Brenner Sidney (born 13 January 1927, Germiston, Union of South Africa) – biologist.
Sidney Brenner was born into the family of a shoemaker who had emigrated from Latvia. After completing secondary school, he enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), where he obtained a first degree in biology in 1947 and a second in 1951. He continued his studies in the United Kingdom and in 1954 was awarded a doctorate from Oxford University for his research in molecular biology.
He went on to pursue a scientific career at the University of Cambridge, in the Department of Molecular Biology. His research focused on cellular division, maturation and death, tissue and organ development, and the decoding of genetic structures. Brenner was one of the founding figures of the “Cambridge school” of molecular biology. He led the British team that achieved the decoding of the human genome in 2001.
His research had major implications for cancer research and treatment: he developed the theory of apoptosis (programmed cell death), and identified cytoplasmic and nuclear mechanisms involved in the process. This work led to the creation of drugs that block the energy supply to cancerous cells and inhibit apoptosis.
From 1979 to 1986, Sidney Brenner served as director of the Medical Research Laboratory, and from 1986 to 1991, headed the Molecular Genetics Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. In 1992, he retired from his official posts but continued his research in the United States, where he established and led the Institute of Molecular Research at the University of California, Berkeley.
Brenner continued his research activities in the UK: since 1996 he has served as president and director of a scientific research institute in Cambridge. From 2002, he carried out genomic research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (San Diego), particularly on decoding the genome of the pufferfish (Fugu), which shares the same gene set as humans but with a genome nearly ten times smaller.
Brenner received numerous prestigious international awards. He was twice awarded the Albert Lasker Award (1971 and 2000); in the 2000 citation, he was described as the “father of molecular biology.” In 1987, he received the Harvey Prize from the Technion (Haifa) for his achievements in molecular biology, research into genetics and nematodes, and for developing a modern model of development and differentiation in multicellular organisms. In 2002, Brenner (jointly with R. Horvitz and J. Sulston) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries in genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death.