John Richard Riordan, OC (Also known as Jack) (born September 2, 1943, in St. Stephen, New Brunswick) is a Canadian biochemist, noted for his research into cystic fibrosis. After acquiring his bachelor's degree in 1966 from the

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

, he studied and received a doctorate in biochemistry from the same university in 1970. His next three years were spent at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. He then returned to the University of Toronto, where he worked as a professor in the Biochemistry department from 1974. Prior to retiring in 2018, Riordan was a professor at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

where he was a member of the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department studying the structure and function of

CFTR Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a membrane protein and anion channel in vertebrates that is encoded by the ''CFTR'' gene. Geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his team identified the CFTR gene in 1989 as the gene linked wi ...

. He is also a visiting scientist at the Academy Salhgrenska (where he holds an honorary doctorate ) and

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

. He is mostly recognized for the first ever discovery of a mutated gene,

ΔF508 Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is a membrane protein and anion channel in vertebrates that is encoded by the ''CFTR'' gene. Geneticist Lap-Chee Tsui and his team identified the CFTR gene in 1989 as the gene linked wit ...

, that can cause cystic fibrosis. This research was undertaken alongside fellow biologists,

Francis Collins Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-geneticist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He is the former director of the National Institutes of Health (N ...

and

Lap-Chee Tsui Lap-Chee Tsui (; born 21 December 1950) is a Chinese-born Canadian geneticist and served as the 14th Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Hong Kong. Personal life Tsui was born in Shanghai. He grew up in Kowloon, Hong Kong and at ...

and since then, other research has found over 1000 different mutations that can cause cystic fibrosis. In 1990 he received the Gairdner Foundation International Award, 'for contributions to the identification of the gene for cystic fibrosis'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riordan, John R. 1943 births Living people Canadian biochemists People from St. Stephen, New Brunswick University of Toronto alumni Officers of the Order of Canada