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Tim Hunt

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For other people named Tim Hunt, see Tim Hunt (disambiguation).
Sir Tim Hunt
Tim Hunt
Born
Richard Timothy Hunt

(1943-02-19) 19 February 1943 (age 81)[3]
Neston, Cheshire, England
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma mater
Known forCell cycle regulation
Spouse
​
(m. 1995)​
[3]
Children2 daughters
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsCell cycle[1]
Institutions
ThesisThe synthesis of haemoglobin (1969)
Doctoral studentsMatthew Cockerill[2]
Websiteroyalsociety.org/people/tim-hunt/

Sir Richard Timothy "Tim" Hunt, FRS FMedSci (born 19 February 1943 in Neston, Cheshire) is a British biochemist.[4] He was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Paul Nurse and Leland H. Hartwell for their discoveries of protein molecules that control the division (duplication) of cells.[5][6][7][8]

Early life and education

Hunt was born on 19 February 1943[3] in Neston, Cheshire, to Richard William Hunt, a lecturer in palaeography in Liverpool, and Kit Rowland, daughter of a timber merchant.[9] After the death of both his parents, Hunt found his father had worked at Bush House, most likely in intelligence, although it is not known what he actually did.[citation needed] In 1945, Richard became Keeper of the Western Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library, and the family relocated to Oxford. At the age of eight, Tim was accepted into the Dragon School,[3] where he first developed an interest in biology thanks to his German teacher, Gerd Sommerhoff. When he was fourteen, he moved to Magdalen College School, Oxford, where the science prizes now bear his name, becoming even more interested in science and studying subjects such as chemistry and zoology.

In 1961, he was accepted into Clare College, Cambridge, to study Natural Sciences, graduating in 1964 and immediately beginning work in the university Department of Biochemistry under Asher Korner, working with scientists such as Louis Reichardt and Tony Hunter. A 1965 talk by Vernon Ingram interested him in haemoglobin synthesis, and at a conference in 1966 in Greece on the subject, he persuaded Irving London to allow him to work in his laboratory in New York, staying from July to October 1966.[9] He finished his PhD in 1968[10]

Career

Following his PhD, Hunt returned to New York to work with London, in collaboration with Nechama and Edward Kosower and Ellie Ehrenfeld. While there, they discovered that tiny amounts of glutathione inhibited protein synthesis in reticulocytes and that tiny amounts of RNA killed the synthesis altogether. After returning to Cambridge, he again began work with Hunter and Richard Jackson, who had discovered the RNA strand used to start haemoglobin synthesis. After 3–4 years, the team discovered at least two other chemicals acting as inhibitors.

During summer work in 1982 at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, using the sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) egg as his model organism, he discovered the cyclin molecule. Hunt found that cyclins begin to be synthesised after the eggs are fertilized and increase in levels during interphase, until they drop very quickly in the middle of mitosis in each cell division. He also found that cyclins are present in vertebrate cells where they also regulate the cell cycle. He and others subsequently showed that the cyclins bind and activate a family of protein kinases, now called the cyclin-dependent kinases, one of which had been identified as a crucial cell cycle regulator by Paul Nurse.

Working in sea urchin eggs, Hunt discovered cyclins, proteins that bind to cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) proteins and regulate their activity. Cyclins and CDKs turn other cell cycle proteins on and off by adding or removing phosphate groups.[5]


In 1990, he began work at Imperial Cancer Research Fund, now known as the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute in the United Kingdom.[11] He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.[12] He also sits on the Selection Committee for Life Science and Medicine which chooses winners of the Shaw Prize.

Women in science controversy

On 9 June 2015, Hunt gave a speech at the 2015 World Conference of Science Journalists in Seoul, delivered at a lunch for female journalists and scientists, entitled "Creative Science—Only a Game?", in which he said:

Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry.[13]

A day later, 10 June, numerous media outlets reported the story and criticised Hunt's remarks as sexist.[14][15] On 9 June, the Royal Society formally distanced itself from Hunt's comments and emphasised its commitment to equality in the sciences.[16][17]

Hunt said his comments were meant to be "ironic" and "jocular".[18][19] University College London announced the next day that Hunt had resigned from his position as Honorary Professor with the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences.[20] On the same day, he also resigned from the Royal Society's Biological Sciences Awards Committee.[21] His wife Mary Collins, UCL Professor of immunology, said she "was told by a senior [at UCL] that Tim had to resign immediately or be sacked".[18] Hunt said the European Research Council (ERC) had also forced him to resign. Several female scientists and commentators defended Hunt. Dame Athene Donald, a professor of Physics and fellow of the Royal Society, said Hunt "was always immensely supportive of the ERC’s work around gender equality".[18]

On 17 June 2015, the hosts of the lunch, the Korea Federation of Women's Science and Technology Associations (KOFWST) reported that their President, Hee Young Paik, had on their behalf asked for, and received, an apology from Hunt for remarks he made which "have caused great concern and regret in Korea".[22]

Physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox, speaking on BBC Radio 4's The World at One, criticised what he saw as the hounding out of Hunt as a disproportionate response to concerns over his comments, and part of a "wider problem of trial by social media".[23]

Awards and honours

Hunt was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1991 and a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1999. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland Hartwell and Sir Paul Nurse for their discoveries regarding cell cycle regulation by cyclin and cyclin-dependent kinases.[24] In 2006, he was awarded the Royal Medal for "discovering a key aspect of cell cycle control, the protein cyclin which is a component of cyclin dependent kinases, demonstrating his ability to grasp the significance of the result outside his immediate sphere of interest".[25] He was also knighted in the 2006 Birthday Honours, and has said that he rarely uses the title 'Sir' and that it should not affect his scientific standing.[26] His nomination for the Royal Society reads:

