Peter Anthony Lawrence

Lawrence was educated at Wennington School in Wetherby, and then at St Catharine's College, Cambridge; he gained his doctorate as a student of Vincent Wigglesworth for work on Oncopeltus fasciatus (milkweed bug).{{Cite journal

| last1 = Lawrence | first1 = Peter A.

| title = Development and determination of hairs and bristles in the milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Lygaeidae, Hemiptera)

| journal = Journal of Cell Science

| volume = 1

| issue = 4

| pages = 475–498

| year = 1966

| doi = 10.1242/jcs.1.4.475

| pmid = 5956722

}} His postdoc in the USA was funded by a Harkness Fellowship.

Lawrence's main discoveries lie in trying to understand the information that shapes an animal or generates a pattern (such as on a butterfly wing or a fingerprint). He is a principal advocate of the theory that cells in a gradient of a morphogen each develop according to the local concentration of that morphogen and that this mechanism thereby patterns fields of cells. Together with Ginés Morata, he has helped establish the compartment theory. Under this hypothesis a set of cells collectively builds a precisely defined territory (or compartment) in the animal. As development proceeds, a selector gene switches on in a subset of these cells thus dividing the set into two, all the progeny of each set construct one of the two adjacent compartments.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Lawrence

| first1 = P.A.

| last2 = Struhl

| first2 = G.

| title = Morphogens, compartments and pattern: Lessons from Drosophila?

| journal = Cell

| volume = 85

| pages = 951–961

| year = 1966

| pmid =

| pmc =

| doi = 10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81297-0

| doi-access = free

}}

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Much of the evidence for the hypothesis comes from studies on the abdomen of Oncopeltus{{Cite journal

| last1 = Lawrence

| first1 = P.A.

| title = The organization of the insect segment

| journal = Symposia of the Society for Experimental Biology

| volume = 25

| pages = 379–392

| year = 1971

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{{Cite journal

| last1 = Lawrence

| first1 = P.A.

| title = A clonal analysis of segment development in Oncopeltus (Hemiptera)

| journal = Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology

| volume = 30

| pages = 681–699

| year = 1973

| pmid =

| pmc =

| doi =

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and the Drosophila fly wing.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Garcia-Bellido

| first1 = A

| last2 = Ripoll

| first2 = P

| last3 = Morata

| first3 = G

| display-authors = 1

| title = Developmental compartmentalisation of the wing disk of Drosophila

| journal = Nature New Biology

| volume = 245

| pages = 251–253

| year = 1973

| pmid = 4518369

| pmc =

| doi = 10.1038/newbio245251a0

| doi-access = free

| hdl = 10261/47426

| hdl-access = free

}}

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Since the mid 1990s he has collaborated with José Casal, Gary Struhl, and others to study Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) and cell affinity. PCP is a common property of cells which can show coordinated polarity in the plane of the epithelia. PCP is often revealed by the consistent orientation of visible structures such as cuticular bristles in insects or hairs in mammals. Using the powerful genetics of Drosophila, particularly the ability to make genetic mosaics, Lawrence and his colleagues provided evidence that there are two separate molecular/genetic systems that build PCP. At the heart of each system is a gradient of a molecule that extends across the tissue. The local slopes of these gradients are detected by means of molecules that form intercellular bridges and are used to orient PCP in each cell.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Lawrence

| first1 = P.A.

| last2 = Struhl

| first2 = G.

| last3 = Casal

| first3 = J.

| display-authors = 1

| title = Planar cell polarity: one or two pathways?

| journal = Nature Reviews Genetics

| volume = 8

| pages = 555–563

| year = 2007

| pmid =

| pmc =2747024

| doi = 10.1038/nrg2125

| doi-access = free

}}

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{{Cite journal

| last1 = Lawrence

| first1 = P.A.

| last2 = Casal

| first2 = J.

| title = Planar cell polarity: two genetic systems use one mechanism to read gradients

| journal = Development

| volume = 145

| pages = dev168229

| year = 2018

| pmid =

| pmc =

| doi = 10.1242/dev.168229

| doi-access = free

}}

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Casal, Lawrence and their group have now demonstrated and measured the two molecular gradients in vivo.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Chorro

| first1 = A.

| last2 = Verma

| first2 = B.

| last3 = Homfeldt

| first3 = M.

| display-authors = 2

| title = Planar cell polarity: intracellular asymmetry and supracellular gradients of Dachsous

| journal = Open Biology

| volume = 12

| pages = 20195

| year = 2022

| pmid =

| pmc =9554717

| doi = 10.1098/rsob.220195

| doi-access = free

}}

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{{Cite journal

| last1 = Casal

| first1 = J

| last2 = Verma

| first2 = Storer

| last3 = F

| first3 = Lawrence

| display-authors = 1

| title = Planar cell polarity: intracellular asymmetry and supracellular gradients of Frizzled

| journal = Open Biology

| volume = 13

| pages = 230105

| year = 2023

| pmid =

| pmc =10264100

| doi = 10.1098/rsob.230105

| doi-access = free

}}

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His research was funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust and the Leverhulme Trust.

