Ron Laskey

{{Short description|British cell biologist and cancer researcher}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Ron Laskey | birth_name = Ronald Alfred Laskey | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS|FMedSci|size=100%}} | image = Prof Ron Laskey.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Prof Laskey (right) presented with the 2014 Cancer Research UK Lifetime Achievement Prize by Chief Scientist Nic Jones<ref name=lifetime>{{Cite web|url=http://ecancer.org/en/video/3255-prof-laskey-receives-lifetime-achievement-prize|title=Prof Laskey receives Lifetime Achievement Prize - ecancer|website=ecancer.org}}</ref> | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|01|26|df=y}}<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who |author=Anon| title=Laskey, Prof. Ronald Alfred | id = U23843 | year = 2015 | doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U23843|edition = online Oxford University Press}}</ref> | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = | patrons = | education = Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe | alma_mater = University of Oxford (DPhil) | thesis_title = Application of cell cultures to the study of differentiation in Xenopus laevis : effects of the environment on the proliferation and behaviour of differentiating amphibian cells | thesis_url = https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.711464 | thesis_year = 1970 | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = Richard Harland<ref name=rphd>{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|publisher=University of Cambridge|url=https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/search?q=Control%20of%20chromosomal%20replication&rn=1|title=Control of chromosomal replication|first= Richard M.|last=Harland|date=1980|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.256803}}|website=jisc.ac.uk|oclc=556502145}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20033144.html|title=Richard Harland|website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (1998)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prix-louis-jeantet/laureats/1998-en/professeur-ronald-a-laskey/|title=Professor Ronald A. LASKEY | Jeantet|date=1 October 2017}}</ref> * Colworth Medal<ref>{{Cite journal | pmid = 6266896 | year = 1981 | last1 = Laskey | first1 = R. A. | title = Molecular mechanisms of chromatin assembly | journal = Biochemical Society Transactions | volume = 9 | issue = 4 | pages = 263–70 | doi=10.1042/bst0090263 }}</ref>}} | spouse = {{marriage|Margaret Ann Page|1971}}<ref name=whoswho/> | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/professor-ron-laskey}} | footnotes = }} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}} {{Use British English|date=January 2014}} '''Ronald Alfred Laskey''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|FRS|FMedSci}} <small>FLSW</small> (born 26 January 1945) is a British cell biologist and cancer researcher.

==Career and research== Laskey was the Charles Darwin Professor of Embryology at the University of Cambridge. In 1991, he co-founded the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research Campaign Institute (now known as the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute), along with five other senior scientists including Professor Sir John Gurdon.<ref name=gurdon>{{Cite news|url=https://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/simply-science-gurdon-at-21/|title=Simply science: the Gurdon at 21|first=Michael|last=Regnier|work=Wellcome Trust Blog|date=29 June 2012|archive-date=10 November 2019|access-date=10 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191110075023/https://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/simply-science-gurdon-at-21/|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2001, he founded the Medical Research Council Cancer Cell Unit in 2001,<ref>{{cite news |title=Cancer unit at Cambridge opens in 2001 |url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=109638&sectioncode=26 |work=Times Higher Education Supplement |date=30 October 1998 |accessdate=7 December 2011 }}</ref> and was Director of the Unit until 2010. Laskey is also a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge.<ref name=darwin>{{Cite web|url=http://www.darwin.cam.ac.uk/people/fellows|title=Master & fellows | www.darwin.cam.ac.uk|website=www.darwin.cam.ac.uk|date=5 July 2023 }}</ref>

===Awards and honours=== Laskey was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2011 New Year Honours. Other significant honours include the Royal Society Royal Medal, for his "pivotal contributions to our understanding of the control of DNA replication and nuclear protein transport, which has led to a novel screening method for cancer diagnosis",<ref name=rs>{{Cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/royal-medal/|title=Royal Medals | Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org|date=29 November 2024 }}</ref> and the Cancer Research UK Lifetime Achievement Prize.<ref name=lifetime/>

* 1984: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society.<ref name=Fellow>{{Cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/fellows/|title=Fellows | Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org}}</ref> * 1998: Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine.<ref name=LJ>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jeantet.ch/en/prize-winners/|title=Prize winners | Jeantet|date=11 December 2017}}</ref> * 2000: ''Tomorrow's World'' award for health innovation.<ref>[http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Newspublications/News/MRC006205 Medical Research Council: News & Publications: Royal Society awards recognise MRC scientists] (accessed 13 January 2013)</ref><ref>[http://www.rae.ac.uk/2001/submissions/Textform.asp?route=2&HESAInst=H-0114&UoA=01&Msub=Z&Form=RA6a RAE 2001: Clinical Laboratory Sciences: University of Cambridge: RA6a Additional observations, Evidence of esteem] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051751/http://www.rae.ac.uk/2001/submissions/Textform.asp?route=2&HESAInst=H-0114&UoA=01&Msub=Z&Form=RA6a |date=4 March 2016 }} (accessed 13 January 2013)</ref> * 2001: Croonian Lecture.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Laskey R |title=The Croonian Lecture 2001: Hunting the antisocial cancer cell: MCM proteins and their exploitation |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |volume=360 |issue=1458 |pages=1119–32 |date=June 2005 |pmid=16147513 |pmc=1569504 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2005.1656}}</ref> * 2009: Royal Society Royal Medal. * 2011: Received an CBE in the New Year Honours list for services to Science.<ref name=obe>{{Cite web|url=http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_193299|title=New Year Honours list 2011|access-date=16 December 2011|archive-date=27 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927175325/http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_193299|url-status=dead}}</ref> * 2013: Elected Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wales |first=The Learned Society of |title=Ron Laskey |url=https://www.learnedsociety.wales/fellow/ron-laskey-2/ |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=The Learned Society of Wales |language=en-US}}</ref> * 2014: Cancer Research UK Lifetime Achievement In Cancer Research Prize

==Personal life ==

Laskey married Margaret Ann Page in 1971.<ref name=whoswho/> Laskey is an author, composer and singer of (mostly) science-based humorous songs, in the tradition of Tom Lehrer. Various combinations of these songs were published by the Cold Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press in three records: "Songs for Cynical Scientists" (audio cassette), ''More Songs for Cynical Scientists'' and ''Selected Songs for Cynical Scientists'' (CDs). Only the last-mentioned record is still available.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://musicbrainz.org/release/8a4008a4-3af1-4e5d-9588-503bd13756bd|title=Release "Selected Songs for Cynical Scientists" by Ron Laskey - MusicBrainz|website=musicbrainz.org}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe Category:Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Category:Royal Medal winners Category:Fellows of the Royal Society Category:Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Category:20th-century British biologists Category:21st-century British biologists Category:British cancer researchers Category:Fellows of Darwin College, Cambridge Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Fellows of the Learned Society of Wales