Ralph L. Brinster
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Ralph L. Brinster (1932) is an internationally renowned American geneticist and Richard J. Mellon Professor of Reproductive Physiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.[1]
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[edit] Birth and education
Ralph L. Brinster was born in 1932 and grew up on a small farm in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, United States. He studied animal science as an undergraduate at the School of Agriculture, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, and completed his BS in 1953. He was an officer in the United States Air Force (1953-1956) and served in an active combat zone during and after the Korean War. He returned from military service and earned his V.M.D. (1960) and his Ph.D. in Physiology (1964) from the University of Pennsylvania.
[edit] Research
Ralph L. Brinster is known for his revolutionary research in embryonic-cell differentiation, developmental mechanisms of gene control, and transgenesis. He is a pioneer in the development of techniques for manipulating the cellular and genetic composition of early mouse embryos, and these techniques have made the mouse the major genetic model for understanding the basis of human biology and disease.
In the 1960s, Dr. Brinster developed the first reliable in vitro culture system for mammalian embryos, developing techniques which have been conserved to the present day and have formed the foundation for all experimentation with the mammalian embryo. This "Brinster Method" of embryo manipulation is so ubiquitous in modern biology that other scientists rarely cite the work in current publications.
Dr. Brinster is acknowledged as the founder of the field of mammalian transgenesis. He pioneered the development of methods to transfer foreign genes into animals and the use of these methods to understand the activity and function of genes. His seminal experiments showed that new genes can be introduced into the mammalian genome with the potential to increase disease resistance, enhance growth, and produce vital proteins like blood-clotting factors needed by hemophiliacs. He was also the first scientist to microinject fertilized eggs (with RNA) and was at the forefront of the field in applying these microinjection methods to generate transgenic mice. In recent years, Dr. Brinster has made groundbreaking discoveries in stem cell biology utilizing male germ line stem cells.
[edit] Awards and honors
Ralph L. Brinster has received numerous awards and honours in his life. Dr. Brinster was honoured with longtime collaborator Richard Palmiter by the Charles-Leopold Mayer Prize, the highest award of the French Academy of Sciences in 1994. In 1996, he received the first March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology with Beatrice Mintz for "studies resulting in the development of transgenic mice." In 1997, he was awarded the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science by the Franklin Institute, then the largest scientific prize in the United States.[2] He was awarded the Wolf Prize in Medicine in 2002/3 "for the development of procedures to manipulate mouse ova and embryos, which has enabled transgenesis and its applications in mice".[3] Dr. Brinster received the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 2006 "for his pioneering discoveries in germ line modifications in mammals."
[edit] References
- ^ Ralph L. Brinster at the University of Pennsylvania
- ^ 1997 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science.[1]
- ^ The Wolf Prize in Medicine
