Enrico Sandro Coen (born 29 September 1957) is a British biologist who studies the mechanisms used by plants to create complex and varied flower structures.
Coen's research has aimed to define the developmental rules that govern flower and leaf growth at both the cellular level and throughout the whole plant to better understand evolution. He has combined molecular, genetic and imaging studies with population and ecological models and computational analysis to understand flower development.
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Early life and education
Enrico Coen´s father was a physicist and his mother was a chemist. Coen developed an interest in biology at age 15 after reading a biochemistry book entitled "The Chemistry of Life". Drawn to abstract analysis, he was undecided whether to pursue chemistry or genetics, and ultimately decided for genetics because lectures began later and there was "coffee for exams".King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
in 1979 Coen stayed at Cambridge to pursue his doctoral degree. In 1982, he earned a PhD for research on ''Drosophila
''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many speci ...
'' supervised by geneticist Gabriel Dover on the evolution and function of genes needed to make ribosomal RNA in fruit fly lines, which were selected for the number of bristles on their abdomen.
Career
Coen decided to study the mechanism of supergenes, gene clusters acting together to affect both evolution and development. As one of the best-defined supergenes was in primroses, he wrote a proposal, and was accepted as a research fellow in the lab of plant biologist Dick Flavell at the Plant Breeding Institute
The Plant Breeding Institute was an agricultural research organisation in Cambridge in the United Kingdom between 1912 and 1987.
Founding
The institute was established in 1912 as part of the School of Agriculture at the University of Cambridge. ...
in Cambridge.
After a year (1983/4) he sought a different plant system to continue his research at John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre (JIC), located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, is an independent centre for research and training in plant and microbial science founded in 1910. It is a registered charity (No 223852) grant-aided by the Biotechnology and ...
in Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
which studied ''Antirrhinum
''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native t ...
'', commonly known as snapdragon, and was hired together with colleague Cathie Martin to join the lab of Brian Harrison and Rosemary Carpenter.[
Coen screened snapdragons for developmental mutants with ]sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...
s instead of petals and carpel
Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) '' pistils' ...
s instead of stamens, caused by transposon insertions. He eventually discovered that three classes of genes controlled whorl development in wild-type snapdragons: class A controlled sepal identity, class A and B petal identity, B and C stamen identity, and C alone carpel identity.[
In collaboration with ]Elliot Meyerowitz
Elliot Meyerowitz (born May 22, 1951) is an American biologist.
Career
Meyerowitz did his undergraduate work at Columbia University (A.B. in biology, 1973), where he worked part-time in the laboratory of Cyrus Levinthal on combined microscopic a ...
of the California Institute of Technology he created computer simulations of how plant cells and their genes interact to direct flower formation and control colour.Przemysław Prusinkiewicz
Przemysław (Przemek) Prusinkiewicz is a Polish computer scientist who advanced the idea that Fibonacci numbers in nature can be in part understood as the expression of certain algebraic constraints on free groups, specifically as certain Linden ...
, a computer scientist knowledgeable in biological development at the University of Calgary and others computer modeling techniques to relate gene activity to patterns of growth and geometry.
Work
Coen has written several books, including ''Cells to Civilizations: The Principles of Change That Shape Life'', in which he postulates the seven ingredients which shape life: population variation, persistence, reinforcement, competition, co-operation, combinatorial richness and recurrence.[
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Awards and honours
* EMBO Gold Medal
The EMBO Gold Medal is an annual award of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) given to young scientists for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. Laureates receive a medal and €10,000 and are invited to rec ...
(1996)
* Linnean Medal (1997)
*In 1998 Coen was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).[ biographical text reproduced here was originally published by the Royal Society a creative commons licence]
* Foreign Associate of NAS
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
(2001)
*In 2003 he was appointed a CBE for services to plant genetics.
*In 2004 Coen won the Darwin Medal
The Darwin Medal is one of the medals awarded by the Royal Society for "distinction in evolution, biological diversity and developmental, population and organismal biology".
In 1885, International Darwin Memorial Fund was transferred to the ...
, with Rosemary Carpenter.
*In 2012 he became President of the Genetics Society
The Genetics Society is a British learned society. It was founded by William Bateson and Edith Rebecca Saunders in 1919 and celebrated its centenary year in 2019. It is therefore one of the oldest learned societies devoted to genetics. Its member ...
, finishing his 3-year term in 2015.
* In 2016 he received the Croonian Medal & Lecture and Waddington Medal The British Society for Developmental Biology (BSDB) is a scientific society promoting developmental biology research; it is open to anyone with an interest in the subject who agrees with the principles of the Society.
History
The British Society ...
*Coen is a member of Faculty of 1000
F1000 (formerly "Faculty of 1000") is an open research publisher for scientists, scholars, and clinical researchers. F1000 offers a different research evaluation service from standard academic journals by offering peer-review after, rather than b ...
.
References
External links
Coen Lab
The John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, UK
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coen, Enrico
1957 births
Living people
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Academics of the University of East Anglia
Fellows of the Royal Society
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
British biologists