David Baulcombe Explained

Sir David Baulcombe
Birth Name:David Charles Baulcombe
Birth Date:1952 4, df=yes
Birth Place:Solihull, England
Nationality:British
Doctoral Advisor:John Ingle
Thesis Title:The Processing and Intracellular Transport of Messenger RNA in a Higher Plant
Thesis Url:http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.641386
Thesis Year:1976
Children:1 son, 3 daughters
Spouse:Rose Eden (m. 1976)

Sir David Charles Baulcombe [1] (born 7 April 1952) is a British plant scientist and geneticist. 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.[2] He held the Regius botany chair in that department from 2007 to 2020.

Early life and education

David Baulcombe was born on 7 April 1952 in the United Kingdom, in Solihull, Warwickshire, (in England's Midlands), into "a non-scientific family".[3]

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in botany from the University of Leeds in 1973,[3] at the age of 21, and continued his studies at the University of Edinburgh, receiving his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1976/1977[3] [4] (for research on Messenger RNA in vascular plants supervised by John Ingle).

Career

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

In August 1988 Baulcombe left Cambridge for Norwich. He joined the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich in 1988, and as of 2007 was a senior research scientist,[3] and also served as head of laboratory between 1990 and 1993 and between 1999 and 2003. In 1998 he was appointed honorary professor at the University of East Anglia, and given a full professorship there in 2002. 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), taking up his post in September 2007.[5] Accordingly, in 2008, Baulcombe was also named as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. In 2009, the Cambridge professorship was renamed "Regius Professor of Botany".[6] He was succeeded in the chair by Ottoline Leyser in 2020.[7]

Baulcombe "serves on several [professional] committees and study sections",[8] and was president of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology from 2003–2004. In the approximate period of 2007-2009, Baulcombe was a Senior Advisor to The EMBO Journal.[9] He also served on the Life Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2015.

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.[10]
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.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22]

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,[23] a discovery notable as a detailed description of what proved to be the correct mechanism of a broad class of phenomena. Baulcombe then, with Andrew Hamilton, discovered a small interfering RNA that is the specificity determinant in RNA-mediated gene silencing in plants.[24] Baulcombe's group demonstrated "that while viruses can induce gene silencing some viruses encode proteins that suppress gene silencing".[8] After these initial observations, many laboratories around the world searched for the occurrence of this phenomenon in other organisms. (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,[25] although some have argued that Baulcombe was among those overlooked for that year's prize.[26])

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.

Honours and awards

In June 2009, Baulcombe was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2009 Birthday Honours List, "for services to plant science".[27]

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."[28] 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.[9]

As of this date, Baulcombe resided in Norwich. He has been married to Rose Eden since 1976, and they have four children. His interests include music, sailing, and hill walking.[41]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Staff of the Royal Society & Baulcombe, David . 7 October 2024 . Fellows Directory: Professor Sir David Baulcombe FMedSci FRS . RoyalSociety.org . London . . en . 7 October 2024 .
  2. Web site: University of Cambridge Staff & Baulcombe, David . 7 October 2024 . Head of Group: Sir David Baulcombe . PlantSci.Cam.Ac.UK . . en . 7 October 2024 .
  3. Staff of Curr. Biol. & Baulcombe, David . 6 February 2007 . Q & A: David Baulcombe . interview . . 17 . 3 . R73–R74 . 17328111. 10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.022. 20568141. free . 2007CBio...17R..73B . 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..
  4. PhD . David. Baulcombe . The Processing and Intracellular Transport of Messenger RNA in a Higher Plant . University of Edinburgh . 1976 . . 1842/14914. Note, the EThOS link appearing here is a .
  5. Web site: University of Cambridge Staff . 28 March 2007 . News and Events—Current News . PlantSci.Cam.Ac.UK . University of Cambridge, Department of Plant Sciences . en . 7 October 2024 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070701170318/http://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/news/content.html . 2007-07-01 . 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..
  6. Web site: A new Regius Professor for the University. 2009-11-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20091127135412/http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/dp/2009112302. 2009-11-27.
  7. News: Hlaba . K. L. . 14 May 2020 . Professor Ottoline Leyser DBE FRS elected as Regius Professor of Botany . 15 January 2021 . www.globalfood.cam.ac.uk . en.
  8. APS Staff & Baulcombe, David Charles. American Phytopathological Society . Ruth Allen Award [2002 awardee biography] ]. Phytopathology . 93 . 1 . 23 . 2003 . St. Paul, MN . American Phytopathological Society (APS) . 7 October 2024 . 2007-09-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929115118/http://www.apsnet.org/members/awards/pdf/2002awardees.pdf . 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. Web site: EMBO Journal Staff & Baulcombe, David . January 2009 . Editorial Team" Senior Advisors—David C. Baulcombe . Nature.com . Heidelberg, Germany . . en . 7 October 2024 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090125002133/http://www.nature.com/emboj/about/editor.html . 25 January 2009 . 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..
  10. Web site: WebCitation.org Staff, and Anon. . 2014 . 2001 . Archive item details: Repository—GB 117 The Royal Society . WebCitation.org . [Field = Citation] . en . dead . https://www.webcitation.org/6Mgx1yeZx?url=http://royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27EC%2F2001%2F03%27%29 . 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. . dmy-all . . 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.
  11. Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. RNA silencing in plants . 10.1038/nature02874 . Nature . 431 . 7006 . 356–363 . 2004 . 15372043. 2004Natur.431..356B . 4421274 .
  12. Hamilton . A.. Voinnet . O. . Chappell . L. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. Two classes of short interfering RNA in RNA silencing . The EMBO Journal . 21 . 17 . 4671–4679 . 2002 . 12198169 . 125409 . 10.1093/emboj/cdf464.
  13. Papaefthimiou . I. . Hamilton . A. . Denti . M. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. Tsagris . M. . Tabler . M. . 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 . 2001 . 11376158 . 55696 . 10.1093/nar/29.11.2395.
  14. 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80864-8 . Dalmay. T. . Hamilton . A. . Rudd . S. . Angell . S. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. 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 . 2000 . 10850496. 2103803 . free .
  15. Burton . R. . Gibeaut . D. . Bacic . A. . Findlay . K. . Roberts . K. . Hamilton . A. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. Fincher . G. . Virus-induced silencing of a plant cellulose synthase gene . The Plant Cell . 12 . 5 . 691–706 . 2000 . 10810144 . 139921 . 10.1105/tpc.12.5.691. 2000PlanC..12..691B .
  16. Dalmay . T. . Hamilton . A. . Mueller . E. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. Potato virus X amplicons in arabidopsis mediate genetic and epigenetic gene silencing . The Plant Cell . 12 . 3 . 369–379 . 2000 . 10715323 . 139837 . 10.1105/tpc.12.3.369. 2000PlanC..12..369D .
  17. Jones . L. . Hamilton . A. . Voinnet . O. . Thomas . C. . Maule . A. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. RNA-DNA interactions and DNA methylation in post-transcriptional gene silencing . The Plant Cell . 11 . 12 . 2291–2301 . 1999 . 10590159 . 144133 . 10.1105/tpc.11.12.2291. 1999PlanC..11.2291J .
  18. Hamilton . W. . Boccara . M. . Robinson . D. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. The complete nucleotide sequence of tobacco rattle virus RNA-1. The Journal of General Virology . 68 . 2563–2575 . 1987 . 3668507 . 10 . 10.1099/0022-1317-68-10-2563. free .
  19. Boccara . M. . Hamilton . W. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. The organisation and interviral homologies of genes at the 3' end of tobacco rattle virus RNA1 . The EMBO Journal . 5 . 2 . 223–229 . 1986 . 16453668 . 1166722. 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04202.x .
