History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group School of History, Queen Mary University of London Mile End Road, London E1 4NS website: www.histmodbiomed.org VIDEO INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT Sanger, Gareth: transcript of a video interview (08-Dec-2016) Interviewer: Tilli Tansey Transcriber: Debra Gee Editors: Tilli Tansey, Apostolos Zarros Date of publication: 05-May-2017 Date and place of interview: 08-Dec-2016; Queen Mary University of London Publisher: Queen Mary University of London Collection: History of Modern Biomedicine Interviews (Digital Collection) Reference: e2017138 Number of pages: 10 DOI: 10.17636/01022654 Acknowledgments: The project management of Mr Adam Wilkinson and the technical support (filming and production) of Mr Alan Yabsley are gratefully acknowledged. The History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group is funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is a registered charity (no. 210183). The current interview has been funded by the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award entitled “Makers of modern biomedicine: testimonies and legacy” (2012-2017; awarded to Professor Tilli Tansey). Citation: Tansey E M (intvr); Tansey E M, Zarros A (eds) (2017) Sanger, Gareth: transcript of a video interview (08-Dec- 2016). History of Modern Biomedicine Interviews (Digital Collection), item e2017138. London: Queen Mary University of London. Related resources: items 2017139 - 2017152, History of Modern Biomedicine Interviews (Digital Collection) Note: Video interviews are conducted following standard oral history methodology, and have received ethical approval (reference QMREC 0642). Video interview transcripts are edited only for clarity and factual accuracy. Related material has been deposited in the Wellcome Library. © The Trustee of the Wellcome Trust, London, 2017 History of Modern Biomedicine Interviews (Digital Collection) - Sanger, G e2017138 | 2 Sanger, Gareth: transcript of a video interview (08-Dec-2016)* Biography: Professor Gareth Sanger BSc PhD DSc FBPhS FRSB (b. 1953) received his BSc and PhD degrees in physiology from the Universities of Newcastle and Manchester (1974 and 1977), later returning to Manchester to be awarded his DSc in 1998. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at King’s College Hospital Medical School, London, where he was among the first to examine the functions of some of the newly discovered prostanoids on the human isolated gut. A move to industrial research led to his identification of a novel serotonin (5-HT) receptor-mediated function in the gut, later named by others as the 5-HT4 receptor. Parallel research led to the identification of the role of the 5-HT3 receptor in the mechanisms of emesis and to new drugs to treat severe emesis, for which he was jointly awarded the 1998 Discoverers Award by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Within industry he held various roles within the “discovery science” arm of the business, exploring multiple research areas and new drug targets, placing several novel compounds into development. In 2008 he was elected Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society (FBPhS), and in 2009 he joined Queen Mary, University of London as Professor of Neuropharmacology. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) in 2013. His research focus is on the use of human gastrointestinal tissues for translational neuropharmacology, the consequences and mechanisms of advanced age on human bowel functions and on the mechanisms of disordered gastric movements during nausea. His first paper after establishing this new laboratory won a “highly commended” award from NC3Rs (National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research) for promoting a culture shift in the use of human tissues for functional research. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts, served on editorial boards, teaches on BSc, MSc and MBBS courses and sits on advisory boards for gastrointestinal (GI) research within the pharmaceutical industry. [1]. A CHILD BY THE COAST; STUDYING MARINE ZOOLOGY AT NEWCASTLE I had no intention of being a scientist. I just enjoyed life with a very open, simple, probably uncritical, unfocused mind. I lived in the country as a boy, it meant that I didn’t really associate with all my friends who lived in town, and did things that teenagers do, and I couldn’t, because we lived so far away. It meant that I spent my life with a great friend, mostly on the beach, fishing, swimming, always there. And I guess that helped nurture my enjoyment of beach life. I did biology projects on mussel beds, and one thing led to another I guess, and I wanted to continue enjoying that, hence an application to Newcastle University to study zoology, chosen in part because they had a great marine biology station and I thought, ‘That will be fun.’ I could imagine myself researching and understanding marine life, went to Newcastle, felt liberated because I no longer had to do subjects at A level like physics, which I couldn’t do very well. And yes, there was a pleasure in learning; there was a liberation. Loved zoology, loved the discovery of the coelacanth at the time, the fossil now alive. It was a great time. But I had to do other courses. I had to do physical sciences, which I didn’t really enjoy, and I had to pick another subject, chose physiology, which at school I’d never heard of before. By the end of the year realised I loved zoology, but kind of didn’t know where that would go. But a feeling inside me told me that physiology was a bit more hardcore science, a bit more directed and might lead to different and better things. And I had no idea what that meant. * Interview conducted by Professor Tilli Tansey, for the History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group, 08 December 2016, in the School of History, Queen Mary University of London. Transcribed by Mrs Debra Gee, and edited by Professor Tilli Tansey and Dr Apostolos Zarros. History of Modern Biomedicine Interviews (Digital Collection) - Sanger, G e2017138 | 3 [2]. FROM ZOOLOGY TO PHYSIOLOGY, STUDYING THE GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM So at the end of my first year at university, I loved the zoology but there was a feeling inside me that thought, ‘I’d like that as a hobby. I don’t quite see what I can do with it.’ Whereas physiology spoke to me in some sort of way, maybe more hardcore science, maybe more of a clearer direction, I wasn’t sure. Went to see my then zoology tutor, Dr Panshen who said, ‘Look, whatever you choose will be right, because you’ll never know what you gave up.’ The wisest advice I’ve probably ever received, and I’ve said it to many people since. So I went to physiology, which I’d never heard of at school, no idea what that was. And spent a couple of enjoyable years with a small group, I think there were about seven of us doing the degree, so it was very close. We all became great friends and ended up with our degrees. It was a University Department that specialised a lot in gastrointestinal science. Professor Harper used to run it, he was a joint discoverer of cholecystokinin. He retired, Professor Eric Blair took over, he did a lot of work on gastric secretion, and a lot of colleagues were there doing that, so my student project was on gastric secretion in anaesthetised cats, which you’d never do again. And I guess it became by default a career path for me to stay in GI. I was lucky enough to spot a PhD-student vacancy in Manchester, so without any planning, without any thought, I applied and I was lucky to be accepted, and there I was in Manchester. [3]. BECOMING A PHARMACOLOGIST: PROSTAGLANDIN RESEARCH AT KING’S COLLEGE LONDON So the PhD in my view was ordinary, and by the end of that I believed I needed training. I’d picked up papers by Alan Bennett, then in King’s College Hospital, Surgery Department there, who wrote papers that kind of spoke to me as well. They were good papers, but they seemed to push the science a little bit forward in a place that I thought was creative, and I liked that for some reason. So I went down and saw Alan. We talked and a little later, and I said, ‘Is there a possibility of working with you?’ And he eventually came back to me and said, ‘Yes, I can put the money together on provision you get your PhD first.’ So I then promptly made him my external examiner, and got the PhD, and joined Alan. Of course my degree was physiology, my PhD was in the Physiology Department, but I was doing pharmacology. I was doing ligand receptor interaction studies in effect. Alan was a pharmacist but PhD pharmacology, and effectively trained me. So I would come into work and you had to walk past his office to get past the lab, and I eventually learnt to kind of creep by his office a little bit because once he realised I didn’t know pharmacology and I needed training. So he would start leaping out of his office and saying, ‘Define me a pA2.’ And the first time I thought, ‘pA2, what on earth is that?’ So I screwed that up completely. And this would go on until eventually I could define a pA2 verbatim; I’d learnt it. I knew a pA2. Then he’d move onto pD2, and eventually I kind of learnt. He would, which is no different to my father, going down to breakfast he’d say, ‘What’s six 8s?’ ‘48.’ I’d know that so well. [4]. BECOMING A PHARMACOLOGIST: THE BRITISH PHARMACOLOGICAL SOCIETY So, eventually, he would get me to prepare a talk, ten minute talk, for the British Pharmacological Society and I would prepare the talk.