Professor John Shine FAA AO
Executive Director, Garvan Institute of Medical Research; Professor of Medicine and Professor of Molecular Biology, The University of New South Wales
Email: j.shine 'at' garvan.org.au
Research Group: Adult Stem Cells
John has a number of other significant scientific ‘firsts’ under his belt. He was a central figure in the cloning of the insulin and growth hormone genes; was the first to clone a human hormone gene; was responsible for cloning of an endorphin gene and was the first to demonstrate that hormone genes cloned in bacteria could be expressed in a biologically active form. He also determined the first sequence responsible for replication of a cancer-causing virus.
John’s scientific career took off following a move, in 1975, to San Francisco. It was were that he cloned numerous genes as well as develop techniques to do this – he is a sole inventor on a patent for using phosphatase to direct the joining of DNA molecules.
A three year appointment at California Biotechnology (CalBio) Inc company saw John guide it from a staff of some 15 scientists in 1984 to over 200 in 1987. During this period, Cal Bio developed several important new therapeutics including treatments for congestive heart failure, infant respiratory distress syndrome, and burns and general wound healing agents. At the same time, John developed an interest in the generation of functional diversity in the nervous system, a research area he established on joining the Garvan.
Education
1972 BSc (Hons) 1st Class, Australian National University
1975 PhD, Australian National University
2006 DSc (Honoris causa) The University of New South Wales
Awards
1980 Boehringer-Mannheim Medal, Australian Biochemical Society
1982 Gottschalk Medal, Australian Academy of Science
1994 Fellow, Australian Academy of Science
1996 Officer, General Division of the Order of Australia
Publications
Herzog H, Hort YJ, Ball HJ, Hayes G, Shine J, Selbie LA. Cloned human neuropeptide Y receptor couples to two different second messenger systems. P Natl Acad Sci, USA 1992; 89:5794-5798.
Evans HF, Shine J. Human galanin: molecular cloning reveals a unique structure. Endocrinology 1991; 129:1682-1684.
Greene GL, Gilna P, Waterfield M, Baker A, Hort Y, Shine J. Sequence and expression of human estrogen receptor complementary DNA. Science 1986; 231: 1150-1154
Shine J, Fettes I, Lan NC, Roberts JL, Baxter JD. Expression of cloned b-endorphin gene sequences by E. coli. Nature 1980; 285: 456-461
Seeburg PH, Shine J, Martial JA, Ivarie RD, Morris JA, Ullrich A, Baxter JD, Goodman HM. Synthesis of growth hormone by bacteria. Nature 1978; 276: 795-798
Shine J, Seeburg PH, Martial JA, Baxter JD, Goodman HM. Construction and analysis of recombinant DNA for human chorionic somatomammotropin. Nature 1977; 270: 494-499
Ullrich A, Shine J, Chirgwin J, Pictet R, Tischer E, Rutter WJ, Goodman HM. Rat insulin genes: construction of plasmids containing the coding sequences. Science 1977; 196: 1313-1319
Shine J, Dalgarno L. Determinant of cistron specificity in bacterial ribosomes. Nature 1975; 254 34-38
Shine J, Dalgarno L. The 3'-terminal sequence of Escherichia coli 16S ribosomal RNA: complementarity to nonsense triplets and ribosome binding sites. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1974; 71: 1342-1346
Shine J, Dalgarno L. Conserved terminal sequence in 18S rRNA may represent terminator anticodons. Nature New Biology 1973; 245: 261-262
