Adrian Bird
{{short description|British geneticist and professor}}
{{for|the association football player|Adrian Bird (footballer)}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sir Adrian Bird
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|FRS|FRSE|FMedSci}}
| image = Adrian Bird.jpg
| birth_name = Adrian Peter Bird
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1947|07|03}}{{Who's Who | title=Bird, Sir Adrian Peter | id = U7581 | year = 2015|author=Anon|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U7581 | edition = online Oxford University Press|}}
| birth_place = Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, EnglandEngland & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007
| death_date =
| death_place =
| fields = {{Plainlist|
| doi = 10.1038/ng1089
| pmid = 12610534
| year = 2003
| last1 = Jaenisch | first1 = R. | author-link1 = Rudolf Jaenisch
| last2 = Bird | first2 = A.| author-link2 = Adrian Bird
| title = Epigenetic regulation of gene expression: how the genome integrates intrinsic and environmental signals
| volume = 33 Suppl
| issue = 3s
| pages = 245–254
| journal = Nature Genetics
| s2cid = 17270515
| pmid = 17522671
| year = 2007
| last1 = Bird
| first1 = A
| title = Perceptions of epigenetics
| journal = Nature
| volume = 447
| issue = 7143
| pages = 396–8
| doi = 10.1038/nature05913
| bibcode = 2007Natur.447..396B
| s2cid = 4357965
| doi-access = free
}}
| pmid = 2423876
| year = 1986
| last1 = Bird
| first1 = A. P.
| title = CpG-rich islands and the function of DNA methylation
| journal = Nature
| volume = 321
| issue = 6067
| pages = 209–13
| doi = 10.1038/321209a0
| bibcode = 1986Natur.321..209B
| s2cid = 4236677
}}
| pmid = 11782440
| year = 2002
| last1 = Bird | first1 = A | author-link1 = Adrian Bird
| title = DNA methylation patterns and epigenetic memory
| journal = Genes & Development
| volume = 16
| issue = 1
| pages = 6–21
| doi = 10.1101/gad.947102
| doi-access = free
| pmid = 10589672
| year = 1999
| last1 = Bird
| first1 = A. P.
| title = Methylation-induced repression--belts, braces, and chromatin
| journal = Cell
| volume = 99
| issue = 5
| pages = 451–4
| last2 = Wolffe
| first2 = A. P.
| doi=10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81532-9
| s2cid = 15201044
| doi-access = free
| pmid = 1606614
| year = 1992
| last1 = Lewis
| first1 = J. D.
| title = Purification, sequence, and cellular localization of a novel chromosomal protein that binds to methylated DNA
| journal = Cell
| volume = 69
| issue = 6
| pages = 905–14
| last2 = Meehan
| first2 = R. R.
| last3 = Henzel
| first3 = W. J.
| last4 = Maurer-Fogy
| first4 = I
| last5 = Jeppesen
| first5 = P
| last6 = Klein
| first6 = F
| last7 = Bird
| first7 = A
| doi = 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90610-O
| s2cid = 6825994
}}
| pmid = 9620804
| year = 1998
| last1 = Nan
| first1 = X
| title = Transcriptional repression by the methyl-CpG-binding protein MeCP2 involves a histone deacetylase complex
| journal = Nature
| volume = 393
| issue = 6683
| pages = 386–9
| last2 = Ng
| first2 = H. H.
| last3 = Johnson
| first3 = C. A.
| last4 = Laherty
| first4 = C. D.
| last5 = Turner
| first5 = B. M.
| last6 = Eisenman
| first6 = R. N.
