Brenner, Sydney (1927- )

South African scientist Sydney Brenner, lecturing at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, c. 1985. A pioneer in genetic engineering, Brenner discovered messenger RNA in 1960.

South African scientist and one of the pioneers of genetic engineering. Brenner discovered messenger RNA (a link between DNA and the ribosomes in which proteins are synthesized) in 1960. He received the Lasker Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science in 2000, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2002 for his work on the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death.

Brenner became engaged in one of the most elaborate efforts in anatomy ever attempted: investigating the nervous system of nematode worms and comparing the nervous systems of different mutant forms of the animal. About 100 genes are involved in constructing the nervous system of a nematode and most of the mutations that occur affect the overall design of a section of the nervous system. He has also conducted research in the use of genetic engineering for purifying proteins, cloning genes, and synthesizing amino acids.

Brenner was born in Germiston, near Johannesburg, and studied at the University of the Witwatersrand and in the UK at Oxford. From 1957 he researched in the Molecular Biology Laboratory of the Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK, and in 1980 was appointed its director. In 1996 he became head of the Molecular Sciences Institute, La Jolla, California.