John Shine
Encyclopedia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(born 3 July 1946) is an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n biochemist
Biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...
; he discovered the nucleotide
Nucleotide
Nucleotides are molecules that, when joined together, make up the structural units of RNA and DNA. In addition, nucleotides participate in cellular signaling , and are incorporated into important cofactors of enzymatic reactions...
sequence
Sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an ordered list of objects . Like a set, it contains members , and the number of terms is called the length of the sequence. Unlike a set, order matters, and exactly the same elements can appear multiple times at different positions in the sequence...
, called the Shine-Dalgarno sequence
Shine-Dalgarno sequence
The Shine-Dalgarno sequence , proposed by Australian scientists John Shine and Lynn Dalgarno , is a ribosomal binding site in the mRNA, generally located 8 basepairs upstream of the start codon AUG. The Shine-Dalgarno sequence exists only in prokaryotes. The six-base consensus sequence is AGGAGG;...
, necessary for the initiation of bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
l protein synthesis. He currently directs the Garvan Institute of Medical Research
Garvan Institute of Medical Research
The Garvan Institute of Medical Research was founded in 1963 by the Sisters of Charity. Initially a research department of St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, it is now one of Australia's largest medical research institutions with approximately 500 scientists, students and support staff.Funds for its...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia.
Shine was born in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
in 1946. He completed his university studies at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
(ANU) in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, graduating with a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
with honours in 1972 and completing his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1975. During the course of his studies he discovered the RNA
RNA
Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....
sequence necessary for ribosome
Ribosome
A ribosome is a component of cells that assembles the twenty specific amino acid molecules to form the particular protein molecule determined by the nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule....
binding and the initiation of protein synthesis in the bacterium Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms . Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in humans, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls...
. The sequence was named the Shine-Dalgarno sequence. This was a key discovery allowing further development of molecular biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
, especially genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
, and was an important discovery towards understanding gene expression
Gene expression
Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are often proteins, but in non-protein coding genes such as ribosomal RNA , transfer RNA or small nuclear RNA genes, the product is a functional RNA...
and regulation.
Shine undertook post doctoral research at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
(UCSF), during this period he was the first to clone a human hormone gene and was a central figure in the cloning of the insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
and growth hormone genes. He also determined the first sequence responsible for replication of a cancer causing virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
.
Returning to Australia and the Australian National University in 1978, he cloned the human renin
Renin
Renin , also known as an angiotensinogenase, is an enzyme that participates in the body's renin-angiotensin system -- also known as the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone Axis -- that mediates extracellular volume , and arterial vasoconstriction...
gene and cloned the human endorphin
Endorphin
Endorphins are endogenous opioid peptides that function as neurotransmitters. They are produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in vertebrates during exercise, excitement, pain, consumption of spicy food, love and orgasm, and they resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce...
gene, going on to demonstrate that human hormone genes cloned in bacteria could be expressed in a biologically active form. He also founded the Centre for Recombinant DNA Research at ANU. In 1982 he was awarded that Gottschalk Medal
Gottschalk Medal
The Gottschalk Medal is awarded every year by the Australian Academy of Science to recognize outstanding research by Australian scientists under 40 years of age in the medical sciences.This medal commemorates the work of the late Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, FAA....
by the Australian Academy of Science
Australian Academy of Science
The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The Academy is modelled after the Royal Society and operates under a Royal Charter; as such it is...
.
Shine returned to the United States in 1984, taking a position at UCSF and directing a biotechnology
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
company California Biotechnology Inc. He was instrumental in the development and growth of California Biotechnology, now Scios. Scios was sold to Johnson and Johnson in 2003 for ~USD 3.5 billion.
He returned to Australia again in 1987 to take a professorship in molecular biology at the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
and became the deputy director of the Garvan Institute.
In 1994 Shine became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. The Academy named their headquarters in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
in his honour after Shine donated one million dollars to renovate the dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
in 2000.
Shine was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1996.
In 1999, the biotechnology company Genentech settled a patent infringement lawsuit, over the alleged use of human growth hormone DNA taken from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). John Shine and two other inventors, Peter Seeburg of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research,
Heidelberg, Germany and Howard Goodman of Harvard University, plus two collaborators, John Baxter of UCSF and Juan Martial of Belgium, all formerly at UCSF, split equally about $85 million of the settlement.