Robin Holliday

Robin Holliday PhD, FRS, FAA (6 November 1932 - ) has a distinguished career in molecular biology and he is a prominent Australian sculptor. Robin Holliday proposed a mechanism of DNA strand exchange to explain the breakage and reunion of chromosomes and also gene conversion in meiosis.

Robin Holliday Scientific career
Dr Robin Holliday became one of the most important biologists in the second half of the twentieth century. In a research career from 1955-1997, he become a world leader in three different fields. It is not common for a scientist to work in more than one field, let alone three. His experimental and theoretical contributions are to be found in hundreds of scientific papers and articles. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1976; Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy in 1995, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2005.

His first research field was genetics. In 1964 he devised a DNA structure now known to be an intermediate when chromosomes break and rejoin. This has
become known as the "Holliday structure", or junction, that is important in many biological contexts. It has been cited thousands of times in publications world-wide. In experimental work he exploited the properties of the little known fungus Ustilago. There are now international conferences devoted to the molecular genetics of this species.

The second is the process of ageing, which for a long time remained an unsolved problem in biology. However, by the end of the twentieth century the reasons for ageing in animals became very clear to many scientists, and Holliday explained this in his book "Understanding Ageing" (Cambridge University Press, 1995), and also "Aging: the Paradox of Life" (Springer, 2007). He has also many publications documenting much experimental work on the ageing of cultured human cells.

The third is the new field of epigenetics. It became apparent that there is more to genetic information than DNA. Additional chemical information can be superimposed on DNA sequences and this is vital for normal development from the fertilised egg to the adult. Together with two others, Holliday proposed a major epigenetic mechanism in 1975, namely, that methylated cytosine in DNA has a strong influence on gene expression. It was many years later that much evidence was obtained for this, and epigenetics is now a major and expanding field of research worldwide.

Robin Holliday is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization, a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, and holds the 1987 Lord Cohen medal for Gerontological research. He was formerly the Head of the Genetics Division, National Institute for Medical Research, (Medical Research Council), Mill Hill, London, UK, and is now retired Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of BioMolecular Engineering, Sydney, Australia.

Robin Holliday studied art and sculpture at Hertford and London, United Kindom from 1960 to 1975 using plaster, clay, wood, stone and metal. From l998 Robin Holliday has worked in Sydney in bronze and mixed media. Robin Holliday sculptures can be described as organic and abstract. Some are stylized representations of animals, such as Fish, Bird and Manta ray. Some others have scientific symbolism, such as Crossing over, Synapse and DNA double helix. Other Robin Holliday sculptures are purely abstract, such as Lacunae, Diad and Dual knife edge.

Recently, Robin Holliday has turned his attention to kinetic or mobile bronze sculptures. These consist of a sculpture base on which one or two pieces rotate. The principle is based on the fact that the centre of gravity of the top piece(s) is below the point of rotation, so that it (they) is balanced. A gentle push to the top piece(s) sets it in motion and momentum takes over. Some will rotate for several minutes. Robin Holliday Möbius Strip sculpture is a mathematician confided a Möbius band is one-sided, and you'll get quite a laugh, if you cut one in half, for it stays in one piece when divided.

Robin Holliday kinetic or mobile bronze sculptures pay homage to Isaac Newton in exploiting gravity and angular momentum visit http://www.robinholliday.com/Robin%20Holliday/Robin%20Holliday.html

In 1975 Robin Holliday suggested that DNA methylation could be an important mechanism for the control of gene expression in higher organisms, and this has now become documented as a basic epigenetic mechanism in normal and also cancer cells. In 1988 he moved to a CSIRO laboratory in Sydney, Australia, where he continued to study ageing, and his book Understanding Ageing was published in 1995. Robin Holliday is a biogerontologist and has mentored several successful biogerontologists, including Suresh Rattan, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biogerontolgy. The main focus of his experimental work was the epigenetic control of gene expression by DNA methylation in CHO cells. These experiments provide direct evidence that DNA methylation is a primary cause of gene silencing in mammalian cells.

Robin Holliday original sculpture is made in plaster and then cast at a bronze foundry, usually in an edition of six, but occasionally in twelve. It is common for the sculptures in one edition to have very different patinas (surface finishes).

Robin Holliday obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge, England. He joined the scientific staff of the John Innes Institute, Bayfordbury, Hertford, in 1958, and there developed molecular models of genetic recombination. In experimental work he studied recombination and repair in the fungus Ustilago maydis and was the first to isolate and characterise mutants defective in these processes in any eukaryotic organism. He later moved to the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London, and became head of the new Division of Genetics in 1970. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1976. He and his colleagues also studied possible mechanisms of the senescence of diploid human cells in culture, and their immortalisation.

In 1975 he suggested with his student John Pugh that DNA methylation could be an important mechanism for the control of gene expression in higher organisms, and this has now become documented as a basic epigenetic mechanism in normal and also cancer cells. In 1988 he moved to a CSIRO laboratory in Sydney, Australia, where he continued to study ageing, and his book Understanding Ageing was published in 1995. The main focus of his experimental work was the epigenetic control of gene expression by DNA methylation in CHO cells. These experiments provide direct evidence that DNA methylation is a primary cause of gene silencing in mammalian cells.

PUBLICATIONS:
Robin Holliday is the author of numerous books and edited proceedings of conferences, including; The Science of Human Progress, Oxford University Press, 1981; Genes, Proteins and Cellular Aging, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1986; Understanding Aging, Cambridge University Press, 1995; Slaves and Saviours, Blackwall Books, 2000 and Why We Age, Springer Science + Business Media, 2007.