Distinguished for his studies of the control of protein synthesis in animal cells and for the discovery of cyclin, a protein which regulates the eukaryotic cell cycle. Together with Jackson and their students, he defined steps in formation of the initiation complex in protein synthesis, showing that the 40S ribosomal subunit binds initiator tRNA before it binds mRNA, and that this step was the target of inhibitors such as double-stranded RNA or haem deficiency. They showed that inhibition of protein synthesis is mediated by reversible phosphorylation of initiation factor eIF-2 by two distinct protein kinases and they elucidated the unexpected roles of thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase in protein synthesis. With Ruderman and Rosenthal, he demonstrated selective translational control of mRNA in early clam embryos. This led to Hunt's discovery of cyclin as a protein which is selectively destroyed in mitosis. He subsequently cloned and sequenced cyclin cDNA from sea urchins and frogs and showed by elegant mRNA ablation experiments that cyclin translation is necessary for mitosis in frog embryos. He has also shown that cyclin is a subunit of the mitosis-promoting factor which regulates entry into mitosis. His discovery and characterization of cyclin are major contributions to our knowledge of cell cycle regulation in eukaryotic cells.[27]

Personal life

Hunt is married to Mary Collins, who was also educated at the University of Cambridge. As of 2015, Collins is a professor of immunology at University College London.[28][29] They have two daughters.[3][28]

References

  1. ^ Tim Hunt publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. ^ Cockerill, Matthew James (1996). D-type cyclins in Xenopus laevis (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 557383637. Open access icon
  3. ^ a b c d e HUNT. "HUNT, Sir Tim". Who's Who. Vol. 2015 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |othernames= ignored (help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
  4. ^ "Sir Tim Hunt 'sorry' over 'trouble with girls' comments". BBC News.
  5. ^ a b The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001 Illustrated Lecture
  6. ^ Rouse, John; Cohen, Philip; Trigon, Sylviane; Morange, Michel; Alonso-Llamazares, Ana; Zamanillo, Daniel; Hunt, Tim; Nebreda, Angel R. (1994). "A novel kinase cascade triggered by stress and heat shock that stimulates MAPKAP kinase-2 and phosphorylation of the small heat shock proteins". Cell. 78 (6): 1027–1037. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(94)90277-1. ISSN 0092-8674.
  7. ^ Evans, Tom; Rosenthal, Eric T.; Youngblom, Jim; Distel, Dan; Hunt, Tim (1983). "Cyclin: A protein specified by maternal mRNA in sea urchin eggs that is destroyed at each cleavage division". Cell. 33 (2): 389–396. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(83)90420-8. ISSN 0092-8674.
  8. ^ Farrell, Paul J.; Balkow, Ken; Hunt, Tim; Jackson, Richard J.; Trachsel, Hans (1977). "Phosphorylation of initiation factor eIF-2 and the control of reticulocyte protein synthesis". Cell. 11 (1): 187–200. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(77)90330-0. ISSN 0092-8674.
  9. ^ a b "Tim Hunt - Autobiography". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  10. ^ Hunt, Richard Timothy (1969). The synthesis of haemoglobin (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 885437139.(subscription required)
  11. ^ "Cancer Research UK: Tim Hunt". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  12. ^ "Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering". Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  13. ^ Radcliffe, Rebecca (10 June 2015). "Nobel scientist Tim Hunt: female scientists cause trouble for men in labs". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  14. ^ Greenberg, Alissa (10 June 2015). "A Nobel Scientist Just Made a Breathtakingly Sexist Speech atp International Conference". Time. New York City, New York. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  15. ^ Tracy, Abigail (10 June 2015). "Nobel Laureate Tim Hunt Under Fire For Sexist Comments". Forbes. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  16. ^ "Science needs women - Royal Society". 9 Jun 2015. Retrieved 10 Jun 2015.
  17. ^ Anon (2015). "Sexism has no place in science". Nature. 522 (7556): 255–255. doi:10.1038/522255a. ISSN 0028-0836.
  18. ^ a b c McKie, Robin (13 June 2015). "Tim Hunt: 'I've been hung out to dry. They haven't even bothered to ask for my side of affairs'". The Observer/The Guardian. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  19. ^ Grierson, Jamie (10 June 2015). "Tim Hunt apologises for comments on his 'trouble' with female scientists". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  20. ^ "Sir Tim Hunt FRS and UCL". UCL. 10 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-06-16. UCL was the first university in England to admit women students on equal terms to men, and the university believes that this outcome is compatible with our commitment to gender equality.
  21. ^ Jump, Paul; Else, Holly. "Sir Tim Hunt resigns from two posts". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  22. ^ Korea Federation of Women's Science and Technology Associations. "Press release - Dr Tim Hunt, Official Apology for Sexist Remarks". Korea Federation of Women's Science and Technology Associations. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  23. ^ Press Association (16 June 2015). "Brian Cox criticises 'disproportionate' reaction to Tim Hunt's comments". Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  24. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001". nobelprize.org.
  25. ^ "Royal Medal recent winners". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  26. ^ "Interview about knighthoods on BBCR4 PM Show". Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  27. ^ "Certificate of Election: Richard Timothy Hunt EC/1991/14". London: Royal Society. 1991. Archived from the original on 2015-06-18.
  28. ^ a b Template:Nndb
  29. ^ "Collins' institutional lab page". Retrieved 2014-12-15.

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