Walter Bodmer

Sir Walter Bodmer
Born	Walter Fred Bodmer (1936-01-10) January 10, 1936
Institutions	Stanford University University of Oxford
Alma mater	University of Cambridge (BA, PhD)
Thesis	The study of population genetics and gene effects, with special reference to Primula vulgaris and the house mouse (1959)
Academic advisors	Ronald Fisher
Doctoral students	Marcus Feldman Shaan-Chirag Gandhi Matthew Johnson Matthew Jones Ruchi Patel
Influenced	Tomas Lindahl
Notable awards	Royal Medal (2013) Michael Faraday Prize (1994) Ellison–Cliffe Lecture (1987) William Allan Award (1980) FRS (1974)
Spouse	Julia Bodmer (m. 1956; d. 2001)
Website www.imm.ox.ac.uk/walter-bodmer-2 www.oncology.ox.ac.uk/research/walter-bodmer

Sir Walter Fred Bodmer FRS (born 10 January 1936 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is a German-born British human geneticist.

Education

Bodmer was educated at Manchester Grammar School and went on to study the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge as a student of Clare College, Cambridge. He was awarded his PhD in 1959 from Cambridge for research on population genetics in the house mouse and Primula vulgaris (primrose) supervised by Ronald Fisher.

Career and research

In 1961 Bodmer joined Joshua Lederberg's laboratory in the Genetics Department of Stanford University as a postdoctoral researcher, continuing his work on population genetics. In 1962 Walter Bodmer was appointed to the faculty at Stanford. He left Stanford University in 1970 to become the first Professor of Genetics at the University of Oxford [1].

Bodmer developed models for population genetics and worked on the human leukocyte antigen system and the use of somatic cell hybrids for human linkage studies. In 1985 he chaired a Royal Society committee which wrote The Bodmer Report; this has been credited with starting the movement for the public understanding of science.

Bodmer was one of the first to suggest the idea of the Human Genome Project. In 1987 he received the Ellison-Cliffe Medal from the Royal Society of Medicine. He was the director of research (1979–1991) and then Director General (1991–1996) of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. He was also Chancellor of the University of Salford, England (1995–2005; succeeded by Sir Martin Harris) and Principal of Hertford College, Oxford (1996–2005; succeeded by Dr. John Landers).

In 2005, Bodmer was appointed to lead a £2.3 million project (roughly 4.5 million USD) by the Wellcome Trust at University of Oxford to examine the genetic makeup of the United Kingdom - the People of the British Isles project. He was joined by Oxford Professor Peter Donnelly (a population genetics and statistics expert) and the Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow Lon Cardon. Bodmer said "Our aim is to characterise the genetic make-up of the British population and relate this to the historical and archaeological evidence." The researchers presented some of their findings to the public via the Channel 4 television series "Faces of Britain." On 14 April 2007, Channel 4 in Britain aired a program that highlighted the study’s then-current findings. The project took DNA samples from hundreds of volunteers throughout Britain, seeking tell-tale fragments of DNA that would reveal the biological traces of successive waves of colonisers — Celts, Saxons, Vikings, etc. — in various parts of Britain. The findings showed that the Viking invasion of Britain was predominantly from Danish Vikings while the Orkney Islands were settled by Norwegian Vikings.

He is currently Head of the Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory in the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. Research interests of the laboratory include the fundamental genetics and biology of colorectal cancer.

Honours and awards

Bodmer has won numerous awards including:

• 1974: Fellow of the Royal Society
• 1980: William Allan Award
• 1986: Knighted
• 1987: Ellison-Cliffe Medal from the Royal Society of Medicine.
• 1988: Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from the University of Bath.
• 1994: Michael Faraday Prize
• 2013: Royal Medal from the Royal Society
• 1984: delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on The Message of the Genes.

His certifcate of election to the Royal Society reads:

Distinguished for his theoretical and experimental contributions to genetics. His analyses of population genetics models, especially human, his contribution to the understanding of bacterial transformation, to the understanding of the HL-A system, and to the use of somatic cell hybrids for human linkage studies are outstanding. Few scientists have contributed distinguished work in such a range of fields, and involving such a range of experience of techniques, mathematical and experimental, and such a range of organisms.

Personal life

Bodmer's father was Jewish so the family were obliged to leave Germany in 1938 and settled in Manchester. In 1956 Bodmer married Julia Bodmer (née Pilkington) 1934 – 2001 a British geneticist. They had three children.

External links

• Channel 4s "Faces of Britain"
• Colorectal cancer research at the IMM
• Catalogue of the archive of Sir Walter Bodmer and Lady Julia Bodmer held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
• Portraits of Statisticians: Walter Bodmer
• Radio National Australia interview with Sir Walter

Academic offices
Preceded by The Duchess of York	Chancellor of the University of Salford 1995–2005	Succeeded by Sir Martin Harris
Preceded by Christopher Zeeman	Principal of Hertford College, Oxford 1996–2005	Succeeded by John Landers