Frederick Sanger

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Frederick Sanger, OM, CH, CBE, FRS (born 13 August 1918) is an English biochemist and a two time Nobel laureate in chemistry. He is the fourth person in the world to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes (first three were Marie Curie, Linus Pauling and John Bardeen), and the only person to receive both in chemistry.

Contents 1 Education 2 Achievements 3 Titles and honours 3.1 Shorthand titles 4 References

[edit] Education

Sanger was educated at Bryanston School and then did his Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences at St John's College, Cambridge. He originally intended to study medicine, but became interested in biochemistry as some of the leading biochemists in the world were at Cambridge at the time. He obtained his PhD in 1943. He discovered the structure of proteins, most famously that of insulin. He also contributed to the determination of base sequences in DNA.

[edit] Achievements

Sanger determined the complete amino acid sequence of insulin in 1955. In doing so, he proved that proteins have specific structures. He began by degrading insulin into short fragments by mixing the trypsin enzyme (which splits protein) with an insulin solution. He then applied a spot of the mixture to a sheet of filter paper. He passed a solvent through the filter paper in one direction, and passed an electric current through the paper in the opposite direction. Depending on their solubility and electric charge, the different fragments of insulin moved to different positions on the paper, creating a distinct pattern. Sanger called these patterns “fingerprints”. Like human fingerprints, these patterns were characteristic for each protein, simple and reproducible. He reassembled the short fragments into longer sequences to deduce the complete structure of insulin. Sanger concluded that the protein insulin had a precise amino acid sequence. It was this achievement that earned him his first Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1958.

In 1975, he developed the chain termination method of DNA sequencing, also known as the Dideoxy termination method or the Sanger method^[1]. Two years later he used his technique to successfully sequence the genome of the Phage Φ-X174; the first fully sequenced DNA-based genome. He did this by hand, without any automation. This has been of key importance in such projects as the Human Genome Project and earned him his second Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1980, together with Walter Gilbert.

In 1992, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council founded the Sanger Centre (now the Sanger Institute) near Cambridge, named after Frederick Sanger.

[edit] Titles and honours

[edit] Shorthand titles

• Frederick Sanger, Esq. (13 August 1918–1943)
• Dr Frederick Sanger (1943–18 March 1954)
• Dr Frederick Sanger, FRS (18 March 1954–1963)
• Dr Frederick CBE, FRS (1963–1981)
• Dr Frederick Sanger, CH, CBE, FRS (1981–11 February 1986)
• Dr Frederick Sanger, OM, CH, CBE, FRS (11 February 1986—)
• 1958 Nobel Prize
• 1980 Nobel Prize
• The Sanger Institute
• About Fred Sanger, biography from the Sanger Institute
• About the 1958 Nobel Prize
• About the 1980 Nobel Prize
• Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities 1994 Award
• Fred Sanger Freeview Video Documentary by The Vega Science Trust
• National Portrait Gallery

[edit] References

1. ^ Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR., DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463-7