| Authorised form of name | Graham; Christopher Forbes (1940 - 2025); embryologist; developmental biologist |
| Dates | 1940 - 2025 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Drumelzier, Peeblesshire, Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Date of birth | 23 September 1940 |
| Date of death | 22 May 2025 |
| Occupation | Embryologist |
| Research field | Genetics |
| Developmental biology |
| Embryology |
| Cell biology |
| Activity | Education: The King's School Canterbury; St Edmund Hall, Oxford University
Career: Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford (1970-1985); Professor of Animal Development, University of Oxford (1985); Professorial Fellow Saint Catherine’s College, Oxford (1985-2007).
Memberships:
British Society for Cell Biology
British Society for Developmental Biology
Society for Experimental Biology
Genetical Society |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 19/03/1981 |
| Age at election | 40 |
| Relationships | Parents: Elizabeth Campbell Wilson and Christopher Graham.
Spouse: (m. 31 March 1975) Grizeide George Harris.
Children: Christoper George Graham and Charlotte Elizabeth Graham. |
| OtherInfo | Distinguished for his meticulous and highly original studies on early mammalian embyos.
Devised an effective way of producing parthenogenetic activation of mouse eggs in vitro, the first to allow a choice between haploid and diploid development. This work established that neither the maternal tract nor the fertilizing sperm is necessary for histogenesis, since even haploid parthenogenones produced all tissue types. His studies on the cell cycle were the first to show that genes may be expressed in mammals even at the two-cell stage. Perhaps his major contribution has been to demonstrate, by ingenious reaggregation experiments, that at least the first stages of embryonic differentiation are regulated by cell position within the embryo rather than by inherited morphogenetic determinants. This finding, termed by him "inside-outside" differentiation, is central to our present concept of early development. His ongoing studies of teratocarcinoma cells as a model for the normal embryo continue to emphasize the importance of the microenvironment in directing differentiation. |
| Source | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Christopher Graham FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/christopher-graham-11524/; last accessed: 03/09/2025]
The Company of Biologists, Development, Volume 152, Issue 15, August 2025, Obituary, Christopher Forbes Graham FRS (1940-2025): outstanding developmental biologist and one of a kind; Richard Gardner, [URL: doi.org/10.1242/dev.205115; last accessed: 03/09/2025] |
| Code | NA4342 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| EC/1981/16 | Graham, Christopher Forbes: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1977 |