26 Facts About Tom Blundell

Tom Blundell was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin.

Tom Blundell has made contributions to the structural biology of polypeptide hormones, growth factors, receptor activation, signal transduction, and DNA double-strand break repair, subjects important in cancer, tuberculosis, and familial diseases.

Tom Blundell has developed software for protein modelling and understanding the effects of mutations on protein function, leading to new approaches to structure-guided and Fragment-based lead discovery.

Tom Blundell has played central roles in restructuring British research councils and, as President of the UK Science Council, in developing professionalism in the practice of science.

Tom Blundell was the first in his family to attend university, winning an Open Scholarship to the University of Oxford.

Tom Blundell earned a First Class degree in Natural Sciences in 1964, then moved to research in the Department of Chemical Crystallography, first with Herbert Marcus Powell FRS for his Doctor of Philosophy degree and later working on insulin with Dorothy Hodgkin.

Tom Blundell was a Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College, University of Oxford, where he is an Honorary Fellow.

In 1976, Tom Blundell joined the Department of Crystallography at Birkbeck, University of London, becoming head of department in 1978.

Tom Blundell is a former president of the Biosciences Federation.

Tom Blundell's speciality is molecular biology and his research on identifying the chemical processes of diseases has led to the development of drugs to treat Aids, cancer, cataracts and diabetes.

Tom Blundell is the co-founder of two drug discovery companies, Astex Technology Ltd and Biofabrika.

Tom Blundell has been active on environmental issues, first as Chair of the Planning Committee of the Oxford City Council, during the time when it stopped the building of a motorway through the city centre, pedestrianised much of the historic centre, and made North Oxford a conservation area.

Tom Blundell has contributed 235 crystal structures to the worldwide Protein Data Bank.

Tom Blundell's group has written several broadly used bioinformatics programs.

Tom Blundell co-authored a textbook on protein crystallography with Louise Johnson, which was translated into French and Russian.

Tom Blundell has supervised numerous Doctor of Philosophy students and postdoctoral researchers in his lab including Tim Hubbard, Laurence Pearl, Andrej Sali, and Charlotte Deane.

Tom Blundell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984.

Tom Blundell had an outstanding part in solution of the insulin crystal structure.

Tom Blundell has related his structure for glucagon to receptor binding of this hormone.

Tom Blundell became one of the first fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998.

Tom Blundell was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 1985; A member of the Academia Europaea in 1993; Founding Member, Academy of Medical Sciences 1999.

Tom Blundell has received numerous awards and medals, including the Alcon Award for Vision Research in 1986; Gold Medal, Institute of Biotechnology in 1987; Krebs Medal FEBS 1987; Ciba Medal, Biochemical Society in 1988; Feldberg Prize in Biology and Medicine in 1988; Gold Medal, Society of Chemical Industry in 1996; First Recipient, Pfizer European Prize for Innovation in 1998 and Bernal Lecture, Royal Society 1998.

Tom Blundell has been President, UK Biosciences Federation ; President, Biochemical Society ; and President, UK Science Council.

Tom Blundell has been awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees from 16 universities and was interviewed by Kirsty Young on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs in 2007.

Tom Blundell married Lady Bancinyane Lynn Sibanda in 1987 and has three children.

Tom Blundell was elected to the Oxford City Council in 1970 as a Labour councillor for the St Clement's Ward.