Barbara Pearse

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Barbara Pearse

| birth_name = Barbara Mary Frances Pearse

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1948|03|24}}{{Who's Who | title=Pearse, Barbara Mary Frances, (Mrs M. S. Bretscher) | id = U30383 | volume = 2014 | edition = online Oxford University Press}}

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| workplaces = MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

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FRS
EMBO Gold Medal (1987)}}

| spouse = Mark Bretscher

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Barbara Mary Frances Pearse FRS (born 24 March 1948, Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire, England) is a British biological scientist. She works at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, United Kingdom.{{Cite journal

| pmid = 2890519

| pmc = 553666

| year = 1987

| last1 = Pearse

| first1 = B. M.

| title = Clathrin and coated vesicles

| journal = The EMBO Journal

| volume = 6

| issue = 9

| pages = 2507–12

| doi = 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02536.x

}}{{Cite journal

| pmid = 2905261

| pmc = 454828

| year = 1988

| last1 = Pearse

| first1 = B. M.

| title = Receptors compete for adaptors found in plasma membrane coated pits

| journal = The EMBO Journal

| volume = 7

| issue = 11

| pages = 3331–6

| doi = 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03204.x

}}

Education

Barbara Pearse attended the independent Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton in Greater London, and gained her undergraduate degree from University College London in 1969.

Career

She was appointed to the scientific staff of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1982.

Research

Pearse's main contributions lie in the structure of coated vesicles.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1146/annurev.cb.06.110190.001055| pmid = 2177341| title = Clathrin, Adaptors, and Sorting| journal = Annual Review of Cell Biology| volume = 6| pages = 151–171| year = 1990| last1 = Pearse | first1 = B. M. F. | last2 = Robinson | first2 = M. S. }}{{Cite journal

| pmid = 11161218

| year = 2001

| last1 = Ford

| first1 = M. G.

| title = Simultaneous binding of Ptd Ins(4,5)P2 and clathrin by AP180 in the nucleation of clathrin lattices on membranes

| journal = Science

| volume = 291

| issue = 5506

| pages = 1051–5

| last2 = Pearse

| first2 = B. M.

| last3 = Higgins

| first3 = M. K.

| last4 = Vallis

| first4 = Y

| last5 = Owen

| first5 = D. J.

| last6 = Gibson

| first6 = A

| last7 = Hopkins

| first7 = C. R.

| last8 = Evans

| first8 = P. R.

| last9 = McMahon

| first9 = H. T.

| doi = 10.1126/science.291.5506.1051

| bibcode = 2001Sci...291.1051F

| citeseerx = 10.1.1.407.6006

}}{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S0022-2836(75)80024-6| title = Coated vesicles from pig brain: Purification and biochemical characterization| journal = Journal of Molecular Biology| volume = 97| pages = 93–98| year = 1975| last1 = Pearse | first1 = B. M. F. | issue = 1| pmid = 1177317}} Pearse first purified coated vesicles; she also discovered the clathrin coat molecule in 1975.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.000505| pmid = 7023370| title = Membrane Recycling by Coated Vesicles| journal = Annual Review of Biochemistry| volume = 50| pages = 85–101| year = 1981| last1 = Pearse | first1 = B. M. F. | last2 = Bretscher | first2 = M. S. }} Coated pits and vesicles were first seen in thin sections of tissue in the electron microscope by Thomas Roth and Keith Porter in 1964. The importance of them for the clearance of LDL from blood was discovered by R. G. Anderson, Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein in 1976.

Awards and honours

She was visiting professor in cell biology at Stanford University (1984-5). She was elected a member of European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 1982 and awarded the EMBO Gold Medal in 1987. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1988.