A pioneer in DNA fingerprinting and DNA profiling techniques, used by police forces throughout the world, is the receipient of the 22nd Edinburgh Medal. The award is presented annually during the Edinburgh International Science Festival for achievements in science and technology that are judged to have made a significant contribution to the understanding and well-being of humanity.
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys discovered inherited variation and similarities in human DNA in his lab at the University of Leicester in 1984. From this eureka moment sprung DNA fingerprinting as a means to resolving issues of identity and kinship.
Originally an academic curiosity, DNA fingerprinting has rapidly developed into a technology that has impacted directly on the lives of many millions of people worldwide, being used as the basis for a number of DNA databases, both in the UK and abroad.
"I am absolutely delighted to be this year's recipient of the Edinburgh Medal," said Sir Alec, who still works at Leicester University. "This is a huge honour and a wonderful recognition of DNA fingerprinting that will give great pleasure to the many people involved in the field of DNA-based identification."
The Medal will be awarded at a ceremony on Wednesday 14th April 2010 which will be followed by the Edinburgh Medal Address by Sir Alec, where he will discuss the techniques for DNA-based identification, which emerged completely by accident for research in the 1980s on gene evolution, and ethics of how this process could and should be used.
Sir Alec has spoken out about using DNA fingerprinting for the greater social good whilst upholding the civil liberties of the individual.
Whilst having no regrets over the development of the DNA profiling, Sir Alec does have strong reservations as to how authorities are using the information, particularly the long term storage of information on the English National DNA Database.
Speaking at a House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee Meeting earlier this year, Sir Alec said England and Wales should follow Scotland's lead, where police only retain the DNA profiles of innocent people under specific circumstances, with those accused of sexual assaults having their profiles held for a maximum of five years. The English system currently allows storage of DNA profiles of anyone arrested (but not necessarily charged) for up to six years.
"A sample of your DNA is so much more than a fingerprint," said Dr Simon Gage, Director of the Edinburgh International Science Festival. "Beyond helping to identify you it can offer an insight into your current and future health and of course your ancestry. So the wholesale storing of the public’s DNA, whether it is by the police or doctors, is a step we need to consider carefully. It is an honour for us that Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the pioneer of DNA fingerprinting and a scientist who has kept alive the public debate about whose DNA should be stored, has accepted the Edinburgh Medal."
Sir Alec’s work has received widespread recognition, including his election to the Royal Society in 1986 and a Knighthood for services to genetics in 1994. Other awards include the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2004), the Lasker Award (2005) and the Heineken Prize (2006). He was also one of the four finalists for the Millennium Prize in 2008.
Sir Alec's profile
Prof. Sir Alec Jeffreys studied biochemistry and genetics at Merton College, Oxford.
Following an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Amsterdam where, with Dr Richard Flavell, he was one of the first to discover split genes, he moved in 1977 to the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester where he currently holds the positions of Professor of Genetics and Royal Society Wolfson Research Professor.
His current work concentrates on developing new approaches to analysing variation and mutation in human chromosomes.