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Adrian P. Bird, Ph.D.Buchanan Professor of Genetics, University of Edinburgh Director, Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology Chairman, RSRF Scientific Advisory Board 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. Bird discovered a family of genes (known as methyl-CpG-binding domain genes, or MBD genes) whose protein products have the ability to bind to methyalted genes, thereby regulating their expression. The family of MBD genes includes the patriarch MECP2 which Bird isolated while at the Research Institute for Molecular Pathology in Vienna. The complete family of genes includes MBD1, MBD2, MBD3, and MBD4. Human MBD genes are considered housekeeping genes 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. 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. Bird became a Governor, in 2000, of the Wellcome Trust, the world's second largest medical charity. Bird is also the 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. 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. Resources:
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