Nexxus Scotland

Director of MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine receives Lifetime Achievement Award

25 November 2009

The man credited with making a sheep named Dolly one of the best known accomplishments in life science in Scotland has won the 2009 Nexxus Annual Lifetime Achievement Award (East).  Professor Sir Ian Wilmut received the award at a ceremony on 24 November at the City Chambers on Edinburgh's Royal Mile. The Award recognises an individual who has made significant contributions to raising the reputation of central Scotland as a centre of excellence for life sciences.

Professor Wilmut said, "It is an honour to win this award.  It is important to recognise that research of this kind is carried out by a team of people who each contributes essential skills and experience to the project.  In a very real sense I accept the award on behalf of the team.  I am also delighted that the award recognises the importance of basic research.  Advances in basic research are essential for the future development of life sciences in Scotland.  We can look forward to new opportunities arising from the Dolly experiment playing an important part in Scottish companies."
Professor Wilmut has worked in the life sciences sector in Scotland for more than 36 years, 32 of those at the Roslin Institute where he led the team that developed the capabilities to create the first clone of an adult animal - Dolly the sheep - born in 1996. This achievement resulted in immediate and long-lasting international renown for Wilmut's work and a degree of recognition for life sciences in Scotland never before seen.

Though many individuals might have been content to rest on their laurels after such an accomplishment, Professor Wilmut continued to avidly forge ahead in his research. At the Roslin Institute, he carried on investigating the basic mechanisms that control development of cloned embryos. This work has applications in improving laboratory procedures and developing biomedical applications including the derivation of human cells for therapy and modification of agricultural livestock.

Today, he is the Director of the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, a position he has held since 2006. He guides the Centre's 200 researchers toward their goals of developing new treatments for human disease through innovative stem cell research. The science involved ranges from the study of basic mechanisms regulating stem cells in normal development to the cells' differentiation into specific lineages to use for drug discovery or cell therapy.

Professor Wilmut also maintains his own active laboratory at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine. Much of his group's research focuses on the immense research potential of induced pluripotent stem cells. These cells - made from taking adult cells and reverting them to a stem cell-like state - can be used to investigate a broad range of inherited diseases such as Motor Neuron disease.  In collaboration with other stem cell researchers, Wilmut uses cells from individuals with rare inherited diseases, reversing them into and out of a stem-cell like state, to study how those illnesses develop.  Another topic of particular interest is epigenetic mechanisms.  Epigenetic mechanisms are signals within cells, other than DNA itself, that help determine the appearance, health and function of an individual.

In addition to his relentlessly active research career, Professor Wilmut has given his services to many professional bodies in his field. He has sat on the editorial board and acted as the editor in chief of several journals and has presided over scientific societies as well several International Review Panels.  He was granted an OBE in 1999 for services to embryo development and was knighted in the 2008 New Year Honours and has won numerous awards, fellowships, and honorary degrees throughout his career.

Professor Wilmut received his Bachelor of Science degree at Nottingham University School of Agriculture and conducted his doctoral and post doctoral research at Cambridge. 

Professor Wilmut and his family live in a Borders village south of Edinburgh where he is able to indulge in his hobbies of gardening, walking and photography.  He and his wife Vivienne have three children and five grandchildren.  They have greatly enjoyed the privilege of being able to travel extensively.

For further information, contact Kate Fink, Marketing Communications Assistant, Nexxus T: 0131 200 6412, E : k.fink@nexxuscotland.com  

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