| Authorised form of name | Gurdon; Sir; John Bertrand (1933-2025); developmental biologist |
| Dates | 1933-2025 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Dippenhall, Surrey, England, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 02 October 1933 |
| Date of death | 7 October 2025 |
| Occupation | Developmental biologist |
| Research field | Stem cells |
| Cloning |
| Developmental biology |
| Cell biology |
| Activity | Education:
Eton College, Windsor (1948); Christ Church, Oxford MA; DPhil
Career:
During his PhD studied, he demonstrated that the specialisation of cells is reversible; in a landmark experiment cloned a frog from a tadpole's intestinal cell (1962); joined the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge (1972); appointed John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Cell Biology, University of Cambridge (1983-2001); founded the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute of Cancer and Developmental Biology, Cambridge, in association with Ron Laskey and four other colleagues, becoming Director for the first ten years (1991-2001); served as a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (1991-1995); Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge (1995-2002).
Medals and prizes:
Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine, 2012
Honours:
Kt 1995 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 18/03/1971 |
| Age at election | 37 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1980-1982; 1993-1995
Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1985; Copley Medal 2003
Lectures:
Croonian 1976; Florey 1988; Rutherford Memorial 1996 |
| Relationships | Spouse: Jean Elizabeth Margaret Curtis
Children: Two |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 17806
RCN R82242 |
| OtherInfo | Performed pioneering research on nuclear transplantation and cloning. In his seminal experiment, John replaced the nucleus of a frog egg with the nucleus of a mature cell from the tadpole intestine. The resulting embryo grew into a healthy clone of the tadpole - indicating that, despite their specialisation, the nuclei of adult cells still hold the potential to become any other type of cell. However, John's discovery could not be fully confirmed until Shinya Yamanaka - with whom he was jointly awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - identified a small set of proteins expressed in embryos that conclusively induced the reversion of an adult somatic cell to an immature state.
Responding to news that John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka have been awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said on 8 October 2012:
“I was delighted to learn that John Gurdon shares this year’s Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Shinya Yamanaka. John’s work has changed the way we understand how cells in the body become specialised, paving the way for important developments in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. It’s very pleasing to see another of the Royal Society’s Fellows being recognised in this very special way. My congratulations go out to both John and Shinya.”
, "John's work has changed the way we understand how cells in the body become specialised, paving the way for important developments in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. It's very pleasing to see another of the Royal Society's Fellows being recognised in the very special way." Paul Nurse in Oxford Times, 11 October 2012
Investigated the mechanisms by which egg cells reverse the specialisation of adult cells, aiming to produce replacements for damaged tissues from readily available sources, such as the skin. The techniques he developed to perform nuclear transfer remain in use today. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Source | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Sir John Gurdon FMedSci FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/john-gurdon-11557/; last accessed: 23/10/2025]
Nature, John Gurdon obituary: Biologist who made cloning possible, Ron Laskey, 20 October 2025, [URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03418-5; last accessed: 23/10/2025]
Magdalen College Cambridge, News, Professor Sir John Gurdon FRS (1933-2025), 7 October 2025, [URL: https://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/news/professor-sir-john-gurdon-frs-1933-2025; last accessed: 23/10/2025]
Wellcome, News, Sir John Gurdon, 1933-2025, 8 October 2025, [URL: https://wellcome.org/insights/articles/sir-john-gurdon-1933-2025; last accessed: 23/10/2025] |
| Code | NA935 |