Sir Alec John Jeffreys, FRS (born 9 January 1950 at
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
in
OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East England region, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire....
) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
geneticistA geneticist is a scientist who studies genetics, the science of heredity and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer...
, who developed techniques for DNA fingerprinting and
DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information...
profiling which are now used all over the world in forensic science to assist police detective work, and also to resolve paternity and immigration disputes. He is a professor of genetics at the
University of LeicesterThe University of Leicester is a research led university based in Leicester, England, with approximately 20,000 registered students - about 13,000 of them full-time students and 7,000 part-time and/or distance learning...
, and he became an honorary
freemanFreedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe to esteemed members of its community or to organisations that have given the community heroic service; the term applies to two...
of the City of
LeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England. It is the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
on 26 November 1992. In 1994, he was
knightedThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
by her Majesty
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
of the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, for Services to Science and Technology .
Early life
Jeffreys was born on 9 January 1950 in
OxfordOxford is a city, and the county town of Oxfordshire, in South East England. The city has a population of just under 165,000, with 151,000 living within the district boundary. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through Oxford and meet south of the city centre...
, Oxfordshire, England. He came from a middle-class family and has one brother and sister. He spent the first six years of his life in Oxford until 1956 when the family moved to Luton. His curiosity and inventiveness were probably gained from his father, as well as his paternal grandfather who had a number of patents to his name. When he was eight years old his father gave him a large chemistry set which was enhanced over the next few years with extra chemicals including a bottle of concentrated
sulphuric acidSulfuric acid, , is a strong mineral acid. It is soluble in water at all concentrations. Sulfuric acid has many applications, and is one of the top products of the chemical industry. World production in 2001 was 165 million tonnes, with an approximate value of US$8 billion...
, bought from a pharmacy, at a time when
pharmacistPharmacists are health professionals who practice the science of pharmacy. In their traditional role, pharmacists typically take a request for medicines from a prescribing health care provider in the form of a medical prescription, evaluate the appropriateness of the prescription, dispense the...
s were less regulated than now. He liked making small explosions, but an accidental splash of sulphuric acid caused a burn and a permanent scar on his chin (now under his beard). When he was about eight or nine years old, his father bought him a beautiful
VictorianThe Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements...
brass
microscopeA microscope is an instrument to see objects too tiny for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy. Microscopic means invisible to the eye unless aided by a microscope.-History:An early microscope was made in 1590 in Middelburg, The...
, which he used to examine biological specimens, furthering his interest in
biologyBiology is the natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy...
. At about 12 years old he made a small dissecting kit (including a scalpel crafted from a flattened pin) which he used to dissect a
bumblebeeA bumblebee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere....
, but he got into trouble with his parents when he progressed to dissecting a larger specimen. One Sunday morning he found a dead
catThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felines and felids, is a small carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
on the road while doing his
paper roundA paperboy is the general name for a person employed by a newspaper, a news agent or even an official postal service to deliver newspapers to the homes of subscribers, as assigned by streets and routes. Paperboys traditionally were and are still often portrayed on television and movies as preteen...
and took it home in his bag. He started to dissect it before Sunday lunch on the dining room table causing a foul smell throughout the house, which was particularly bad after he ruptured its intestines.
Jeffreys was a pupil at Luton Grammar School and then
Luton Sixth Form CollegeLuton Sixth Form College is a sixth form college situated in Luton, England. It is noted for its multiethnic population; 62% of the College's students are from minority ethnic groups...
. He followed the youth culture of the time and initially became a
ModThe Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures of the early-mid 1960s.Gangs of mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils. The rockers adopted a macho biker gang image, wearing clothes such as black...
while owning a
VespaVespa is an Italian line of scooters manufactured by Piaggio.The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A...
150 cc motor-scooter and wearing a
parkaAn anorak or parka is a type of heavy jacket with a hood, often lined with fur or fake fur, so as to protect the face from a combination of freezing temperatures and wind....
jacket. He was then a
HippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. The word hippie derives from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district...
for a while before buying a
MatchlessMatchless is one of the oldest marques of British motorcycles with the first models manufactured at the start of the 20th century. Produced in Plumstead, London from 1899 to 1966, a wide range of models were produced under the Matchless name ranging from small two-strokes to 750 cc four-stroke...
350 cc motorcycle and becoming a
RockerThe Mods and Rockers were two conflicting British youth subcultures of the early-mid 1960s.Gangs of mods and rockers fighting in 1964 sparked a moral panic about British youths, and the two groups were seen as folk devils. The rockers adopted a macho biker gang image, wearing clothes such as black...
. From 1968 he was a student at
Merton College, OxfordMerton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
and in 1972 he graduated with
first-class honours degreeThe British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
in
biochemistryBiochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
.
Career
Jeffreys enjoys being at the laboratory bench, and prepared his
PhDDoctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, for the equivalent , is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities...
thesis entitled "Studies on the mitochondria of cultured mammalian cells" as a postgraduate student at the Genetics Laboratory,
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
. After finishing his PhD, he moved to the University of Amsterdam, where he worked on mammalian genes as a research fellow. He moved on to the
University of LeicesterThe University of Leicester is a research led university based in Leicester, England, with approximately 20,000 registered students - about 13,000 of them full-time students and 7,000 part-time and/or distance learning...
in 1977, where he found an academically stimulating and helpful environment. Working in Leicester he discovered a method of showing variations between individual's DNA in 1984, and invented and developed
genetic fingerprintingDNA profiling is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals on the basis of their respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier...
.
Genetic fingerprinting
Jeffreys had a "
eurekaEureka is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery.-Archimedes:...
moment" in his lab in Leicester after looking at the X-ray film image of a
DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information...
experiment at 9:05 am on Monday 10 September 1984, which unexpectedly showed both similarities and differences in his technician's family's DNA. Within about half an hour, he realized the possible scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in the
genetic codeThe genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded in genetic material is translated into proteins by living cells. A more precise term for the concept might be "genetic cipher". The code defines a mapping between tri-nucleotide sequences, called codons, and amino acids...
to identify individuals. The method has become important in forensic science to assist police detective work, and it has also proved useful in resolving paternity and immigration disputes. The method can also be applied to non-human species, for example in wildlife
population geneticsPopulation genetics is the study of the allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes account of population subdivision and population structure in space. As such, it attempts...
studies. Before his methods were commercialised in 1987 his laboratory was the only centre carrying out DNA fingerprinting in the world, and during this period of about two or three years it was very busy, receiving inquiries from all over the globe.
Jeffreys' DNA method, which is often called DNA fingerprinting, was first put to use when he was asked to help in a disputed immigration case to confirm the identity of a British boy whose family was originally from
GhanaThe Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa which borders Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. The case was resolved when the DNA results proved that the boy was closely related to the other members of the family, and Jeffreys saw the relief in the mother's face when she heard the results. DNA fingerprinting was first used as a police forensic test to identify the rapist and killer of two teenagers, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, who were both murdered in
Narborough, LeicestershireNarborough is a village south of Leicester, England. It lies in the Blaby district of Leicestershire. Its name originally meant 'North Stronghold'.Surrounding villages include Enderby, Whetstone, Littlethorpe, Cosby, and Huncote.-Location:...
, in 1983 and 1986 respectively.
Colin PitchforkColin Pitchfork was the first criminal convicted of murder based on DNA fingerprinting evidence, and the first to be caught as a result of mass DNA screening. Pitchfork raped and murdered two girls, the first in Narborough, Leicestershire, on November 21, 1983, and the second in Enderby, also in...
was identified and convicted of murder after samples taken from him matched
semenSemen is an organic fluid, also known as seminal fluid, that usually contains spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize female ova...
samples taken from the two dead girls. This turned out to be a specifically important identification for without it, British Authorities believe that Richard Buckland, the main suspect, would have inevitably been convicted. Therefore, not only did Jeffrey's work in this case prove who the real killer was, but exonerate someone who likely would have spent his life in prison otherwise. In 1992, Jeffreys' methods were used to confirm the identity for German prosecutors of the Nazi Dr.
Josef MengeleDr. Josef Mengele was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He held two earned doctorates, one in anthropology from Munich University and one in medicine from Frankfurt University...
, who had died in 1979, by comparing DNA obtained from a
femurThe femur, or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs...
bone of his exhumed skeleton, and DNA from his widow and son, in a similar way to paternity testing.
DNA profiling
DNA profiling based on typing individual highly variable minisatellites in the human genome was also developed by Alec Jeffreys and his team in 1985, with the term DNA fingerprinting being retained for the initial test that types many
minisatelliteA minisatellite is a section of DNA that consists of a short series of bases 10–60bp. These occur at more than 1000 locations in the human genome...
s simultaneously. By focussing on just a few of these highly variable minisatellites, DNA profiling made the system more sensitive, more reproducible, and amenable to computer databasing, and soon became the standard forensic DNA system used in criminal case work and
paternity testingParental testing is the use of genetic fingerprinting to determine whether two individuals have a biological parent-child relationship. A paternity test establishes genetic proof whether a man is the biological father of an individual, and a maternity test establishes whether a woman is the...
worldwide.
The development of DNA amplification by the
Polymerase Chain ReactionIn molecular biology, the polymerase chain reaction is a technique to amplify a single or few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence...
