Michael Berridge
Encyclopedia
Sir Michael John Berridge, FRS FMedSci
(born 22 October 1938) is a Rhodesian-born British physiologist and biochemist
. He is best known for his work on cellular transmembrane signalling
, in particular the discovery that inositol trisphosphate acts as a second messenger
, linking events at the plasma membrane with the release of Ca2+
within the cell.
As of 2009, he is the Emeritus Babraham Fellow in the Signalling Programme Department of the Babraham Institute
, Cambridge
, and honorary professor of cell signalling at the University of Cambridge
.
in Southern Rhodesia
, Berridge gained a BSc in zoology
and chemistry
at the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
, Salisbury
(1960), where his interest in insect physiology
was stimulated by Eina Bursell. He came to the UK to study with insect physiologist Sir Vincent Wigglesworth
at the Department of Zoology of the University of Cambridge
, gaining his PhD on the topic of nitrogen
excretion
in the African cotton stainer
(Dysdercus fasciatus) in 1965. Berridge moved to the USA for his early postdoctoral positions, which were in the Department of Biology of the University of Virginia
, Charlottesville
, with Dietrich Bodenstein (1965–6); in the Developmental Biology Center of Case Western Reserve University
, Cleveland
, with Michael Locke (1966–7); and in the Department of Biology of Case Western Reserve University with Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen
(1967–9).
He returned to Cambridge
in 1969 to become senior and later principal scientific officer of the Agricultural and Food Research Council
Unit of Invertebrate Chemistry and Physiology at the Department of Zoology of the University of Cambridge. He served as senior principal scientific officer of the Unit of Insect Neurophysiology and Pharmacology from 1978 until 1990. He then joined the Laboratory of Molecular Signalling of the Babraham Institute
as deputy chief scientist, becoming head of that laboratory in 1994, a position he held until his retirement in 2004, when he was appointed the first Emeritus Babraham Fellow. In 1994, he was appointed honorary professor of cell signalling at the
University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of Trinity College
.
in 1989 and the Royal Medal
of the Royal Society
in 1991. He received the Wolf Prize in Medicine
of 1994/5, jointly with Yasutomi Nishizuka
, and the Shaw Prize
in Life Science and Medicine in 2005. His many other awards include the Feldberg Prize (1984), King Faisal International Prize for Science
(1986), Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
(1986), Gairdner Foundation International Award
(1988), Ciba–Geigy/Drew Award in biomedical research (1991), Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics
(1994) and the Ernst Schering Prize (1999). He was knighted for services to science in the New Year's Honours List of 1997.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984 and became one of the founding members of the Academy of Medical Sciences
in 1998. In 1999, he was elected a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences
and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
. He is a member of Academia Europaea
and the European Molecular Biology Organization
. He is also an honorary fellow of the Society of Biology, Biochemical Society
, Society for Experimental Biology
, Japanese Biochemical Society and the American Physiological Society
.
Academy of Medical Sciences
The Academy of Medical Sciences is the United Kingdom's national academy of medical sciences. It was established in 1998 on the recommendation of a group that was chaired by Michael Atiyah. Its president is John Irving Bell....
(born 22 October 1938) is a Rhodesian-born British physiologist and 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 is best known for his work on cellular transmembrane signalling
Cell signaling
Cell signaling is part of a complex system of communication that governs basic cellular activities and coordinates cell actions. The ability of cells to perceive and correctly respond to their microenvironment is the basis of development, tissue repair, and immunity as well as normal tissue...
, in particular the discovery that inositol trisphosphate acts as a second messenger
Second messenger system
Second messengers are molecules that relay signals from receptors on the cell surface to target molecules inside the cell, in the cytoplasm or nucleus. They relay the signals of hormones like epinephrine , growth factors, and others, and cause some kind of change in the activity of the cell...
, linking events at the plasma membrane with the release of Ca2+
Calcium
Calcium is the chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. It has an atomic mass of 40.078 amu. Calcium is a soft gray alkaline earth metal, and is the fifth-most-abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust...
within the cell.
