George Brownlee

Brownlee was educated at Dulwich College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge where he studied Natural Sciences and was awarded a Master of Arts degree followed by PhD in 1967 for research on nucleotides supervised by Fred Sanger at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB).{{cite web|url=https://www.linc.ox.ac.uk/Fellows/GeorgeBrownlee |title=Professor George Brownlee, Lincoln College, Oxford |archive-date=2013-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131218185820/http://www.linc.ox.ac.uk/Fellows/GeorgeBrownlee |publisher=University of Oxford |url-status=dead }}{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=George Gow|last=Brownlee |title=Nucleotide sequences in the low molecular weight ribosomal ribonucleic acid of Escherichia coli |publisher=University of Cambridge |year=1967 |id={{ProQuest|301246027}}}}{{Cite journal |last=Brownlee |first=George C. |date=2014 |title=Fred Sanger, Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography |journal=RNA |volume=22 |issue=3|page=317 |doi=10.1261/rna.055590.115 |pmc=4748809 }}

Brownlee was Professor of Chemical Pathology at Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, from 1978 to 2008.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

Brownlee cloned and expressed human clotting factor IX,{{Cite journal | last1 = Choo | first1 = K. H. | last2 = Gould | first2 = K. G. | last3 = Rees | first3 = D. J. G. | last4 = Brownlee | first4 = G. G. | title = Molecular cloning of the gene for human anti-haemophilic factor IX | doi = 10.1038/299178a0 | journal = Nature | volume = 299 | issue = 5879 | pages = 178–180 | year = 1982 | pmid = 6287289| bibcode = 1982Natur.299..178C }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Anson | first1 = D. S. | last2 = Austen | first2 = D. E. G. | last3 = Brownlee | first3 = G. G. | doi = 10.1038/315683a0 | title = Expression of active human clotting factor IX from recombinant DNA clones in mammalian cells | journal = Nature | volume = 315 | issue = 6021 | pages = 683–685 | year = 1985 | pmid = 2989700| bibcode = 1985Natur.315..683A }} providing a recombinant source of this protein for Haemophilia B patients who had previously relied on the hazardous blood-derived product.

With Merlin Crossley he helped discover the two sets of genetic mutations that were preventing two key proteins from attaching to the DNA of people with a rare and unusual form of Haemophilia B – Haemophilia B Leyden – where sufferers experience episodes of excessive bleeding in childhood but have few bleeding problems after puberty. This lack of protein attachment to the DNA was thereby turning off the gene that produces clotting factor IX, which prevents excessive bleeding.{{Cite journal

| pmid = 2342576

| year = 1990

| last1 = Crossley

| first1 = M

| title = Disruption of a C/EBP binding site in the factor IX promoter is associated with haemophilia B

| journal = Nature

| volume = 345

| issue = 6274

| pages = 444–6

| last2 = Brownlee

| first2 = G. G.

| doi = 10.1038/345444a0

| bibcode = 1990Natur.345..444C

}}

With Peter Palese and co-workers he developed the first reverse genetics system for influenza virus, markedly speeding up the process of developing influenza vaccines.{{Cite journal|last1=Fodor|first1=E.|last2=Devenish|first2=L.|last3=Engelhardt|first3=O. G.|last4=Palese|first4=P.|last5=Brownlee|first5=G. G.|last6=García-Sastre|first6=A.|date=1 November 1999|title=Rescue of influenza A virus from recombinant DNA|journal=Journal of Virology|volume=73|issue=11|pages=9679–9682|issn=0022-538X|pmc=113010|pmid=10516084|doi=10.1128/JVI.73.11.9679-9682.1999}}

Brownlee authored a biography of Fred Sanger published in 2014.{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/life-sciences/molecular-biology-biochemistry-and-structural-biology/fred-sanger-double-nobel-laureate-biography|title=Fred Sanger, Double Nobel Laureate: A Biography|publisher=Cambridge University Press|accessdate=2014-08-22}} {{ISBN|1107083346}}{{cite web|url=http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/biography-celebrates-life-fred-sanger|title=Biography celebrates life of Fred Sanger|publisher=St. John's College, Cambridge}}

Brownlee was awarded The Colworth Medal by the Biochemical Society in 1976 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1987. His certificate of election and candidature reads:{{centred pull quote|Distinguished for his work on the sequences of nucleic acids and their biological implications. He contributed to the development of methods using 32P-labelling and two-dimensional fractionation techniques, which greatly accelerated the early RNA sequencing. He used these methods to determine the sequence of the 5S ribosomal RNA, at that time the largest nucleic acid to be sequenced. He used fingerprint analysis of messenger RNA to demonstrate that immunoglobulin V- and C-regions were not discontinuous at the messenger RNA level, and early analysis of messenger RNA to identify a precursor for light chain synthesis. Parallel studies on globin messenger RNA demonstrated important features of eucaryotic translation. More recently he has developed faster methods for RNA sequencing and has applied them to transfer RNAs and ovalbumin messenger RNA. He also studied the DNA sequence of the ovalbumin gene and its insertion sequences. He determined the nucleotide sequence of the multiple gene coding for the 5S RNA in Xenopus laevis and showed that the coding regions alternated with a repetitious region and a "pseudogene" that had a sequence homologous with part of the 5S region.{{cite web|url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1987%2F02%27)|title=Certificate of Election and Candidature: EC/1987/02 – George Gow Brownlee|publisher=Royal Society|access-date=2013-11-11|location=London|archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6b5mQ6pqF?url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%3D%27EC%2F1987%2F02%27%29|archive-date=27 August 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}}}

Brownlee was also elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 1998{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150827093801/http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/professor-george-brownlee/|archivedate=2015-08-27|url=http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/professor-george-brownlee/|title=Professor George Brownlee FRS FMedSci: Emeritus Professor of Chemical Pathology |publisher=Academy of Medical Sciences|location=London}} and an EMBO Member in 1979.{{cite web|url=http://people.embo.org/profile/george-g-brownlee|website=people.embo.org|publisher=European Molecular Biology Organization|location=Heidelberg|title=EMBO Profile: George G. Brownlee}}

• Pseudogene (database)

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Category:British pathologists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Category:Academics of King's College London

Category:Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford

Category:Living people

Category:1942 births