Professor Sir Michael J. Berridge
King Faisal Prize in Science 1986 Laureate
Topic: "Biochemistry"
The real reward for any scientist is to be able to unlock one of Nature's secrets, and I was lucky in contributing to the discoveries on how cells communicate with each other
Michael John Berridge obtained his B.Sc. degree from the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in Salisbury in 1960 and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge in 1965. He carried out postdoctoral studies at the University of Virginia and Case Western Reserve University in the USA. He joined the Unit of Invertebrate Chemistry and Physiology in the Department of Zoology (now Laboratory of Molecular Signaling at the Brahman Institute) as Senior Scientific Officer at the University of Cambridge in 1969.
Professor Sir Michael Berridge made seminal contributions to the study of cellular signal mechanisms, including a discovery of a new signal that regulates various cell activities. The precursor of that signal turned out to be a lipid component of the cell membrane which is cleaved by an external signal (e.g., a hormone) to give a water soluble messenger that diffuses into the cells, thereby generating a variety of different cellular processes.
Professor Sir Michael Berridge is a fellow of the Royal Society and Trinity College (Cambridge), and a member of the Society of Experimental Biology. He received numerous prizes including the Feldberg Prize and the Louis Jeantet Prize in Medicine; Professor Berridge also had a long list of honorary lectureships.
This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.
- He was appointed Emeritus Babraham Fellow at the Babraham Institute in 2003.
- He received many awards and honors including:
- Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1988.
- Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 1989.
- Baly Medal of the Royal College of Physicians in 1989.
- Dale Medal of the Society for Endocrinology in 1990.
- Royal Medal of The Royal Society in 1991.
- CIBA-GEIGY/DREW Award in Biomedical Research in 1991.
- Doctor Honoris Causa from Limburgs Universitair Centrum, Belgium in 1993.
- Heineken Prize in 1994.
- Wolf Prize in 1995.
- Knighthood in 1997.
- Foreign Association of the National Academy of Sciences in 1999.
- Foreign Honorary Membership of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.
- Honorary Fellowship of the Institute of Biology in 2000.
- Honorary Membership of the Biochemical Society in 2004.
- Shaw Prize in 2005.
- Professor Sir Michael J. Berridge passed away in the United Kingdom on 13/2/2020.