Tom Blundell

For the New Zealand cricketer, see Tom Blundell (cricketer).

Sir Tom Blundell
FRS FRSC FMedSci FRSB MAE
Blundell in 2006
Born
Thomas Leon Blundell

(1942-07-07) 7 July 1942 (age 82)[8]
Brighton, England, UK
EducationSteyning Grammar School
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (BA, DPhil)[8]
Known for
Spouse
Lady Bancinyane Lynn Sibanda
​
​
(m. 1987)​
[8]
Children3[10]
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
ThesisThe determination by X-ray diffraction methods of the crystal and molecular structures of some co-ordination compounds (1969)
Doctoral advisorHerbert M Powell[3]
Doctoral students
Websitewww.bioc.cam.ac.uk/research/blundell

Sir Thomas Leon Blundell, FRS FRSC FMedSci MAE (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist, structural biologist, and science administrator. He was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin. Blundell has made contributions to the structural biology of polypeptide hormones, growth factors, receptor activation, signal transduction, and DNA double-strand break repair, subjects important in cancer, tuberculosis, and familial diseases.[11] He has developed software for protein modelling and understanding the effects of mutations on protein function, leading to new approaches to structure-guided and Fragment-based lead discovery. In 1999 he co-founded the oncology company Astex Therapeutics, which has moved ten drugs into clinical trials. Blundell has played central roles in restructuring British research councils and, as President of the UK Science Council, in developing professionalism in the practice of science.[12]

  1. ^ Anon (1996). "Tom L. Blundell". people.embo.org. Heidelberg: European Molecular Biology Organization.
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference gs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference bdphil was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Hubbard, Timothy John Philip (1988). The design, expression and characterisation of a novel protein. london.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of London. OCLC 940320228. Copac 29528696.
  5. ^ Pearl, Laurence (1991). Crystallographic studies of endothiapepsin. london.ac.uk (PhD thesis). London, Birkbeck College. OCLC 1000934521.
  6. ^ Sali, Andrej (1991). Modelling three-dimensional structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence. london.ac.uk (PhD thesis). London, Birkbeck College. OCLC 500526292. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.415316.
  7. ^ Deane, Charlotte (2000). Protein structure prediction: amino acid propensities and comparative modelling (PhD thesis). EThOS uk.bl.ethos.598479.
  8. ^ a b c Anon (2015). "Blundell, Sir Thomas Leon, (Sir Tom)". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U7914. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. ^ Blundell, T.; Cutfield, J.; Cutfield, S.; Dodson, E.; Dodson, G.; Hodgkin, D.; Mercola, D.; Vijayan, M. (1971). "Atomic positions in rhombohedral 2-zinc insulin crystals". Nature. 231 (5304): 506–511. Bibcode:1971Natur.231..506B. doi:10.1038/231506a0. PMID 4932997. S2CID 4158731.
  10. ^ Cambridge, University of (29 March 2018). "The multi-talented scientist who finds inspiration in far-flung places". Medium.com. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  11. ^ Tom Blundell publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  12. ^ "Professor Sir Tom Blundell FRS FMedSci". British Humanist Association. Retrieved 22 March 2014.