Professor Jean Beggs CBE FRS

Jean Beggs is a geneticist whose development of a shuttle vector for propagating genes in both the bacterium Escherichia coli and budding yeast allowed highly efficient gene cloning in yeast and helped to pave the way for the development of recombinant DNA technology for eukaryotic organisms.


Jean has also used yeast to study the key proteins and mechanisms involved in the splicing of messenger RNA — the editing process which removes the parts of genes that do not code for proteins, prior to protein synthesis.


She has received many accolades in recognition of her work, including, in 2003 the Society’s Gabor Medal — which recognises interdisciplinary work linked to the life sciences — and the Novartis Medal and Prize of the Biochemical Society in 2004. Jean is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was named a CBE in 2006. She was the Royal Society Darwin Trust Research Professor from 2005 until 2016..

Professional position

  • Emeritus Professor of Molecular Biology, Wellcome Centre For Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh

Subject groups

  • Molecules of Life

    Biochemistry and molecular biology, Cell biology (incl molecular cell biology)

Awards

  • Gabor Medal

    For her contributions to the isolation and manipulation of recombinant DNA molecules in a eukaryotic organism, adding a new dimension to molecular and cellular biology.

Professor Jean Beggs CBE FRS
Elected 1998
Committees Participated Role
Sectional Committee 6: Molecules of Life November 2020 - October 2023 Member
Research Professorships Panel September 2017 - August 2020 Member
Council November 2016 - November 2019 Member
Hooke Committee January 2016 - December 2018 Member
Research Appointment Panel B(i) January 2015 - December 2016 Member
Nominations Committee June 2012 - December 2014 Member
Biological Sciences Awards Committee January 2008 - December 2010 Member
Council December 2003 - November 2005 Member
Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships Selection Committee January 1999 - December 2001 Member
Sectional Committee 6: Molecules of Life November 1998 - November 2001 Chair