As of 2009, he is the Emeritus Babraham Fellow in the Signalling Programme Department of the Babraham Institute
Babraham Institute
The Babraham Institute, set in an extensive parkland estate just south of Cambridge, is an independent charitable life sciences institute involved in biomedical research. The aim of this research is to discover the molecular mechanisms that underlie normal cellular processes and functions, and how...
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and honorary professor of cell signalling at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Education and career
Born in GatoomaKadoma, Zimbabwe
Kadoma is a city in Zimbabwe in the Mashonaland West province, 140 km south-west of Harare on the main road to Bulawayo. It was known as Gatooma until 1982....
in Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
, Berridge gained a BSc in zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
at the University of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
University of Zimbabwe
The University of Zimbabwe in Harare, is the oldest and largest university in Zimbabwe. It was founded through a special relationship with the University of London and it opened its doors to its first students in 1952. The university has ten faculties offering a wide variety of degree programmes...
, Salisbury
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
(1960), where his interest in insect physiology
Insect physiology
Insect physiology includes the physiology and biochemistry of insect organ systems.Although diverse, insects are quite similar in overall design, internally and externally...
was stimulated by Eina Bursell. He came to the UK to study with insect physiologist Sir Vincent Wigglesworth
Vincent Wigglesworth
Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth FRS was a British entomologist who made significant contributions to the field of insect physiology.In particular, he studied metamorphosis...
at the Department of Zoology of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, gaining his PhD on the topic of nitrogen
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
excretion
Excretion
Excretion is the process by which waste products of metabolism and other non-useful materials are eliminated from an organism. This is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after leaving the cell...
in the African cotton stainer
Pyrrhocoridae
Pyrrhocoridae is a family of insects with more than 300 species world-wide. A common species in parts of Europe is the firebug. They are part of the order Hemiptera which are also known as the 'true bugs'. A few are important crop pests...
(Dysdercus fasciatus) in 1965. Berridge moved to the USA for his early postdoctoral positions, which were in the Department of Biology of the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, Charlottesville
Charlottesville, Virginia
Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
, with Dietrich Bodenstein (1965–6); in the Developmental Biology Center of Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
, Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, with Michael Locke (1966–7); and in the Department of Biology of Case Western Reserve University with Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen
Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen
Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen is a prominent Danish-American physiologist, who became the first woman president of the American Physiological Society in 1975.-Biography:...
(1967–9).
He returned to Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
in 1969 to become senior and later principal scientific officer of the Agricultural and Food Research Council
Agricultural and Food Research Council
The Agricultural and Food Research Council , was a British Research Council responsible for funding and managing scientific and technological developments in farming and horticulture....
Unit of Invertebrate Chemistry and Physiology at the Department of Zoology of the University of Cambridge. He served as senior principal scientific officer of the Unit of Insect Neurophysiology and Pharmacology from 1978 until 1990. He then joined the Laboratory of Molecular Signalling of the Babraham Institute
Babraham Institute
The Babraham Institute, set in an extensive parkland estate just south of Cambridge, is an independent charitable life sciences institute involved in biomedical research. The aim of this research is to discover the molecular mechanisms that underlie normal cellular processes and functions, and how...
as deputy chief scientist, becoming head of that laboratory in 1994, a position he held until his retirement in 2004, when he was appointed the first Emeritus Babraham Fellow. In 1994, he was appointed honorary professor of cell signalling at the
University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
.
Awards and honours
Berridge was awarded the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research AwardLasker Award
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1946 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, founded by advertising pioneer Albert Lasker and his wife Mary...
in 1989 and the Royal Medal
Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1991. He received the Wolf Prize in Medicine
Wolf Prize in Medicine
The Wolf Prize in Medicine is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Arts. The Prize is probably the third most prestigious award...
of 1994/5, jointly with Yasutomi Nishizuka
Yasutomi Nishizuka
was a Japanese biochemist who discovered protein kinase C and made important contribution to the understanding of molecular mechanism of signal transduction across the cell membrane.- Birth and education :...
