| Citation | J.B. Clegg is the leading international authority on population genetics of haemoglobin. His early work included the development of a method for the quantitative in vitro assessment of globin chain synthesis, a method which led to the working out of the pathophysiology of the thalassaemias and later to their prenatal detection; until the more recent DNA era this was the major reason for the remarkable decline in new cases of thalassaemia in many parts of the Mediterranean populations. He then went on to show that molecular technology can be applied both to understanding the reasons for the high frequency and distribution of both normal and pathological haemoglobin polymorphisms and has been able to devise methods for determining their origins and age and, even more importantly, has provided many new insights into how some of these mutations protect not only against malaria but other infections. In all his work he has made unique contributions to bridging the gap between the clinical world and both molecular biology and population genetics. |