{{Google Scholar ID|id=YJqxuI4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao| name=Peter Lawrence's}} are also listed in his personal web site.{{cite web|url=https://making-of-a-fly.me/publications|title= Lawrence's Publications}}

Lawrence wrote the book The Making of a Fly in 1992,{{cite book |author=Lawrence, Peter |title=The making of a fly: the genetics of animal design |publisher=Blackwell Science |location=Oxford |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-632-03048-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/makingofflygenet0000lawr }} which explains how the body plans of flies are constructed. Findings on the fly have strong implications for other animals such as mammals.

The book received further “recognition” in April 2011 when fellow biologist Michael Eisen discovered two booksellers were programmatically setting increasingly higher prices for copies of the book on amazon.com used book market. Margrethe Vestager (European Commissioner for Competition) mentioned this event as an early example of algorithmic tacit collusion on March 16, 2017.{{cite web |last1=Vestager |first1=Margrethe |title=Algorithms and competition |url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/12090/20191129221651/https://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2014-2019/vestager/announcements/bundeskartellamt-18th-conference-competition-berlin-16-march-2017_en |publisher=European Commission |access-date=1 May 2021 |format=Bundeskartellamt 18th Conference on Competition |date=2017}}{{Cite journal |title=Horizontal Restraint Regulations in the EU and the US in the Era of Algorithmic Tacit Collusion |journal=Journal of Law and Jurisprudence |date=13 June 2018 |doi=10.14324/111.2052-1871.098 |last1=Verdugo |first1=Catalina González }} The sellers eventually priced copies over 23 million USD before the feedback loop was broken.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/04/25/amazon.price.algorithm/ |title=Amazon seller lists book at $23,698,655.93 -- plus shipping |last=Sutter |first=John |date=25 April 2011 |publisher=CNN |access-date=26 April 2011}}{{cite news |url=http://www.techeye.net/internet/amazon-listed-text-book-for-23-million |title=Amazon listed text book for $23 million – Sellers using Algorithms to set prices |last=Farrell |first=Nick |date=25 April 2011 |access-date=26 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427081018/http://www.techeye.net/internet/amazon-listed-text-book-for-23-million |archive-date=27 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358 |title=Amazon's $23,698,655.93 book about flies |last=Eisen |first=Michael |date=22 April 2011 |work=it is NOT junk: (blog of Michael Eisen) |access-date=26 April 2011}}{{cite web |url=https://www.wired.com/2011/04/amazon-flies-24-million/ |title=How A Book About Flies Came To Be Priced $24 Million On Amazon |newspaper=Wired |date= |author= Solon, Olivia|accessdate= February 5, 2025}}

Lawrence has also written many commentaries on the ethics of science practice,{{Cite journal | last1 = Lawrence | first1 = P. A. | title = Men, Women, and Ghosts in Science | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040019 | journal = PLOS Biology | volume = 4 | issue = 1 | pages = e19 | year = 2006 | pmid = 16535774| pmc =1326282 | doi-access = free }} {{open access}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Lawrence | first1 = P. A. | title = Real Lives and White Lies in the Funding of Scientific Research | doi = 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000197 | journal = PLOS Biology | volume = 7 | issue = 9 | pages = e1000197 | year = 2009 | pmid = 19753105| pmc =2735719 | doi-access = free }} {{open access}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Lawrence | first1 = P. A. | title = The politics of publication | doi = 10.1038/422259a | journal = Nature | volume = 422 | issue = 6929 | pages = 259–261 | year = 2003 | pmid = 12646895| s2cid = 5304061 }} as well as obituaries of Michael Berridge, Sydney Brenner, Francis Crick, and Ed Lewis.{{cite web|url=https://making-of-a-fly.me/publications#Squibs|title= Obituaries, book reviews, squibs, etc ...}}

Lawrence was awarded membership of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 1976;{{cite web|url=http://people.embo.org/profile/peter-a-lawrence|website=people.embo.org|title=EMBO member: Peter A. Lawrence}} he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1983;{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_elected_in_1983|title= Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1983}} awarded the Darwin Medal in 1994;{{cite web|url= https://royalsociety.org/people/peter-lawrence-11794|title= Fellows Directory: Dr Peter Lawrence FRS}} and with Ginés Morata was a recipient of the Prince of Asturias Prize for scientific research in 2007;{{cite web|url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_of_Asturias_Awards|title= Princess of Asturias Foundation}} he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2000.{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Members_of_the_Royal_Swedish_Academy_of_Sciences?from=La |title= Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members}}

Lawrence married Birgitta Haraldson in 1971, a clinical psychologist and expert on autism.

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{{FRS 1983}}

{{Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Peter Anthony}}

Category:1941 births

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization

Category:British zoologists

Category:Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences