had Guy’s contribution to the structural are also well known. Guy has been well his education in New Zealand. After biology of insulin has been truly breath- recognized through awards and fellow- obtaining his Ph D degree from the Uni- taking. He and his colleagues have stud- ships. He was a fellow of the Royal versity of New Zealand, Guy joined ied in considerable detail the structure Society, EMBO fellow and fellow of Dorothy Hodgkin at Oxford in 1962 to and assembly of insulin and the allosteric the Academy of Medical Sciences. The work on the structure of insulin. Not long other recognitions he received included afterwards, he met and married Eleanor, the honorary fellowship of the Indian who had come to Oxford from Australia. Academy of Sciences and the foreign Since then Guy and Eleanor have been fellowship of Indian National Science inseparable, in life and science. Both re- Academy. mained in Dorothy’s insulin group till Guy and Eleanor have indeed been the 1976 when they moved to York to estab- true heirs of Dorothy not only in science, lish a vibrant structural biology group at but also in the benevolent approach to the University of York. In 1993, Guy colleagues, friends and even to strangers. accepted an additional appointment at the Like Dorothy, the network of friends of National Institute for Medical Research, Guy and Eleanor has been truly interna- Mill Hill, London, where the focus of his tional. They travelled widely and men- attention was on proteins from patho- tored innumerable scientists from gens, particularly Mycobacterium tuber- different parts of the world. Their hospi- culosis. tality is legendary; they kept an open Macromolecular crystallography had house at Oxford and York. its origin when J. D. Bernal and his then I cannot but be personal when writing student Dorothy Crowfoot (subsequently about Guy. We shared many exciting Hodgkin) recorded the X-ray diffraction scientific moments. My most abiding pattern from pepsin crystals in 1934 at memory is on our looking at the first in- Cambridge. Dorothy returned to Oxford transitions in them. They examined insu- terpretable electron-density map of insu- and recorded the diffraction pattern from lin from different species and explored lin on a summer day in 1969. Only Guy insulin crystals in 1935 as her first effort evolutionary relationships. They investi- and I were present in the lab on that day. as an independent researcher. Although gated many mutants of insulin and eluci- We had already stuck sections of the since then she determined the structures dated the roles of different segments of map, hand drawn on mylar sheets, on of many important molecules such as the molecule in biological action. They hard perspex sheets and stacked them on cholesterol, penicillin and vitamin B12 produced a monomeric insulin. Guy’s a light box. (Those were pre-graphics and got a Nobel Prize in the bargain, in- work on insulin has been closely aligned days. Even Richard’s comparator was not sulin remained the problem closest to her with pharmaceutical requirements. widely used then.) Both of us were trying heart. She worked on insulin off and on Another system which Guy and his to interpret a protein electron-density without much success. She renewed her colleagues investigated is haemoglobin. map for the first time. What struck us efforts in the wake of the successful deter- That brought him in close contact with first was the unmistakable density for mination of the structures of haemoglo- Max Perutz, a giant among structural what turned out to be of the central bin and myoglobin in the late fifties of biologists. Guy’s research activities en- α-helix of the B-chain. It was almost a the last century. It was during this period compassed a wide spectrum. His studies moment of revelation. We furiously be- that Guy and Eleanor joined the insulin on penicillin acylase and bile salt gan to build an approximate model. group. Guy, along with Eleanor, spent hydrolase are well known. Incidentally, Dorothy joined us the next day and with many frustrating years on insulin, but this is an area in which C. G. Suresh of her Midas touch, corrected our mistakes they persevered. Three-dimensional struc- the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and proceeded to build further. The ture of insulin was finally solved in collaborated with Guy’s group. Also well rough model was ready within a few 1969. None of those associated with known is Guy’s work on circular assem- days. The rest, as they say, is history. Dorothy’s macromolecular crystallogra- blies of proteins and catalytic triads. His Continuing on a personal vein, Guy phy group during that time, which contributions encompassed proteins and Eleanor have been family for my included, in addition to Guy and Eleanor, involved in signal transduction and wife Kalyani and myself. This has been CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 104, NO. 4, 25 FEBRUARY 2013 535 PERSONAL NEWS true in relation to many other friends of acted closely with the structural biology M. VIJAYAN theirs as well. Those from India among community in the country. As mentioned their close friends include late S. Rama- earlier, he was associated as fellow with seshan and M. A. Viswamitra and K. two science academies of India. Molecular Biophysics Unit, Venkatesan, apart from many younger In the passing away of Guy, the scien- Indian Institute of Science, colleagues. Guy, often along with Elea- tific community has lost a valuable col- Bangalore 560 012, India nor, frequently visited India and inter- league and a dear friend. e-mail: [email protected] 536 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 104, NO. 4, 25 FEBRUARY 2013 .
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