Tom Blundell

Sir Thomas Leon "Tom" Blundell, FRS, FMedSci (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist and science administrator. Up until 2009, he was the Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry and former head of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Education

Born in Brighton in 1942, Blundell was educated at Steyning Grammar School.^[13] His Master of Arts degree and DPhil are from the University of Oxford, working with Dorothy Hodgkin.

Career

Blundell's early posts were at the University of Oxford and the University of Sussex. In 1976, Blundell joined the Department of Crystallography at Birkbeck, University of London, becoming head of department in 1978.

In 1991, he moved into science administration, as Director General of the Agricultural and Food Research Council (1991–94) and then the founding Chief Executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (1994–1996). Other administrative posts include Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (1998–2005). He is a former President of the Biosciences Federation (2004–06). In June 2011 he became President of the Science Council.

In 1995 he became the fifth Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry and head of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge; he currently also holds the Chair of the School of Biological Sciences at that university. He is a fellow of Sidney Sussex College. His specialty is molecular biology and his research on identifying the chemical processes of diseases has led to the development of drugs to treat Aids, cancer, cataracts and diabetes. He is the co-founder of two drug discovery companies, Astex Technology Ltd and Biofabrika.

On 15 September 2010, Blundell, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK.^[14]

Research

Blundell's research interests lie in elucidating macromolecular structure using methods from biochemistry, protein crystallography, bioinformatics, and structure-based drug design. Systems studied include DNA repair, hormones and growth factors, cellular signalling, crystallins (lens proteins), renin and HIV protease. His group has also written several bioinformatics programs.^[15][16]

Awards and honours

Blundell was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1984^[17] His nomination reads:

Blundell became one of the first fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998.^[19] He was knighted in 1997, and has also received numerous awards and medals^[20] as well as being a guest on Desert Island Discs.^[21] He was awarded an Honorary degree from the University of Pavia in 2002.

References