Don Grierson (geneticist)
{{Other people|Don Grierson}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Don Grierson
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|FRS|FRSB|size=100%}}
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| birth_name = Donald Grierson
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1945|10|01}}
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| workplaces = University of Nottingham
Zhejiang University
| alma_mater = University of East Anglia (BSc)
University of Edinburgh (PhD)
| thesis_title = Synthesis of ribosomal ribonucleic acid in developing primary leaves of Phaseolus aureus
| thesis_url = http://hdl.handle.net/1842/13956
| thesis_year = 1972
| doctoral_advisor = Ulrich Loening
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| awards = Bertebos Prize
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Don Grierson is a British geneticist, and Emeritus Professor at University of Nottingham.{{cite web | url=http://genomics.nottingham.ac.uk/~Zoe/pslab/grierson/ | title=Professor Don Grierson | publisher=University of Nottingham | access-date=31 December 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208105755/http://genomics.nottingham.ac.uk/~Zoe/pslab/grierson/ | archive-date=8 February 2012 | url-status=dead }}
Education
Grierson graduated from the University of East Anglia with a degree in Biological Sciences in 1967,{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Greirson, Prof. Donald | id = U18183 | year = 2017 | doi =10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.18183 | edition = online Oxford University Press|location=Oxford}} after working for a short time in an industrial research lab, he obtained his PhD in Plant Science from the University of Edinburgh in 1972 for research on ribosomal ribonucleic acid in developing primary leaves of the mung bean Phaseolus aureus supervised by Ulrich Loening.{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Edinburgh|hdl=1842/13956|title=The synthesis of ribosomal ribonucleic acid in developing primary leaves of Phaseolus aureus|first= Donald|last=Grierson|date=1972|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.651825}}|oclc=846263643}} {{free access}}
Career and research
Grierson was a member of academic staff at University of Nottingham for over 40 years{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519080713/http://genomics.nottingham.ac.uk/~Zoe/pslab/grierson/|archive-date=2007-05-19|url=http://genomics.nottingham.ac.uk/~Zoe/pslab/grierson/|title=Professor Don Grierson: Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Plant Physiology|website=nottingham.ac.uk}} where he was awarded a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree in 1999.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}} He was the founding professor of the School of Biosciences before becoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research.
Grierson discovered several plant genes and studied their role in tomato ripening. He also was the first to identify and characterise genes for ACC oxidase (ACO) and demonstrated its role in the synthesis of the hormone ethylene.{{cite book|author=Lalit M. Srivastava|title=Plant Growth and Development: Hormones and Environment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wXLBKdncciQC&pg=PA238|access-date=24 April 2013|date=27 August 2002|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=978-0-08-051403-1|pages=238–}} Grierson was among the first to achieve silencing of plant genes in transgenic plants using antisense (1988, 1990){{cite news|url=http://www.genengnews.com/gen-articles/gen-s-30th-anniversary-antisense/3592|title=Researchers Pursue "Anti-Sense" Technology in Quest for Novel Drugs and Agriproducts|author=Anne Simon Moffat|publisher=Genetic Engineering and Biotech News|date=November–December 1988}} and sense genes (1990). He was involved in creating a genetically modified tomato in the 1990s which ripened more slowly, a tomato purée made from the tomatoes was the first genetically modified food to be sold in the UK.{{cite web|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=108313§ioncode=26 |title=A puree genius at his work |publisher=Times Higher Education |date=1998-07-17 |access-date=2010-08-23}} His research collaborators include Harry Smith.{{cite journal|last1=Grierson|first1=Donald|last2=Smith|first2=Harry|title=The Synthesis and Stability of Ribosomal RNA in Blue-Green Algae|journal=European Journal of Biochemistry|volume=36|issue=1|year=1973|pages=280–285|issn=0014-2956|doi=10.1111/j.1432-1033.1973.tb02911.x|pmid=4200178|doi-access=}} {{closed access}}{{cite journal|last1=Grierson|first1=Donald|authorlink=Don Grierson (geneticist)|title=Harry Smith. 19 September 1935—9 February 2015|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=64|pages=387–399|year=2018|issn=0080-4606|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2017.0045|doi-access=free}}
=Awards and honours=
Grierson was elected fellow of the Institute of Biology in 1985, awarded a research medal by the Royal Agricultural Society of England for "outstanding research in agriculture" in 1990. In 2000 he appointed Order of the British Empire (OBE) for "services to plant gene regulation".{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/birthday_honours_2000/793818.stm|title=The Queen's Birthday Honours - OBEs: A - K|publisher=BBC|date=2000-06-16}} In 2001 he received the Bertebos Prize, from the Royal Swedish Academy for Agriculture & Forestry for "pioneering research in modern plant biotechnology". He is now{{when|date=March 2018}} an emeritus professor at Nottingham and also has a part-time position as Guang Biao professor at Zhejiang University. In 2017, he was elected as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).{{Cite web | url=http://www.zju.edu.cn/english/2017/1201/c19573a811212/page.htm | title=Four Professors Newly Elected as Chinese Academicians}}
References
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Category:Alumni of the University of East Anglia
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Academics of the University of Nottingham
Category:Alumni of the University of Nottingham
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Biology
Category:Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
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