Marcus Pembrey

This article is about the geneticist. For the 19th-century physiologist, see Marcus Seymour Pembrey.

Marcus Edred Pembrey FMedSci (born 20 April 1943)is a British clinical geneticist with a research interest in non-Medelian inheritance in humans.[1] He is Emeritus Professor of Paediatric Genetics at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Visiting Professor of Paediatric Genetics, University of Bristol. He featured in a 2005 'Horizon' program on BBC television called 'the Ghost in Your Genes'.

Early life and education

Born into a medical family, Marcus Pembrey spent his childhood in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, where his father was a General Practitioner. The rural setting and his aunts’ farm encouraged an interest in natural history. Educated at Hurstpierpoint College, he went to Guy’s Hospital Medical School, London in 1960; with postgraduate research training at the Nuffield Unit of Medical Genetics, University of Liverpool 1969-71.

Career and research

After further clinical training at Guy’s Hospital, in 1979 he was appointed head of the new Mothercare Unit of Paediatric Genetics at the Institute of Child Health, London and Honorary consultant clinical geneticist at the Great Ormond Hospital for Children; posts he held until 1998. Made professor in 1986, he became Vice-Dean of the Institute of Child Health 1990 - 1998.

Since 1979 his research has focused on ‘non-Mendelian inheritance’; first on the inheritance of Fragile X Syndrome for which he proposed a ’premutation’ in 1985.[2] and then Angelman Syndrome [3][4]- an early example of genomic imprinting in humans. This latter research led in 1996 to a speculative paper on transgenerational modulation of gene expression.[5] in which he refers to himself as a Neo-Lamarckian, a term he no longer uses.

Following Swedish studies demonstrating transgenerational effects of food supply, Pembrey collaborated with Lars Olov Bygren on research that featured in a 2005 'Horizon' program on BBC television called 'the Ghost in Your Genes'.,.[6][7] With Jean Golding he studies intergenerational effects of smoking on development [8] within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, of which he was director of genetics until 2006.

Public engagement

Appointed Advisor in Genetics to the Chief Medical Officer, UK Government’s Department of Health 1989-1998. President, European Society of Human Genetics(ESHG)1994-1995; Chair, ESHG Committee on Ethical Issues (renamed Public and Professional Policy Committee) 1994-1998; Co-founder and ESHG Liaison Officer, International Federation of Human Genetics Societies 1996-2001. Co-founder of Progress Educational Trust in 1992 and chairman of Trustees almost continuously until 2014. The Trust’s mission is to educate and debate the responsible application of reproductive and genetic science.[9]

Personal life

He is married to Heather (née Burgess) with whom he has two children, Lucy and Adam, and five grandchildren.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pembrey M, Saffery R, Bygren LO; Network in Epigenetic Epidemiology. Human transgenerational responses to early-life experience: potential impact on development, health and biomedical research. J Med Genet. 2014 Sep;51(9):563-72. doi: 10.1136/jmedgenet-2014-102577. Epub 2014 Jul 25. Review. PubMed PMID 25062846; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4157403.
  2. ↑ Pembrey ME, Winter RM, Davies KE. A premutation that generates a defect at crossing over explains the inheritance of fragile X mental retardation. Am J Med Genet. 1985 Aug;21(4):709-17. PubMed PMID 4040705.
  3. ↑ Pembrey M, Fennell SJ, van den Berghe J, Fitchett M, Summers D, Butler L, Clarke C, Griffiths M, Thompson E, Super M. The association of Angelman's syndrome with deletions within 15q11-13. J Med Genet. 1989 Feb;26(2):73-7. PubMed PMID 2918545; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1015553
  4. ↑ Malcolm S, Clayton-Smith J, Nichols M, Robb S, Webb T, Armour JA, Jeffreys AJ, Pembrey ME. Uniparental paternal disomy in Angelman's syndrome. Lancet. 1991 Mar 23;337(8743):694-7. PubMed PMID 1672177.
  5. ↑ Pembrey M. Imprinting and transgenerational modulation of gene expression; human growth as a model. Acta Genet Med Gemellol (Roma). 1996;45(1-2):111-25. Review. PubMed PMID 8872020.
  6. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/ghostgenes.shtml
  7. ↑ Pembrey ME, Bygren LO, Kaati G, Edvinsson S, Northstone K, Sjöström M, Golding J; ALSPAC Study Team. Sex-specific, male-line transgenerational responses in humans. Eur J Hum Genet. 2006 Feb;14(2):159-66. PubMed PMID 16391557.
  8. ↑ Golding J, Northstone K, Gregory S, Miller LL, Pembrey M. The anthropometry of children and adolescents may be influenced by the prenatal smoking habits of their grandmothers: a longitudinal cohort study. Am J Hum Biol. 2014 Nov-Dec;26(6):731-9. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22594. Epub 2014 Aug 18. PubMed PMID 25130101; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4238812.
  9. ↑ http://www.progress.org.uk
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