Julian Charles Rayner is a

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

researcher, and the Director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, part of 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 ...

School of Clinical Medicine. He is also Director of Wellcome Connecting Science. He was previously a member of academic Faculty at the

Wellcome Sanger Institute The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is located on the Wellcome Ge ...

. Julian Rayner became Director of CIMR in 2019.

Education

Rayner completed his undergraduate studies in New Zealand, before undertaking his PhD at the

. His doctoral research investigated the sorting of

membrane protein Membrane proteins are common proteins that are part of, or interact with, biological membranes. Membrane proteins fall into several broad categories depending on their location. Integral membrane proteins are a permanent part of a cell membrane ...

s in the yeast secretory pathway while based at the Medical Research Council (MRC)

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 ...

(LMB) in Cambridge.

Career and research

Rayner joined the Sanger Institute in 2008,and became a Senior Group Leader in 2013. In 2014 he was appointed as the Director of Connecting Science for the Wellcome Genome Campus. In 2019, he joined the University of Cambridge, as the Director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. He was also elected to the Chair of Cell Biology in the School of Clinical Medicine. Rayner's research interests encompass the origins of ''

Plasmodium ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a blood-feeding insect host which then injects parasites into a vert ...

'' parasites, and how their invasion of red blood cells cause all the symptoms of malaria. Working with collaborators such as Beatrice Hahn, he has demonstrated that ''

Plasmodium falciparum ''Plasmodium falciparum'' is a Unicellular organism, unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of ''Plasmodium'' that causes malaria in humans. The parasite is transmitted through the bite of a female ''Anopheles'' mosqu ...

'' is likely to have originated in gorillas, rather than chimpanzees or ancient humans. Together with colleagues at the Sanger Institute, Rayner has identified a key ligand which is essential for erythrocyte invasion by ''P. falciparum'' and therefore has significant anti-malarial potential.

Public engagement

In March 2011 Rayner took part in the Argon Zone of the science engagement activity ''

I'm a Scientist, Get me out of here! I'm a Scientist, Get me out of here! is an online science enrichment activity that runs throughout term-time in the UK. School students interact with scientists in text-based live chats in themed 'Zones'. At the end of the event the school students ...

'', where he won £500 to put towards a science communication project. Rayner used the prize money to create

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

versions of the interactive game Malaria Challenge and distributed copies freely to schools in the UK.

Honours and awards

In 2015 he was awarded CA Wright Memorial medal by the

British Society for Parasitology The British Society for Parasitology is a UK-based organisation of British parasitologists. It was founded in April 1962 from the Parasitological Section of the Institute of Biology The Institute of Biology (IoB) was a professional body for biolog ...

References

Living people 21st-century British biologists British parasitologists New Zealand biologists Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-biologist-stub