Bird, Adrian Peter (1947– )

English molecular biologist who demonstrated that the process of DNA methylation provides a switching mechanism by which a cell can control the activity of specific genes in its nucleus. This process is thought to be particularly important for cell differentiation (the process by which cells become increasingly more specialized).

His research showed that the activity of genes studded along the length of chromosomes in living cells can be blocked by methylation of specific sites (called ‘CpG sites’) on the DNA of those genes. Thus, when these sites in a gene are methylated, the gene is inactive; when they are demethylated, the gene has the potential to become active and influence the functioning of the cell. The exact site where the DNA is methylated and its degree of methylation also affects how stable the gene is when it is inactive.

Bird's research is particularly important to the study of the development of the embryo when the activity of different genes has to be tightly controlled to induce the development of specific parts of the body in the right place at the right time.

Adrian Bird graduated from the University of Sussex and obtained his PhD from the University of Edinburgh 1971. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 1989 and the Buchanan professor of genetics at the University of Edinburgh 1990.