Brian Clark

Professor Brian F.C. Clark from the Department of Molecular Biology at Aarhus University in Denmark has received a medal from the American Chemical Society for his participation in the work on deciphering the genetic code which forms the basis today for our knowledge about how the human genome functions.

2009.12.07

The American Chemical Society has designated the deciphering of the genetic code as a National Historic Chemical Landmark. The deciphering of the genetic code took place in the USA at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at Bethesda, Maryland, over a period of five years.

The work was carried out at NIH during the period 1961-66 where Brian Clark was working as a postdoc in the laboratory of Marshall Nirenberg. Nirenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1968 with Har Gobind Khorana and Robert W. Holley for describing the genetic code and how it operates in protein synthesis.

The researchers who helped the three Nobel Laureates obtaining these landmark results have now also been recognized by getting a medal which was presented during a ceremony at NIH on 12 November 2009.

Photo from Marshall Nirenberg's article in TIBS (see below): Going away party for Brian Clark who was returning to Cambridge, England, after several years in the laboratory.
The photograph was taken early in 1964. This is the only group photograph Marshall Nirenberg has of the people in his laboratory while they were deciphering the genetic code.

From left to right: Sid and Joan Pestka, Margaret Clark, Dick Marshall, Tom Caskey (partially hidden), Ty Jaouni, Mrs. Rottman, Norma Heaton, Fritz Rottman,
Brian Clark, Phil Leder, Shirley Shapiro, Joel Trupin, Mrs. Trupin, myself, Bill Groves, Perola Nirenberg, Mrs. O'Neill and Charlie O'Neill.

The medal I (300 dpi) The medal II (300 dpi) Brian Clark (300 dpi)

More information

• The Genetic Code
• Deciphering the Genetic Code
• Historical review: Deciphering the genetic code - a personal account
  Trends in Biochemical Sciences (TIBS), Volume 29, Issue 1, January 2004, Pages 46-54
• Letter to Brian Clark from Marshall Nirenberg
• NIH Videocasting from the event on 12 November 2009

Contact information:

Professor Brian F.C. Clark, Department of Molecular Biology, Aarhus University, Denmark, email: bfcc@mb.au.dk, mobil +45 4046 3410.