(PCR) opened up new approaches to forensic DNA testing, allowing automation, greatly increased sensitivity and a move to alternative marker systems. The most commonly used markers are now variable microsatellites, also known as
Short Tandem RepeatA short tandem repeat in DNA occurs when a pattern of two or more nucleotides are repeated and the repeated sequences are directly adjacent to each other. The pattern can range in length from 2 to 16 base pairs and is typically in the non-coding intron region...
s (STRs), that Jeffreys first exploited in 1990 in the Joseph Mengele case. STR profiling was further refined by a team of scientists led by
Peter GillPeter Gill , known by the nickname Pedro or Ped, was the drummer with 1980s pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood ....
at the Forensic Science Service in the 1990s, allowing the launch of the
UK National DNA DatabaseThe United Kingdom National DNA Database is a national DNA Database that was set up in 1995. As of the end of 2005, it carried the profiles of around 3.1 million people, over 585,000 of them taken from children aged under 16...
(NDNAD) in 1995. With highly automated and sophisticated equipment, modern-day DNA profiling can process hundreds of samples each day. Ten
microsatelliteMicrosatellites, or Simple Sequence Repeats , are polymorphic loci present in nuclear and organellar DNA that consist of repeating units of 1-6 base pairs in length. They are typically neutral, co-dominant and are used as molecular markers which have wide-ranging applications in the field of...
s plus a marker for sex determination are used with the current system developed for the NDNAD, giving a discrimination power of one in over a billion. Under British law, anyone arrested has their DNA profile stored on a database (whether or not they are convicted), which now contains the DNA information of nearly five million people. Jeffreys has opposed the current use of DNA profiling, where the government has access to that database, and has instead proposed a database of all people's DNA, whose access would be controlled by an independent third party.
Personal life
Jeffreys' first brush with romance was unsuccessful as the girl in question totally ignored him; however, he enjoyed a few subsequent relationships prior to meeting his wife-to-be, Sue, in a youth club in
LutonLuton is a town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 32 miles north of London. Luton, along with its near neighbours of Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of over 230,000.Luton is home to non-league Luton Town Football Club, whose...
, Bedfordshire before going on to study
biochemistryBiochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
on a four-year course at
Merton College, OxfordMerton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
. He married Sue in 1971, and their two daughters were still very young and growing up when Jeffreys' work-life became hectic for the two or three years following his genetic fingerprinting breakthrough.
Awards and recognition
- 20 March 1986 - Fellow of the Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
.
- 1989 - Midlander of the Year
Midlander of the Year is an annual award, recognising people deemed to have "made an outstanding contribution to the social, sporting, political or cultural life" of the English Midlands....
.
- 1991 - Appointed as a Royal Society Research Professor
The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
.
- 26 November 1992 - Honorary freeman
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe to esteemed members of its community or to organisations that have given the community heroic service; the term applies to two...
of the City of LeicesterLeicester is a city and unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England. It is the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
.
- 1994 - Knighted
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
.
- 1996 - Albert Einstein World Award of Science
The Albert Einstein World Award for Science is a yearly award given by the World Cultural Council "as a means of recognition, and as an incentive to scientific and technological research and development", with special consideration for researches which "have brought true benefit and well being to...
.
- 1998 - Australia Prize
The Australia Prize was Australia's pre-eminent prize for scientific research from 1990 until 2000, when it was replaced by the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science. The award was international, 10 of the 28 recipients were not Australians.-Recipients:...
.
- 1999 - Stokes Medal
The Sir George Stokes Medal is named after George Gabriel Stokes and is awarded by the Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry biennially...
- 2004 - Honorary doctorate
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements...
awarded by the University of Leicester, where Jeffreys is a member of staff.
- 2004 - 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 SocietyThe Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
.
- 2004 - 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...
.
- 2005 - Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research
The Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award is awarded by the Lasker Foundation for the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of disease. The award was renamed in 2008 in honor of Michael E. DeBakey. It was previously known as the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical...
, jointly with Edwin SouthernProfessor Sir Edwin Mellor Southern, FRS is a 2005 Lasker Award-winning molecular biologist. His award is for the invention of the Southern blot, now a common laboratory procedure, when he was working at the University of Edinburgh. Southern is Professor of Biochemistry at the University of...
of the University of OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
.
- 2005 - United States National Academy of Science, elected member.
- December 2006 - Degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by the University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group and the N8 Group for research collaboration, and founded in 1881 it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic universities...
.
- 2006 - Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services provider headquartered in New York City, New York, United States. It serves a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 33 countries around the world with 600 offices, with...
Great Briton AwardThe Great Briton Awards are an annual event to indicate who has made the greatest contribution to British life during the year. They were sponsored in 2004 by The Daily Telegraph, Morgan Stanley and the RSA. Nominations are based on a shortlist generated by asking the public to identify the...
for the Greatest Briton of the year, winner in the category of Science and Innovation, as well as the overall winner.
- 2006 - 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...
for Biochemistry and Biophysics.
- 8 March 2007 - Honorary degree from King's College London
King's College London is a British higher education institution and co-founding constituent college of the University of London. Founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, its royal charter is predated, in England, only by those of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge...
.
- 23 January 2008 - Graham Medal of the Glasgow Philosophical Society, awarded after he gave his lecture "DNA Profiling; Past, present and future", which was nominated as the Graham Lecture.