Joyce Taylor-Papadimitriou FMedSci (born 1932) is a British

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

and geneticist. She is Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

specialising in the area of cellular, genetic and proteomic studies on patient breast tumour samples, and works within the Breast Cancer Biology Group. She was the first to identify that the action of

interferon type 1 The type-I interferons (IFN) are cytokines which play essential roles in inflammation, immunoregulation, tumor cells recognition, and T-cell responses. In the human genome, a cluster of thirteen functional IFN genes is located at the 9p21.3 cyto ...

requires the synthesis of

effector protein In biochemistry, an effector molecule is usually a small molecule that selectively binds to a protein and regulates its biological activity. In this manner, effector molecules act as ligands that can increase or decrease enzyme activity, gene e ...

Early life and education

Joyce Taylor-Papadimitriou was born in 1932 in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, Lancashire. She read biochemistry 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 ...

, graduating in 1954. Further study led to a PhD at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, supervised by

Louis Siminovitch Louis Siminovitch (May 1, 1920 – April 6, 2021) was a Canadian molecular biologist. He was a pioneer in human genetics, researcher into the genetic basis of muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, and helped establish Ontario programs explor ...

Career

As an early career researcher, Taylor-Papadimitriou worked 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 ...

(NIMR), London with

Alick Isaacs Alick Isaacs FRS (17 July 1921 – 26 January 1967) was a Scottish virologist. Background and early life Isaacs's Jewish paternal grandparents came from Lithuania to escape oppression, and took the surname Isaacs. Alick's father Louis was born ...

. Here she found that the action of type 1 interferons requires effector protein synthesis. She worked in Greece for eight years following NIMR, returning to England after to set up her own lab at the

Imperial Cancer Research Fund Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is the world's largest independent cancer research organization. It is registered as a charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, and was formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and t ...

(ICRF). Her work has included identifying and characterising the

MUC1 Mucin short variant S1, also called polymorphic epithelial mucin (PEM) or epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), is a mucin encoded by the ''MUC1'' gene in humans. Mucin short variant S1 is a glycoprotein with extensive O-linked glycosylation of its e ...

membrane

mucin Mucins () are a family of high molecular weight, heavily glycosylated proteins (glycoconjugates) produced by epithelial tissues in most animals. Mucins' key characteristic is their ability to form gels; therefore they are a key component in most ...

, a breast and ovarian tumour associated antigen which is over expressed and aberrantly

glycosylated Glycosylation is the reaction in which a carbohydrate (or 'glycan'), i.e. a glycosyl donor, is attached to a hydroxyl or other functional group of another molecule (a glycosyl acceptor) in order to form a glycoconjugate. In biology (but not alw ...

in these tissues.

Immunogen An immunogen is any substance that generates B-cell (humoral/antibody) and/or T-cell (cellular) adaptive immune responses upon exposure to a host organism. Immunogens that generate antibodies are called antigens ("antibody-generating"). Immunogen ...

s based on the MUC1 mucin are in various clinical trials. Her most highly cited paper, Sandra J. GendlerS, Carole A. Lancaster, Joyce Taylor-Papadimitriou, Trevor Duhig, Nigel Peat, Joy Burchell, Lucy Pemherton, El-Nasir Lalani, and David Wilson " Molecular Cloning and Expression of Human Tumor-associated Polymorphic Epithelial Mucin*" Journal of Biological Chemistry 265:15286-93 (1990) has been cited 1039 times. The most cited paper of which she is first author, Joyce Taylor-Papadimitriou1, J. A. Peterson2, J. Arklie1, Joy Burchell1, R. L. Ceriani2 and W. F. Bodmer1 "Monoclonal antibodies to epithelium‐specific components of the human milk fat globule membrane: Production and reaction with cells in culture" International Journal of Cancer Volume 28, Issue 1, pages 17–21, 15 July 1981 has been cited 698 times.

Honours and awards

Taylor-Papadimitriou was elected a Fellow of 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 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor-Papadimitriou, Joyce 1932 births 20th-century British biologists 20th-century British women scientists Academics of King's College London Alumni of the University of Cambridge British women biologists British geneticists Cancer researchers Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) Living people National Institute for Medical Research faculty People from Burnley University of Toronto alumni Women geneticists