Sir Martin John Evans <small>FLSW</small> (born 1 January 1941) is an English biologist who, with Matthew Kaufman, was the first to culture mice embryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a laboratory in 1981. He is also known, along with Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies, for his work in the development of the knockout mouse and the related technology of gene targeting, a method of using embryonic stem cells to create specific gene modifications in mice. In 2007, the three shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recognition of their discovery and contribution to the efforts to develop new treatments for illnesses in humans.
He won a major scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge at a time when advances in genetics were occurring there and became interested in biology and biochemistry. He then went to University College London where he learned laboratory skills supervised by Elizabeth Deuchar. In 1978, he moved to the Department of Genetics, at the University of Cambridge, and in 1980 began his collaboration with Matthew Kaufman. They explored the method of using blastocysts for the isolation of embryonic stem cells. After Kaufman left, Evans continued his work, upgrading his laboratory skills to the newest technologies, isolated the embryonic stem cell of the early mouse embryo and established it in a cell culture. He genetically modified and implanted it into adult female mice with the intent of creating genetically modified offspring, work for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2007. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. Today, genetically modified mice are considered vital for medical research.
Early life and education
Evans was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on 1 January 1941. He worked hard studying for the University of Cambridge entrance exams. At school he was one of the best pupils, although not at the top of the class. He moved to University College London where he had a fortunate position as a research assistant, learning laboratory skills under Dr Elizabeth Deuchar. His goal at the time was "to isolate developmentally controlled m-RNA".
Career and research
He became a lecturer in the Anatomy and Embryology department at University College London, where he did research and taught PhD students and undergraduates.
After Kaufman left to take up a professorship in Anatomy in Edinburgh, Evans continued his work, branching out eclectically, "drawn into a number of fascinating fields of biology and medicine."
In the 1990s, he was a fellow at St Edmund's College, Cambridge. In 1999, he became Professor of Mammalian Genetics and Director of the School of Biosciences at Cardiff University, where he worked until he retired at the end of 2007. He became a Knight Bachelor in the 2004 New Year Honours in recognition of his work in stem cell research. He received the accolade from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace on 25 June 2004. In 2007, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies for their work in discovering a method for introducing homologous recombination in mice employing embryonic stem cells. Subsequently, Evans became Chancellor of Cardiff University in 2012. He is an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge.
Stem cell research
Evans and Kaufman isolated the embryonic stem cells from early embryos (embryoblasts) of mice and established them in cell cultures. These early embryonic cells have the potential to differentiate into any of the cells of the adult organism. They modified these stem cells genetically and placed them in the wombs of female mice so they would give birth to genetically modified offspring. This was also achieved by Gail R. Martin, independently, in the same year. Eventually, Evans was able to isolate the embryonic stem cell of the early mouse embryo and establish it in a cell culture. He then genetically modified it and implanted it into adult female mice with the intent of creating genetically modified offspring, the forebears of the laboratory mice that are considered so vital to medical research today. In some chimeric embryos, the genetically altered stem cells produced gametes, thus allowing transmission of the artificially induced mutation into future generations of mice. In this way, transgenic mice with induced mutations in the enzyme Hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) were created. The HPRT mutations were produced by retroviral insertion; it was proposed that by taking advantage of genetic recombination between the normal HPRT gene and an artificial gene sequenced added to the cultured embryonic stem cells, "it may also eventually be possible to produce specific alterations in endogenous genes through homologous recombination with cloned copies modified in vitro". and of Mario Capecchi.
Commercial activities and clinical research
Evans co-founded the stem cell company Celixir (formerly Cell Therapy Ltd) in 2009 with entrepreneur Ajan Reginald.
The company has developed stem cell therapies for heart disease, including early-stage clinical trials investigating cardiac regeneration. Evans disagreed with this editorial expression of concern.
The journal also reported discrepancies in clinical data and advised that aspects of the findings should be interpreted with caution. Their older son was a student at the University of Cambridge and their younger son was a boarder at Christ Church Cathedral School in Oxford and sang in Christ Church Cathedral choir. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at about the time the family moved to Cardiff. She works for breast cancer charities, and Martin Evans has become a trustee of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
- 1993 – Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)
- 1998 – Founder Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.
- 1999 – The USA charity March of Dimes awarded their annual prize in Developmental Biology for research into embryonic growth jointly to Professor Richard Gardner at the University of Oxford and Evans.
- 2001 – Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, jointly with Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies.<!--
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- 2002 – Honorary doctorate from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA.
- 2004 – Appointed Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours "for services to medical science".
- 2007 – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies.
- 2009 – Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine
- 2009 – Copley Medal of the Royal Society
- 2009 – Member of the Advisory Board of the Faraday Institute
- 2009 – UCL Prize Lecture in Clinical Science
- 2015 – Elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales