Scientist John Shine honoured for discovery that formed basis of genetic engineering – The Guardian

Prof John Shine in 2015. Shine discovering a sequence of DNA now called the Shine-Dalgarno sequence which allows cells to produce proteins the basis for how all our cells operate. Photograph: Mal Fairclough/AAP

A man whose discovery was essential for the development of genetic engineering, and used that technology to create several therapies now helping many thousands of people, says receiving a Queens Birthday honour is a great recognition from the community of the value of scientific research.

John Shine started his career by discovering a sequence of DNA now called the Shine-Dalgarno sequence as part of his PhD in the mid 1970s.

That sequence, while a minuscule part of the human genome, allows cells to produce proteins the basis for how all our cells operate.

The discovery was essential for genetic engineering, spawned an entire biotech industry, and has now been used to produce therapies that have helped millions of people. In his own work, Shine used those techniques to clone of human insulin and growth hormone for the first time.

Other scientists honoured on Monday included astronomer Ken Freeman, who founded the field of galactic archaeology, and ethnobotanist Beth Gott.

Shine, who was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia today, told the Guardian he has been unusually lucky in his career to have been able to oversee discoveries he made in basic sciences, be translated into real therapies and become commercialised.

My PhD was really esoteric research, he said, referring to his discovery of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence . But then I went over to San Francisco when gene cloning was just beginning right place, right time.

Shine had discovered how to clone the human gene that produces insulin, but to make that useful, it needed to be inserted into another organism that could be farmed in this case, bacteria, which would be farmed in large vats.

But if you want to put [the gene] into bacteria to make human insulin, you needed to trick the bacteria into thinking the gene was one of its own, he said.

It turned out Shines earlier discovery of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence was essential for making that final leap. Although the genetic code is the same in animals and bacteria, the regulatory code was very different. Thats where the Shine-Dalgarno sequence comes in, Shine said.

He needed to find the bacterias version of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence, and put that on either side of the human insulin gene, inside the bacteria.

You needed to put the right Shine-Dalgarno sequence just in front in the right place in the insulin gene to make the bacteria produce human insulin.

The fact that both problems were so closely related was mostly an accident, Shine says.

But throughout the rest of his career, Shine continued to be involved in the translation of his discoveries in esoteric science, all the way through to commercialisation.

Since stepping down as the head of the Garvan Institute in 2011 one of Australias top medical research institutes Shine has been the chair of the biotech giant CSL, one of Australasias largest companies.

So Ive come full circle, Shine said. CSL ... in more recent years, were moving into genetic engineering and weve released several genetically modified proteins for haemophilia that are changing the lives of thousands of people around the world.

Ive been very lucky to be able to go through the basic research in my career, and now see a lot of these real health care products come to fruition and improve the lives of thousands of people. Its wonderful when you can have all the excitement of research but also the satisfaction of seeing something very good coming out of it.

It is not the first time Shine has been recognised publicly for his work. In 2010 he won the prime ministers prize for science something his brother Rick Shine won in 2016.

Apart from the obvious personal honour, its a demonstration that the community does appreciate the benefits that come from research, Shine said. The wellbeing of any society is intimately linked to good healthcare.

Another winner of the prime ministers science prize, astronomer Ken Freeman, was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for his founding contributions to the field of galactic archaeology and his teaching work at the Australian National Universitys Mount Stromlo Observatory.

Honours were also awarded to Royal Melbourne hospitals Peter Grahame Colman (AM), for his work in endocrinology and diabetes research; aeronautical engineer Graeme Bird (AO), the former department head at the University of Sydney and a NASA consultant for 40 years; and Peter Klinken (AC), the chief scientist of Western Australia.

Ethnobotanist Beth Gott was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her work studying native plants and their use by Indigenous people. Gott founded Monash Universitys Aboriginal education garden in 1986 and has assembled databases of native plants in south-eastern Australia.

A paper she wrote in 2005 for the Journal of Biogreography found Indigenous fire-farming was crucial to the growth of plant tubers in southeastern Australia, allowing them to make up half of the local peoples diet.

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