Franklin Gerardus "Frank" Grosveld, FRS (born 18 August 1948) is a Dutch molecular biologist whose research interests are in the regulation of transcription during development with a particular emphasis on mammalian

erythroid Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "hol ...

differentiation. He is a professor and former Head of the Department of Cell Biology at the

Erasmus MC Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC or EMC) based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, affiliated with Erasmus University and home to its faculty of medicine, is the largest and one of the most authoritative scientific University Medical Centers in ...

, Rotterdam.

Biography

He obtained his PhD degree from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, Montreal and after completing two postdoctoral periods with

Charles Weissmann Charles Weissmann (born 14 October 1931) is a Hungarian- Swiss molecular biologist. Weissmann is particularly known for the first cloning and expression of interferon and his contributions to the unraveling of the molecular genetics of neurogen ...

(Zurich) and Richard Flavell (Amsterdam and London) he started his own research group at the

National Institute for Medical Research The National Institute for Medical Research (commonly abbreviated to NIMR), was a medical research institute based in Mill Hill, on the outskirts of north London, England. It was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC); In 2016, the NIMR b ...

, Mill Hill. Grosveld has been conducting research on the regulation of

gene expression Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, protein or non-coding RNA, and ultimately affect a phenotype, as the final effect. The ...

over thirty years. In his post-doctoral research he constructed the first reliable method for

cloning Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical or virtually identical DNA, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction. In the field of biotechnology, cl ...

human DNA

cosmid A cosmid is a type of hybrid plasmid that contains a Lambda phage ''cos'' sequence. They are often used as a cloning vector in genetic engineering. Cosmids can be used to build genomic libraries. They were first described by Collins and Hohn in ...

s - at the time an extremely difficult but rewarding accomplishment that has since been adopted by many other laboratories. By using the

globin The globins are a superfamily of heme-containing globular proteins, involved in binding and/or transporting oxygen. These proteins all incorporate the globin fold, a series of eight alpha helical segments. Two prominent members include myo ...

gene cluster he made the ground-breaking discovery of a locus control region located upstream of the gene itself and governing overall control of

. After this first report, locus control regions have now been identified for many genes and have permitted for example the

ectopic expression Ectopic is a word used with a prefix, ecto, meaning “out of place.” Ectopic expression is an abnormal gene expression in a cell type, tissue type, or developmental stage in which the gene is not usually expressed. The term ectopic expression is ...

of genes in

transgenic mice A genetically modified mouse or genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) is a mouse (''Mus musculus'') that has had its genome altered through the use of genetic engineering techniques. Genetically modified mice are commonly used for research or ...

. In further studies he identified

chromatin Chromatin is a complex of DNA and protein found in eukaryotic cells. The primary function is to package long DNA molecules into more compact, denser structures. This prevents the strands from becoming tangled and also plays important roles in r ...

loops and the hubs that hold the loops together. His more recent excursions into

differentiation have made the key identification of the

transcription factor In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fu ...

GATA1 GATA-binding factor 1 or GATA-1 (also termed Erythroid transcription factor) is the founding member of the GATA family of transcription factors. This protein is widely expressed throughout vertebrate species. In humans and mice, it is encoded by ...

, a major and unique advance into understanding

cell development. Along with major research advances he has also developed new technologies, such as 4C technology (a modification of the 3C technology invented previously by others) that makes possible examination of

conformation on a chip and constructed a number of spin off companies. He has mentored a large number of PhDs and postdocs, many of whom have gone on to academic positions all over the world and are now eminent scientists leading groups of their own. Grosveld's research on the control of

has been selected as one of the top ten achievements of

Medical Research Council (UK) The Medical Research Council (MRC) is responsible for co-coordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is part of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI), which came into operation 1 April 2018, and brings together t ...

(MRC) in the 20th century by

Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the UK Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the UK (HERO) is the official gateway website of the UK's higher education system and introduces the research organisations and bodies of the UK. As of November 2010, the site is closed. The idea of ...

. He was awarded the

Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prizes are funded by the ''Fondation Louis-Jeantet'' and awarded each year to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in one of the member states of t ...

(1991) and the

Spinozapremie The Spinoza Prize ( nl, Spinozapremie) is an annual award of 2.5 million euro, to be spent on new research given by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The award is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. It is named after the philosopher ...

(Spinoza Prize) (1995). He was selected as academy professor of

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 2008. He is a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) and Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grosveld, Frank Canadian biologists Dutch molecular biologists Fellows of the Royal Society McGill University alumni Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Spinoza Prize winners Living people 1948 births