Jane Clarke (née Morgan; born 1950) is an English

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

and academic. Since October 2017, she has served as

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of Wolfson College, Cambridge. She is also Professor of

Molecular Biophysics Molecular biophysics is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary area of research that combines concepts in physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and biology. It seeks to understand biomolecular systems and explain biological function in terms ...

, a

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. She was previously a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

Early life and education

Clarke was born Jane Morgan in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 10 September 1950. She was educated at the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

where she graduated with a

first-class honours degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

in 1972. She went on to study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at the

in 1973. Clarke was a science teacher in several secondary schools, and a Head of Science at Northumberland Park School, Tottenham, from 1973 to 1986. Clarke married Christopher Clarke in 1973 with whom she would go on to have one son and one daughter. He obtained a job in the United States and the family moved there. Since Clarke was unable to work as a teacher, through not having appropriate qualifications she decided to update her scientific knowledge through a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in applied biology, awarded in 1990 from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. This experience made her decide to seek a career in research related to proteins. She was subsequently awarded a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

degree in 1993 for investigations of Bacterial Ribonuclease (Barnase) from the

supervised by Alan Fersht.

Research and career

Clarke was appointed a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in 2001, a Professor of Molecular Biophysics in 2009 and a Fellow of

, in 2010. On 1 October 2017, she became the

of Wolfson College, Cambridge. Clarke's research investigates

protein folding Protein folding is the physical process by which a protein chain is translated to its native three-dimensional structure, typically a "folded" conformation by which the protein becomes biologically functional. Via an expeditious and reproduci ...

, in particular: # Studies of structurally related proteins # Multidomain proteins: effects of sequence on folding and misfolding # Folding and assembly: intrinsically disordered proteins Clarke's research has been funded by the

, Medical Research Council (MRC) and the

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds scientific rese ...

(BBSRC). She has been the author or co-author of over 100 scientific papers and book chapters including: * Sigrid Milles and 11 other authors including Jane Clarke (2015
Plasticity of an ultrafast interaction between nucleoporins and nuclear transport receptors.
''Cell'' 163 734–745 * Madeleine B. Borgia, Alessandro Borgia, six others and Jane Clarke (2011
Single-molecule fluorescence reveals sequence-specific misfolding in multidomain proteins.
''Nature'' 474 662–665 * Alessandro Borgia, Philip M. Williams and Jane Clarke (2008
Single-molecule studies of protein folding
''Annual Review of Biochemistry'' 77 101–125 * Jung-Hoon Han, Sarah Batey, Adrian A. Nickson, Sarah A. Teichmann and Jane Clarke (2007
The folding and evolution of multidomain proteins.
''Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology'' 8 319–330

Awards and honours

In 2010, Clarke was awarded the US

Genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

award from the

Biophysical Society The Biophysical Society is an international scientific society whose purpose is to lead the development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. Founded in 1958, the Society currently consists of over 7,500 members in academia, government, an ...

. Clarke was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2013. Her nomination for the

Academy of Medical Sciences The Academy of Medical Sciences is an organisation established in the UK in 1998. It is one of the four UK National Academies, the others being the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. Its mission is to adv ...

in 2013 reads: Clarke was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015. Her certificate of election reads: In 2021 she spoke about her career in the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

programme ''The Life Scientific''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Jane Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Chemistry Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) 1950 births Members of the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry British biochemists Biophysicists Women biophysicists Scientists from London Alumni of the University of York Alumni of the University of Cambridge Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Presidents of Wolfson College, Cambridge Female Fellows of the Royal Society