| last7 = Bird
| first7 = A
| doi = 10.1038/30764
| bibcode = 1998Natur.393..386N
| s2cid = 4427745
| pmid = 22653753
| pmc = 3412380
| year = 2012
| last1 = Cheval
| first1 = H
| title = Postnatal inactivation reveals enhanced requirement for MeCP2 at distinct age windows
| journal = Human Molecular Genetics
| volume = 21
| issue = 17
| pages = 3806–14
| last2 = Guy
| first2 = J
| last3 = Merusi
| first3 = C
| last4 = De Sousa
| first4 = D
| last5 = Selfridge
| first5 = J
| last6 = Bird
| first6 = A | author-link6 = Adrian Bird
| doi = 10.1093/hmg/dds208
}} {{open access}}}}
| workplaces = {{Plainlist|
- University of Edinburgh
- Research Institute of Molecular Pathology
- Yale University
- University of Zurich
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute}}
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
- University of Sussex (BSc)
- University of Edinburgh (PhD)}}
| thesis_title = The cytology and biochemistry of DNA amplification in the ovary of Xenopus laevis
| thesis_url = http://hdl.handle.net/1842/11977
| thesis_year = 1972
| doctoral_advisor = Max Birnstiel{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2007.03.018| title = Q&A: Adrian Bird| journal = Current Biology| pmid= 17600901| volume = 17| issue = 11| pages = R393–R394| year = 2007| last1 = Bird | first1 = A. | s2cid = 13050386| doi-access = free| bibcode = 2007CBio...17.R393B}}{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/j.cell.2014.12.030| title = Max L. Birnstiel (1933–2014)| journal = Cell| volume = 160| issue = 1–2| pages = 11–12| year = 2015| last1 = Schatz | first1 = G. | doi-access = free}}
| doctoral_students = Rob Klose{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|last1=Klose|first1=Rob|date=2005|title=Biochemical analysis of MeCP2|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.653493}}|publisher=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/10997}} {{open access}}
| awards = {{Plainlist|
- Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (1999)[https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prix-louis-jeantet/laureats/1999-en/professeur-adrian-p-bird/Louis-Jeantet Prize]
- Gabor Medal (1999)
- Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer (2008)
- Gairdner Award (2011)
- GlaxoSmithKline Prize (2012)
- BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2013)
- Knight Bachelor (2014)
- Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine (2016)
- Buchanan Medal (2018)
- Brain Prize (2020)}}
| website = {{URL|http://birdlab.bio.ed.ac.uk}}
| spouse = {{marriage| Catherine Mary Abbott|1993}}
| children =
| notable_works =
}}
Sir Adrian Peter Bird (born 3 July 1947) is a British geneticist and Buchanan Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh. Bird has spent much of his academic career in Edinburgh, from receiving his PhD in 1970 to working at the MRC Mammalian Genome Unit and later serving as director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology. His research focuses on understanding DNA methylation and CpG islands, and their role in diseases such as Rett syndrome.{{Scopus|id=55556105700}}
Education and early life
Bird was born in Rowley Regis near Wolverhampton, England, but from age 4 lived in the town of Kidderminster, near Birmingham.{{cite news | first = William | last = Tomaney | title = Geneticist raised in Kidderminster happy with knighthood| date = 9 January 2014 | publisher = Newsquest | url =http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/10919639.Geneticist_raised_in_Kidderminster_happy_with_knighthood/|work = The Shuttle | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202232859/http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/10919639.Geneticist_raised_in_Kidderminster_happy_with_knighthood/|archive-date=2 February 2014}} He attended a grammar school in Hartlebury, achieving grades CCD for his A-level results. Whilst at school, Bird played cricket and hockey for a local team. Bird received his PhD{{cite thesis|first=Adrian|last=Bird|year=1972|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.641632}}|hdl=1842/11977
|url=http://ethos.bl.uk|title=The cytology and biochemistry of DNA amplification in the ovary of Xenopus laevis|publisher=University of Edinburgh}} {{open access}} from the University of Edinburgh in 1970 for research supervised by Max Birnstiel, following undergraduate study of Biochemistry at the University of Sussex.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407054508/http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/faculty/abird/|url=http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/faculty/abird/|archive-date=7 April 2015|title=Professor Adrian Bird – Associate Faculty|publisher=Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute}}
Career and research
Following his PhD, Bird went on to postdoctoral research positions, first at Yale University with Joseph G. Gall, and then at the University of Zurich before returning to Edinburgh in 1975 to work at the MRC Mammalian Genome Unit, where he would stay for 11 years.{{Cite journal
| pmid = 19834538
| pmc = 2753650
| year = 2009
| last1 = Bird
| first1 = A
| title = On the track of DNA methylation: An interview with Adrian Bird by Jane Gitschier
| journal = PLOS Genetics
| volume = 5
| issue = 10
| pages = e1000667
| doi = 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000667
| doi-access = free
}}{{cite web | url = http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/tlfu/ing/microsites/premios/fronteras/galardonados/2013/biomedicina.jsp | title = BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards: Biomedicine 2013 | access-date = 31 January 2014 | work = BBVA Foundation | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140203121043/http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/tlfu/ing/microsites/premios/fronteras/galardonados/2013/biomedicina.jsp | archive-date = 3 February 2014 | url-status = dead | df = dmy-all }} It was here that Bird, along with Edwin Southern, mapped the methylation status of CpG dinucleotides along ribosomal RNA in the African clawed frog.{{Cite journal
| doi = 10.1016/0022-2836(78)90242-5
| last1 = Bird | first1 = A. P.
| author-link1 = Adrian Bird
| last2 = Southern | first2 = E. M.
| author-link2 = Edwin Southern
| title = Use of restriction enzymes to study eukaryotic DNA methylation: I. The methylation pattern in ribosomal DNA from Xenopus laevis
| journal = Journal of Molecular Biology
| volume = 118
| issue = 1
| pages = 27–47
| year = 1978
| pmid = 625056
}} From 1987 to 1990 Bird continued his research at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna.
In 1990, Adrian Bird became Buchanan Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh. He helped create the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, also in Edinburgh, and served as its director from 1999 until 2011, when he was succeeded by David Tollervey.{{cite web | url = http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/biology/news-events/latest?id=306 | title = Knighthood for Adrian Bird | access-date = 18 January 2014 | author = School of Biology Sciences | date = 7 January 2014 | publisher = University of Edinburgh}} From 2000 to 2010, he was also a governor of the Wellcome Trust, serving as deputy chairman during the latter three years.{{cite web|url=http://www.edinburghsciencetriangle.net/news.asp?id=N-10233 |title=Elite award for Adrian Bird, Buchanan Professor of Genetics at The University of Edinburgh |access-date=6 January 2014 |date=30 March 2011 |publisher=Edinburgh Science Triangle |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107003557/http://www.edinburghsciencetriangle.net/news.asp?id=N-10233 |archive-date=7 January 2014 }}
Bird is a trustee of the charitable organisation Cancer Research UK and of the Rett Syndrome Research Trust.{{cite web|url=http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/staff/bird-award-290311 |title=Elite award for Adrian Bird |access-date=6 January 2014 |date=11 May 2011 |publisher=University of Edinburgh |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107011410/http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/staff/bird-award-290311 |archive-date=7 January 2014 }} He also serves as a Governance Board Member of the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre.[http://www.ecrc.ed.ac.uk/overview/governance-board.html Governance Board Members of the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107133242/http://www.ecrc.ed.ac.uk/overview/governance-board.html |date=7 January 2014 }} Retrieved 7 January 2014.
Bird's research has focused on CpG islands and their associated binding-factor MeCP2.{{cite web | url = http://www.wcb.ed.ac.uk/research/bird | title = Adrian Bird | access-date = 6 January 2014 | publisher = Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology}} He led the team which first identified CpG islands—originally named "HpaII tiny fragments"—in vertebrate genomes. These are short genomic regions with a high density of CpG dinucleotides, and are commonly found in an unmethylated state within or nearby to an active gene's promoter.
Bird's group discovered that the MeCP2 protein binds specifically to methylated CpG sites, and further that disruption of this interaction causes the autism spectrum disorder Rett syndrome. The Bird lab also implicated nuclear receptor co-repressor 1 as an important binding partner in the MeCP2/methyl-CpG interaction.
In 2007, the Bird laboratory published a paper in the journal Science{{Cite journal
| pmid = 17289941
| year = 2007
| last1 = Guy
| first1 = J
| title = Reversal of neurological defects in a mouse model of Rett syndrome
| journal = Science
| volume = 315
| issue = 5815
| pages = 1143–7
| last2 = Gan
| first2 = J
| last3 = Selfridge
| first3 = J
| last4 = Cobb
| first4 = S
| last5 = Bird
| first5 = A
| doi = 10.1126/science.1138389
| bibcode = 2007Sci...315.1143G
| s2cid = 25172134
| pmc = 7610836
}} describing a proof-of-principle that the murine equivalent of Rett syndrome could be successfully reversed in laboratory mice.{{cite web | url = http://www.reverserett.org.uk/news/professor-bird-knighted-in-new-years-honours-list | title = Professor Bird knighted in New Year's Honours List | access-date = 6 January 2014 | publisher = Reverse Rett | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140106233611/http://www.reverserett.org.uk/news/professor-bird-knighted-in-new-years-honours-list | archive-date = 6 January 2014 | url-status = dead }} This was accomplished by reintroducing a functional MeCP2 gene and proved successful even when the condition was at an advanced stage, hinting at the possibility of a gene therapy approach to curing the human disease in the future.{{cite web | url = http://birdlab.bio.ed.ac.uk/ | title = Adrian Bird lab: Our research | access-date = 6 January 2014 | last = McLaren | first = C. | date = 2010 | publisher = University of Edinburgh}}
=Awards and honours=
Bird was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1989, his nomination read: {{centered pull quote|Adrian Bird is the leading authority on DNA methylation in animal cells. He demonstrated a rolling circle mechanism for ribosomal gene amplification. He showed that DNA methylation sites can be mapped using restriction enzymes and thus showed semi-conservative copying of methylation patterns. He showed convincingly that the doublet CpG is a source of mutation in vertebrates which led to the use of 'GpG' restriction enzymes to detect polymorphisms linked to genetic diseases. He discovered unmethylated 'HTF' islands at the 5i ends of housekeeping genes. This discovery has allowed new strategies for mapping and identifying genes and it has allowed Bird to propose that the unmethylated HTF islands identify DNA sequences to be kept constantly available within the nucleus.{{cite web |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1989%2F04%27) |title=EC/1989/04: Bird, Adrian Peter |publisher=The Royal Society |archive-date=4 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704091028/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27EC%2F1989%2F04%27%29 |location=London |url-status=dead |access-date=22 April 2015 }}}}
Bird was awarded the Gabor Medal in 1999 "in recognition of his pioneering work in the study of global mechanisms by which transcription of the mammalian genome is regulated and for his exploration into the molecular basis of fundamental biological mechanisms, particularly his development of ways of analysing methylation patterns of eukaryotic DNA using endonucleases and the discovery of and continued research into a new class of DNA sequences found in all vertebrates".{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1774|title=Gabor previous winners 2005–1989|publisher=The Royal Society|access-date=5 February 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080311084306/http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1774 |archive-date = 11 March 2008|url-status=live}} He received the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine in the same year, and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2005.