, and the Shaw Prize
Shaw Prize
The Shaw Prize is an annual award first presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation in 2004. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, it honours living "individuals, regardless of race, nationality and religious belief, who have achieved significant breakthrough in academic and scientific research or...
in Life Science and Medicine in 2005. His many other awards include the Feldberg Prize (1984), King Faisal International Prize for Science
King Faisal Foundation
The King Faisal Foundation was established in 1976 by the sons of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. The Director-General is HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal...
(1986), Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine
The Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine is awarded annually by the Louis-Jeantet Foundation to biomedical researchers in Europe; the awards are made each April...
(1986), Gairdner Foundation International Award
Gairdner Foundation International Award
The Gairdner Foundation International Award is given annually at a special dinner to three to six people for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a precursor to winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine; as of 2007, 69 Nobel...
(1988), Ciba–Geigy/Drew Award in biomedical research (1991), Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics
Dr A.H. Heineken Prize
The Dr. A.H. Heineken and Dr. H.P. Heineken Prizes, named in honor of Alfred Heineken, former Chairman of Heineken Holdings, and Henry Pierre Heineken, son of founder Gerard Adriaan Heineken, are a series of awards bestowed by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences .-History:Alfred...
(1994) and the Ernst Schering Prize (1999). He was knighted for services to science in the New Year's Honours List of 1997.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984 and became one of the founding members of the Academy of Medical Sciences
Academy of Medical Sciences
The Academy of Medical Sciences is the United Kingdom's national academy of medical sciences. It was established in 1998 on the recommendation of a group that was chaired by Michael Atiyah. Its president is John Irving Bell....
in 1998. In 1999, he was elected a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
. He is a member of Academia Europaea
Academia Europaea
Academia Europæa is a European non-governmental scientific academy founded in 1988. Its members are scientists and scholars who collectively aim to promote learning, education and research. It publishes European Review through Cambridge Journals....
and the European Molecular Biology Organization
European Molecular Biology Organization
EMBO stands for excellence in the life sciences. The EMBO mission is to enable the best science by supporting talented researchers, stimulating scientific exchange and advancing policies for a world-class European research environment....
. He is also an honorary fellow of the Society of Biology, Biochemical Society
Biochemical Society
The Biochemical Society is a learned society in the United Kingdom in the field of biochemistry, including all the cellular and molecular biosciences.-Structure:...
, Society for Experimental Biology
Society for Experimental Biology
The Society for Experimental Biology is a learned society which was established in 1923 at Birkbeck College in London to “promote the art and science of experimental biology in all its branches”. The Society has an international membership of approximately 2000 biological researchers, teachers and...
, Japanese Biochemical Society and the American Physiological Society
American Physiological Society
The American Physiological Society was founded in 1887 with 28 members. Of them, 21 were graduates of medical schools, but only 12 had studied in schools that had a professor of physiology. Today, the APS has 10,500 members, most of whom hold doctoral degrees in medicine, physiology or other...
.
Reviews
- Berridge MJ. (1984) Inositol trisphosphate and diacylglycerol as second messengers. Biochemical JournalBiochemical JournalThe Biochemical Journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which covers all aspects of biochemistry, as well as cell and molecular biology...
220: 345–360 (pdf) - Berridge MJ, Irvine RF. (1984) Inositol trisphosphate, a novel second messenger in cellular signal transduction. NatureNature (journal)Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
312: 315–321 (abstract)
Research papers
- Berridge MJ. (1983) Rapid accumulation of inositol trisphosphate reveals that agonists hydrolyse polyphosphoinositides instead of phosphatidylinositol. Biochemical JournalBiochemical JournalThe Biochemical Journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal which covers all aspects of biochemistry, as well as cell and molecular biology...
212: 849–858 (abstract) (pdf)