Adrian P. Bird, Ph.D. is the world's leading expert in the gene, MECP2, responsible for Rett Syndrome when mutated. His lab studies the structure and function of the mammalian genome and in particular the role of DNA methylation, a fundamental mechanism of controlling gene expression.
In February of 2007 Dr. Bird published a landmark paper in Science establishing the principle of reversibility of Rett symptoms in mice thereby suggesting the same may be true for people.
Dr. Bird became Buchanan Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh in 1990. There he played a prominent role in setting up the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, where he has been director since 1999. Dr. Bird has been a Governor of the Wellcome Trust, the world's largest medical research charity, since 2000. In April of 2007 he was appointed Deputy Chairman. In his leadership position he oversees assets totaling more than $27 billion.
Dr. Bird is also the past Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Rett Syndrome Research Foundation and Breakthrough Breast Cancer UK as well as a Trustee of the Kirkhouse Trust. He serves on the editorial boards of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Molecular Cell.
Dr. Bird studied at the University of Sussex and the University of Edinburgh. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the prestigious Howard Hughes International Fellowship, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine and the Gabor Medal of the Royal Society. He is a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh and of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
More on Dr. Bird's research:
Dr. Bird isolated a family of proteins (known as methyl-CpG-binding domain proteins, or MBD proteins) who have the ability to bind to methylated genes, thereby regulating their expression. The family of MBD proteins includes the patriarch MeCP2 which Dr. Bird isolated while at the Research Institute for Molecular Pathology in Vienna. The complete family includes MBD1, MBD2, MBD3, and MBD4. Human MBD proteins are considered housekeeping proteins because they are widely expressed in all tissues. Research in the Bird lab is currently focused on studying the biology of the MBD protein family using biochemical and genetic approaches.
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