In 2011, he was a recipient of the Gairdner Foundation International Award, "for his pioneering discoveries on DNA methylation and its role in gene expression."{{cite web|url=http://www.gairdner.org/content/adrian-peter-bird|title=Gairdner Awards – Adrian Peter Bird, PhD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017014533/http://www.gairdner.org/content/adrian-peter-bird|archive-date=17 October 2013}} The following year Bird won the 2012 GlaxoSmithKline Prize. In 2013, he was named a Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate and received the 2013 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine "for his discoveries in the field of epigenetics".{{cite web | url = http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2014/290114-bird | title = European award for celebrated scientist | access-date = 29 January 2014 | publisher = The University of Edinburgh}}
In 2013, Bird was tipped as a potential winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "fundamental discoveries concerning DNA methylation and gene expression"{{cite news | first = Richard | last = Gray | title = Higgs Boson scientist tipped to win Nobel Prize | date = 23 September 2013 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10331674/Higgs-Boson-scientist-tipped-to-win-Nobel-Prize.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130925182107/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10331674/Higgs-Boson-scientist-tipped-to-win-Nobel-Prize.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 25 September 2013 | work = The Telegraph | access-date = 30 December 2013}} though the prize later went to James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof.
He was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to science.{{London Gazette|issue=60728 |supp=y|page=1|date=31 December 2013}}{{cite news | title = Met Office chief scientist becomes Dame in honours list | date = 30 December 2013 | url =https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25551588 | work = BBC News | access-date = 30 December 2013}}{{cite web | url = https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-new-years-honours-2014 | title = The New Year's Honours 2014 | access-date = 30 December 2013 | date = 30 December 2013 | work = Cabinet Office | publisher = Gov.uk}}
In 2016, he was elected as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences{{citation|url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/may-3-2016-NAS-Election.html|title=National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected|department=News from the National Academy of Sciences|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|date=3 May 2016|access-date=14 May 2016}}. and received the Shaw Prize together with Huda Y. Zoghbi.{{Cite web |url=http://www.shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=102&threeid=255&fourid=471 |title=Shaw Prize 2016 |access-date=31 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604033616/http://www.shawprize.org/en/shaw.php?tmp=3&twoid=102&threeid=255&fourid=471 |archive-date=4 June 2016 |url-status=dead }} In 2017 he received the Charles Rudolphe Brupbacher Prize.{{cite web|url=http://www.brupbacher-foundation.org/en/awards/brupbacher-prize/|title=Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize|year=2017|publisher=Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Foundation|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222052729/http://www.brupbacher-foundation.org/en/awards/brupbacher-prize/|archive-date=22 December 2017|url-status=dead}}
He was awarded the Buchanan Medal of the Royal Society in 2018 for his medical discoveries,{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/buchanan-medal/|title= Buchanan Medal|publisher= Royal Society|access-date= 6 September 2018}} and elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2001.{{cite web|url=http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/professor-adrian-bird/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150422101203/http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/professor-adrian-bird/|archive-date=22 April 2015|title=Professor Sir Adrian Bird CBE FRS FRSE FMedSci}} In 2020 he was awarded the Brain Prize.{{cite web |url=https://www.lundbeckfonden.com/en/thebrainprize/winners/ |title=Prize Winners 2020 |publisher=The Lundbeck Foundation |access-date=29 April 2020 |archive-date=13 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200513220313/https://www.lundbeckfonden.com/en/thebrainprize/winners/ |url-status=dead }}
Personal life
Adrian Bird is married to fellow geneticist Cathy Abbott and has four children. At age 66, Bird was quoted as having no plans to retire, saying "we [the research group] are still funded well and our work is still published in journals and as long as that continues, so will I."
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Shaw Prize laureates}}
{{FRS 1989}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Adrian}}
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom)
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex