John Dennis Biggers (; 1923 – April 7, 2018) was a British and American reproductive biologist and reproductive physiologist who helped pioneer

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

. He played a founding role in the scientific study of reproductive physiology, won many scientific awards for developing technology which would become central to human IVF, and engaged in public outreach regarding the ethics of artificial fertilisation.

Early life and education

Biggers was born in 1923 in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, Southeast England, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers River Thames, Thames and River Kennet, Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 mot ...

, to Wilfred Norman Biggers, a chemistry and physics teacher, and Winnifred Gardner, a

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

employee. Biggers studied veterinary science at the

Royal Veterinary College , mottoeng = Confront disease at onset , established = (became a constituent part of University of London in 1949) , endowment = £10.5 million (2021) , budget = £106.0 million (20 ...

. He subsequently shifted his focus to mammalian physiology, in which he earned a

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

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

Development of IVF

After completing his graduate education, Biggers first worked at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

, then in 1955 moved to

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

under a

commonwealth fellowship The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which Commonwealth governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. History The plan was originally proposed b ...

, and from there became a senior lecturer at the Royal Veterinary College. While lecturing at University College London in 1958, he coauthored a landmark

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

paper with Dame

Anne McLaren Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren, (26 April 1927 – 7 July 2007) was a British scientist who was a leading figure in developmental biology. Her work helped lead to human in vitro fertilisation (IVF),

, which for the first time reported the successful development and birth of

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

cultivated in vitro. Professor Henry Leese of Hull York Medical School, writing for the Society for Reproduction and Fertility, labelled this "one of the most significant papers in the history of reproductive biology and medicine", and this development is widely considered a crucial milestone towards in vitro fertilisation in humans. Biggers moved to the United States in 1959, working first at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, moving to

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1967, and finally becoming a professor at the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in 1972. During this time, he worked on problems in

embryo culture Embryo culture is a component of ''in vitro'' fertilisation where in resultant embryos are allowed to grow for some time in an artificial medium. Duration The duration of embryo culture can be varied, conferring different stages of embryogenesis ...

, embryo transfer,

cryobiology Cryobiology is the branch of biology that studies the effects of low temperatures on living things within Earth's cryosphere or in science. The word cryobiology is derived from the Greek words κρῧος ryos "cold", βίος ios "life", and λό ...

, sperm preservation, and the statistics of experimental design. Biggers was a founding member and president of the Society for the Study of Reproduction, won several awards for his research from organizations like the Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation, and authored more than 250 scientific papers. In addition to experimentation and mentoring, Biggers engaged publicly in ethical and policy advocacy regarding IVF technology.

Howard W. Jones Howard Wilbur Jones, Jr. (December 30, 1910 – July 31, 2015) was an American gynecological surgeon and in vitro fertilization (IVF) specialist. Jones and his wife, Georgeanna Seegar Jones, were two of the earliest reproductive medicine speciali ...

credited Biggers with providing critical support for the initiation of clinical IVF in the United States, which led to the first American baby being born by means of IVF. Biggers was regularly interviewed in the popular press on issues of reproductive ethics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggers, John 1923 births 2018 deaths English biologists British scientists Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Academics of University College London Alumni of University College London People from Reading, Berkshire Fellows of the Royal Statistical Society 20th-century British biologists 20th-century American biologists 21st-century British biologists 21st-century American biologists