Gordon Dixon made important contributions to our knowledge of the structure, activity and biosynthesis of proteins. He identified some of the amino acids involved in the active centres of trypsin and chymotrypsin. He also showed that the two chains of insulin could be separated by reduction and recombined, thus laying the foundations for the total synthesis of the molecule. He discovered and worked on the basic structure of the haptoglobins, which shed light on the mechanism of protein evolution. He studied the biosynthesis of protamines and shown the importance of phosphorylation in their biological behaviour, and identified the small polysomes on which the polypeptide chains are synthesised.
Professor Gordon Dixon OC FRS died on 24 July 2016.
Subject groups
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Cell Biology
Genetics (excluding population genetics)
