{{Short description|British cell biologist}} {{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Sir Hugh Pelham | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FMedSci|size=100%}} | birth_name = Hugh Reginald Brentnall Pelham | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1954|8|26}}<ref name=pelhamswho>{{Who's Who | title=Pelham, Sir Hugh (Reginald Brentnall) |author=Anon | id = U30466 | year = 2015 | edition = online Oxford University Press}}</ref> | birth_place = | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = {{Plainlist| * Cell biology * Biochemistry * Molecular biology}} | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * Laboratory of Molecular Biology * University of Zurich * Carnegie Institution of Washington–Baltimore<ref name=pelhamswho/>}} | patrons = | education = Marlborough College | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * University of Cambridge (BA, MA, PhD)}} | thesis_title = Transcription and Translation in Reticulocyte Lysates | thesis_url = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.468626 | thesis_year = 1978 | doctoral_advisor = {{Plainlist| * Tim Hunt * Richard J. Jackson}} | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = {{unbulleted list |Sean Munro<ref name=golgi>{{cite journal|last1=Short|first1=Ben|title=Sean Munro: Revealing the Golgi's true identity|journal=The Journal of Cell Biology|volume=192|issue=1|year=2011|pages=4–5|issn=0021-9525|doi=10.1083/jcb.1921pi|pmc=3019565|pmid=21220504}}</ref> |Peter Karl Sorger}} | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Knight Bachelor (2011) * Florey Lecture (1992) * Croonian Medal and Lecture (1999) * King Faisal International Prize (1996)<ref name=faisal>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210211032/http://kfip.org/professor-hugh-r-pelham/|url=http://kfip.org/professor-hugh-r-pelham/|title=Professor Hugh R. Pelham Winner of the 1996 KFIP Prize for Science|archive-date=2015-12-10}}</ref> * Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (1991)<ref>[https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prix-louis-jeantet/laureats/1991-en/docteur-hugh-r-b-pelham/ Louis-Jeantet Prize]</ref> * EMBO Gold Medal (1989) * Colworth Medal (1988)}} | website = {{URL|https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/group-leaders/emeritus/hugh-pelham/}} | footnotes = | spouse = {{marriage|Mariann Bienz|1996}}<ref name=pelhamswho/><ref name=ladypelham>{{Who's Who | title=BIENZ, Dr Mariann, (Lady Pelham) | id = U44039 | volume = 2015 | edition = online Oxford University Press}}</ref> | children = }} '''Sir Hugh Reginald Brentnall Pelham''', {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|FMedSci}}<ref name=fmedsci>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210131002/http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/sir-hugh-pelham/|archive-date=2015-12-10|url=http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk/fellows/fellows-directory/ordinary-fellows/sir-hugh-pelham/|publisher=Academy of Medical Sciences|location=London|title=Hugh Pelham FMedSci}}</ref><ref name=frs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117014840/https://royalsociety.org/people/hugh-pelham-12072/ |archive-date=2015-11-17 |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/hugh-pelham-12072/ |title=Sir Hugh Pelham FMedSci FRS |publisher=Royal Society |location=London }}</ref> (born 26 August 1954)<ref name=pelhamswho/> is a cell biologist who has contributed to our understanding of the body's response to rises in temperature through the synthesis of heat shock proteins.<ref name=frs/> He served as director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) between 2006 and 2018.<ref name=mrclmb>{{cite journal|doi=10.7554/eLife.00856|pmid=23741620|title=Building for the future|journal=eLife|volume=2|article-number=e00856|year=2013|last1=Pelham|first1=Hugh|pmc=3667621 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Education== Pelham was educated at Marlborough College in Marlborough, Wiltshire and Christ's College, Cambridge. He graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Natural Sciences followed by a PhD for research on transcription and translation in immature blood cells (Reticulocytes).<ref>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|title=Transcription and Translation in Reticulocyte Lysates|first=Hugh R. B.|last=Pelham|year=1978|url=https://copac.jisc.ac.uk/id/23509428?style=html|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.468626}}|oclc=500538683|access-date=18 September 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918123553/https://copac.jisc.ac.uk/id/23509428?style=html}}</ref> His PhD was supervised by Richard J. Jackson and Tim Hunt,<ref name=frs/> who went on to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001.
