Frederick Sanger: Two-Time Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

Frederick Sanger, British biochemist, won two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. The first, in 1958, was for being the first person to sequence a protein molecule, namely insulin. That finding led to the idea that there must be a genetic code. He conducted his protein research at the Biochemistry Department of the University of Cambridge. The second Nobel Prize, in 1980, was shared with Paul Berg and Walter Gilbert. Gilbert and Sanger’s half of the prize was for developing DNA sequencing techniques. Sanger conducted his nucleic acid research at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. Sanger’s technique became the basis for the human genome project, whereby the entire DNA sequence of a human was deduced. DNA sequencing has transformed both biology and medicine. This biography covers the early life, the protein period, the RNA period, and the DNA period of Fred Sanger. It also offers a glimpse of family life and a portrait of the man and his legacy. Fred Sanger was the fourth person to win two Nobel Prizes.https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/mono/1057/thumbnail.jp