Gurdon, John Bertrand (1933- )

English molecular biologist. He has studied nuclear transplantation and the effects of known protein fractions on gene activity. Transplanting nuclei and nuclear constituents, such as DNA, into enucleated eggs, mainly frog's eggs, Gurdon showed how the genetic activity changes in the recipient eggs. He concluded that the changes in gene activity induced by nuclear transplantation are indistinguishable from those that occur in normal early development. He also demonstrated how nuclear transplantation and microinjection techniques can be used to elucidate the intracellular movements of proteins.

Gurdon was born in Dippenhall, Hampshire, and educated at Oxford. In 1972 he joined the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Cambridge.