Barbara Mary Frances Pearse
FRS (born 24 March 1948,
Wraysbury
Wraysbury is a village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in England. It is under the western approach path of London Heathrow airport. It is located on the east bank of the River Thames, roughly midway between Wind ...
,
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
) is a British biological scientist. She works at the
Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...
in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, United Kingdom.
Education
Barbara Pearse attended the independent
Lady Eleanor Holles School
Lady Eleanor Holles School (often abbreviated to LEH or LEHS) is an independent day school for girls in Hampton, London. It consists of a small junior school and a larger senior school, which operate from different buildings on the same site. It ...
in
Hampton
Hampton may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia
*Hampton, New South Wales
*Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region
*Hampton, Victoria
Canada
*Hampton, New Brunswick
*Hamp ...
in Greater London, and gained her undergraduate degree from
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
in 1969.
Career
She was appointed to the scientific staff of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1982.
Research
Pearse's main contributions lie in the structure of coated
vesicle
Vesicle may refer to:
; In cellular biology or chemistry
* Vesicle (biology and chemistry), a supramolecular assembly of lipid molecules, like a cell membrane
* Synaptic vesicle
; In human embryology
* Vesicle (embryology), bulge-like features o ...
s. Pearse first purified coated vesicles; she also discovered the
clathrin
Clathrin is a protein that plays a major role in the formation of coated vesicles. Clathrin was first isolated and named by Barbara Pearse in 1976. It forms a triskelion shape composed of three clathrin heavy chains and three light chains. Whe ...
coat molecule in 1975.
Coated pits and vesicles were first seen in thin sections of tissue in the electron microscope by Thomas Roth and Keith Porter in 1964. The importance of them for the clearance of
LDL
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is one of the five major groups of lipoprotein that transport all fat molecules around the body in extracellular water. These groups, from least dense to most dense, are chylomicrons (aka ULDL by the overall densit ...
from blood was discovered by R. G. Anderson,
Michael S. Brown
Michael Stuart Brown ForMemRS NAS AAA&S APS (born April 13, 1941) is an American geneticist and Nobel laureate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Joseph L. Goldstein in 1985 for describing the regulation of choleste ...
and
Joseph L. Goldstein in 1976.
Awards and honours
She was visiting professor in
cell biology
Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...
at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
(1984-5). She was elected a member of
European Molecular Biology Organization
The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...
(EMBO) in 1982 and awarded the
EMBO Gold Medal
The EMBO Gold Medal is an annual award of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) given to young scientists for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. Laureates receive a medal and €10,000 and are invited to rec ...
in 1987. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1988.
Personal life
She is married to
Mark Bretscher
Mark Steven Bretscher (born 8 January 1940) is a British biological scientist and Fellow of the Royal Society. He worked at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, United Kingdom and is currently retired.
Educa ...
, another scientist.
[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pearse, Barbara
1948 births
20th-century British biologists
20th-century British women scientists
21st-century British biologists
21st-century British women scientists
Academics of the University of Cambridge
Academics of University College London
Alumni of University College London
British women biologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Female Fellows of the Royal Society
Living people
Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization
People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School
People from Buckinghamshire
People from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Stanford University faculty