  20. Lu . J. . Zhang . C. . Baulcombe . D. C. . David Baulcombe. Chen . Z. J. . Maternal siRNAs as regulators of parental genome imbalance and gene expression in endosperm of Arabidopsis seeds . 10.1073/pnas.1203094109 . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 109 . 14 . 5529–5534 . 2012 . 22431617 . 3325730 . 2012PNAS..109.5529L . free .
  21. 10.1038/321446a0. Expression of biologically active viral satellite RNA from the nuclear genome of transformed plants. Nature. 321. 6068. 446. 1986. Baulcombe . D. C. . David Baulcombe. Saunders . G. R. . Bevan . M. W. . Michael W. Bevan. Mayo . M. A. . Harrison . B. D. . 1986Natur.321..446B. 4309327.
  22. 10.1242/dev.01206. 15226253. Modulation of floral development by a gibberellin-regulated microRNA. Development. 131. 14. 3357–65. 2004. Achard . P.. Herr. A. Baulcombe. D. C.. David Baulcombe. Harberd. N. P.. Nicholas Harberd. 15553199.
  23. Fire . A. . Andrew Fire. Xu . S. . Montgomery . M. K. . Kostas . S. A. . Driver . S. E. . Mello . C. C. . Craig Mello. Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans . Nature . 391 . 6669 . 806–811 . 1998 . 10.1038/35888 . 9486653. 1998Natur.391..806F . 4355692 .
  24. Hamilton . A. J. . Baulcombe . D. . David Baulcombe. A Species of Small Antisense RNA in Posttranscriptional Gene Silencing in Plants . 10.1126/science.286.5441.950 . Science . 286 . 5441 . 950–952 . 1999 . 10542148.
  25. Web site: 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"] . en . 25 January 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061023044653/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2006/adv.html . 23 October 2006 . Andrew Fire and Craig Mello published their break-through study on the mechanism of RNA interference in Nature in 1998... .
  26. Web site: Westly . Erica . October 6, 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] . en . 11 September 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110320100843/http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow.cfm?id=10-nobel-snubs&photo_id=D2B78197-A7B1-7841-9A73969B53CE6C08 . 20 March 2011 . ...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..
  27. 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.
  28. Web site: EMBO Staff & Baulcombe, David . 2017 . 1997 . Details: EMBO Member David Baulcombe . People.EMBO.org . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170806144731/http://people.embo.org/profile/david-baulcombe . 6 August 2017 . dmy-all . 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..
  29. Web site: AE Staff & Baulcombe, David . 2024 . 2002 . Members of the Academy of Europe: David Baulcombe . AE-Info.org . London and München . Academia Europaea (AE) . en . 7 October 2024 . David Baulcombe / Membership Number: 2159 / Membership type: Ordinary / Section: Cell & Developmental Biology / Elected: 2002..
  30. Web site: Wiley Foundation Staff . 2003 . The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences: Our Award Recipients—2003 . Wiley.com . Hoboken, NJ . . en . 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)..
  31. Web site: Staff of the Royal Society . 2006 . Medals and Awards: Royal Medals . RoyalSociety.org . Lond, England . . [p. 5] . en . 25 January 2007 . dead .
  32. Web site: Staff of The Franklin Institute . 2024 . April 2006 . The Franklin Institute Awards: David Baulcombe [Benjamin Franklin Medal] ]. FI.edu . Philadelphia, PA . . en . 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.
  33. Green, Pamela . April 2011 . 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science is Presented to... . Journal of the Franklin Institute . 348 . 3 . 500ff . Amsterdam, The Netherlands . . en . 10.1016/j.jfranklin.2010.05.004. 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). .
  34. Web site: Staff of the Royal Society . 7 October 2024 . Awards: Humphry Davy and Claude Bernard Lectures . RoyalSociety.org . London . . en . 7 October 2024 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110630014222/http://royalsociety.org/awards/davy-bernard-lecture . 2011-06-30 .
  35. Web site: David Baulcombe International Balzan Prize Foundation. balzan.org. 22 May 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150522141222/http://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/david-charles-baulcombe. 22 May 2015. dead.
  36. Web site: Epigenetics researcher a 2012 Balzan prizewinner | Laboratory Product News . 11 September 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120915152401/http://www.labcanada.com/news/epigenetics-researcher-a-2012-balzan-prizewinner/1001682753/ . 15 September 2012 . dmy-all .
  37. Web site: 2014 Gruber Genetics Prize Press Release The Gruber Foundation. gruber.yale.edu. en. 2018-02-01.
  38. Web site: MGC Staff . 2024 . 2014 . McClintock Prize Past Winners—2014: David C. Baulcombe (University of Cambridge) . MaizeGDB.org . Madison, Wisconsin . Maize Genetics Cooperation (MGC) . en . 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. .
  39. Web site: PAS Staff & Baulcombe, David . 7 October 2024 . Ordinary Academicians: Prof. David Baulcombe . Vatican City . The Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) . en . 7 October 2024 .
  40. Web site: List of all Honorary Graduates and Chancellor's Medallists . 2024-05-03 . warwick.ac.uk.
  41. Web site: Bailcombe, David . 7 October 2024 . David Baulcombe—Curriculum Vitae . PlantSci.Cam.Ac.UK . . 7 October 2024 . dmy-all .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "David Baulcombe".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.