Education
His Doctor of Philosophy was on Satellite deoxyribonucleic acid at the Medical Research Council Unit, in Edinburgh.
His Doctor of Philosophy was on Satellite deoxyribonucleic acid at the Medical Research Council Unit, in Edinburgh.
From there he joined John Bishop’s team at the Institute of Genetics, at Edinburgh University, where he carried out research into the genes in the liver of mice. In 1985 he was appointed to the Animal Breeding Research Organisation (subsequently the Roslin Institute) where he began work in genetic modification to produce a sheep giving milk with human proteins. He was successful within five years.
Tracy, born in 1990, was the first sheep to produce large quantities of human protein, making 35g of the alpha-1-antitrypsin (used in treatment of cystic fibrosis) in each litre of her milk.
During the 1990s, Clark continued to develop transgenic techniques on large animals. Clark"s work set the stage for Ian Wilmut"s team at Roslin to clone a sheep, Dolly (1996), the result of transplanted deoxyribonucleic acid of an adult sheep to an unfertilized egg cell.
He was awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1997 for his contribution to Science. Born in Blackpool, his family moved to Lincolnshire and he was educated at Barton Grammar School.
He met Helen Banfield at Cambridge in 1973, where he graduated in natural sciences from Christ"s College, Cambridge, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
They had two sons, Charlie (1989), and Laurie (1991). One of his greatest pleasures was spending time with his family on the remote Isle of Colonsay, in the Inner Hebrides. He was respected by colleagues for his leadership, direction and the support he gave them.