John Sulston
John Sulston
Sir John Edward Sulston FRSis a British biologist. For his work on the cell lineage and genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, he was jointly awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Sydney Brenner and Robert Horvitz. As of 2014 he is Chair of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth27 March 1942
human
What is the purpose of being human and alive without doing new things?
benefits clear markets medicines minority poor produces somewhat system
It is very clear that the present system of innovation for medicines is very inefficient and really somewhat corrupt. It benefits shareholders over patients; it produces for the rich markets and not for the poor and does not produce for minority diseases.
believe common contribute extremely garner good society tension views
There's always a tension between those who would like to garner wealth, and they contribute a lot to society. There's also those who say, 'I believe in the common good. I want that to be enlarged.' They contribute a lot to society. The tension, the debate, between these two views is extremely important to our progress.
biology came caused choice demand obvious science since
When it came to choice of subjects, science was obvious - since I was uninterested in anything else - but a decision that caused consternation in some eyes was my demand to take biology for A-level.
contents information leak market owner prohibit quickly widely
In order to protect the market value of a proprietary database, the owner must prohibit redistribution of the contents - otherwise, the information would quickly leak out and be widely known.
block business ensure science structures
In science, as in business, there must be structures that ensure the well endowed do not use their position to block competition.
life
If we understand the worm, we understand life.
creating function gene human particular patent
If you patent a discovery which is unique, say a human gene or even just one particular function of a human gene, then you are actually creating a monopoly, and that's not the purpose of the world of patents.
bases bits genes knew produce protein thousands
We knew that all the protein-coding bits of genes do is to produce protein - they have to have instructions to turn them on and off. Those sequences lie well outside the protein-coding sequences, sometimes thousands, tens of thousands of bases away.
amongst biological freely genome human move rapidly scientists shared specialist towards worm
When results are shared freely amongst the biological community, as has been done for the worm and the Human Genome Projects, specialist scientists can move much more rapidly towards their goals.
money retain upbringing
The only thing I have retained from my upbringing - I did not retain the religious element - is the idea that you do not do things for money.
deeds establish ownership property protect security title
Title deeds establish and protect ownership of our houses, while security of property is as important to the proprietors of Tesco and Sainsbury's as it is to their customers.
basic human information sequence work
The fact is that proprietary databases don't work for such basic and broadly needed information as the sequence of the human genome.
benefits discover emphasized global large led mechanisms took work
Our work on C. elegans emphasized the benefits of sharing large amounts of information. We took a global approach to discover the mechanisms that led to the development of the worm.