==Career and research== Pelham is an authority on the movement of proteins within cells. Pelhams's work has explained how some proteins can protect cells from damage. He has also shown how cells remove damaged or unwanted proteins – vital for maintaining their healthy functioning. More recently, his research investigates how proteins are modified and sorted to their correct places within cells and aims to find ways of blocking these processes.<ref name=frs/><ref name=scopus>{{Scopus|id=7005593326}}</ref><ref name="PELHAMJACKSON1976">{{cite journal|last1=Pelham|first1=Hugh R. B.|last2=Jackson|first2=Richard J.|title=An Efficient mRNA-Dependent Translation System from Reticulocyte Lysates|journal=European Journal of Biochemistry|volume=67|issue=1|year=1976|pages=247–256|issn=0014-2956|doi=10.1111/j.1432-1033.1976.tb10656.x|pmid=823012}}</ref><ref name="Pelham1986">{{cite journal|last1=Pelham|first1=Hugh R.B.|title=Speculations on the functions of the major heat shock and glucose-regulated proteins|journal=Cell|volume=46|issue=7|year=1986|pages=959–961|issn=0092-8674|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(86)90693-8|pmid=2944601|s2cid=40952713}}</ref><ref name="MunroPelham1987">{{cite journal|last1=Munro|first1=Sean|last2=Pelham|first2=Hugh R.B.|title=A C-terminal signal prevents secretion of luminal ER proteins|journal=Cell|volume=48|issue=5|year=1987|pages=899–907|issn=0092-8674|doi=10.1016/0092-8674(87)90086-9|pmid=3545499|s2cid=24942115}}</ref>
Pelham has been a visiting professor at the University of Zurich and held many posts at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, where he succeeded Richard Henderson to become the LMB's Director in 2006.<ref name=frs/><ref name=mrclmb/> He has been an Honorary Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge since 2015.<ref name=pelhamswho/>
===Awards and honours=== Pelham was knighted by Elizabeth II in the 2011 Birthday Honours and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1988.<ref name=frs/> His certificate of election reads: {{centred pull quote|Distinguished for his contributions to protein biosynthesis, the control of gene activity and intracellular sorting. He developed a sensitive ''in vitro'' translation system, with which he discovered that naturally "leaky" termination codons exist in plant virus RNAs, and achieved the first correct synthesis and processing of viral polyproteins ''in vitro''. He showed that the transcription factor TFIIIA, which is required in ''Xenopus'' oocytes for 5S rDNA transcription, binds to the gene product, %S RNA and is present in large amounts in oocytes. From studies on heat shock genes, he identified the first regulatory DNA sequence (the "Pelham" box) in a eukaryotic gene, proving this alone could confer heat inducibility on another gene. He has shown that this sequence is the binding site for a transcription factor which is modified by heat shock, thus establishing the basic mechanism of induction of these genes. He has clarified the function of heat shock proteins, finding that two of these reside in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. This led to his discovery that a C-terminal amino acid sequence is a novel sorting signal, preventing proteins from being exported from the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum.<ref name=royal>{{cite web |url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1988%2F30%27) |title=Certificate of election EC/1988/30: Pelham, Hugh Reginald Brentnall |publisher=Royal Society |location=London |archive-date=12 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212152614/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC/1988/30%27) |access-date=10 December 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
Pelham gave the Florey Lecture in 1992, was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 1998.<ref name=fmedsci/> In 1999 he gave the Croonian Lecture and he was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in 1996.<ref name=faisal/> He won the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 1991 and the EMBO Gold Medal in 1989. He was awarded the Colworth Medal from the Biochemical Society in 1988 and elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 1985.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people.embo.org/profile/hugh-rb-pelham|title=EMBO member: Hugh R.B. Pelham|publisher=EMBO|location=Heidelberg}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelham, Hugh}} Category:Living people Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Category:People educated at Marlborough College Category:1954 births {{UK-scientist-stub}}