The Babraham Institute hosts a conference to mark the retirement
of Professor Sir Michael Berridge, FRS

6th October 2003

Last month, Around 200 guests watched fireworks illuminate the night sky over the Babraham Institute as part of a celebratory, two-day retirement conference, held in honour of Professor Sir Michael Berridge FRS. Sir Michael has worked at the Babraham Institute in the field of Molecular Signalling for 13 years, and will officially retire from research in October. However he will continue to contribute to the work of the Signalling Programme through his appointment as the Institute's first Emeritus Babraham Fellow.

The celebrations began on the evening of Thursday September 4th, when guests arrived from around the world to attend a reception in the Fellow’s garden at Trinity College, Cambridge.

During Friday and Saturday, 16 scientists from the UK, US, Europe and Japan, presented some of the most recent findings from their research on calcium signalling. Speakers described their work, in areas such as inositides, calcium channels, fertilization, secretion and neuronal signalling, to a captivated audience comprising members of national and international research institutes, companies, and organisations.

The weather was perfect for the Friday evening meal, served in a marquee in the Institute’s landscaped gardens and accompanied by a jazz band. Sir Michael then entertained guests with a presentation of highlights from his life and times, before the firework display began. The conference closed on Saturday evening, with dinner in the Great Hall of Clare College, Cambridge.

Professor Sir Michael Berridge was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1984 and was knighted in 1998. He is a Fellow of Trinity College and Honorary Professor of Cell Signalling at the University of Cambridge. Sir Michael has worked in scientific research since 1965, and joined the Laboratory of Molecular Signalling at the Babraham Institute in 1990. His main area of research concerns the mode of action of hormones and neurotransmitters at the cellular level – to understand how a cell detects signals from its environment and translates them into internal signals that trigger a change in its activity.

Sir Michael is a member of The Academy of Medical Sciences and a Foreign Associate of The National Academy of Sciences. He has received numerous awards including The King Faisal International Prize in Science, The Louis Jeantet Prize in Medicine, The Albert Lasker Medical Research Award, The Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics and The Wolf Foundation Prize in Medicine. Babraham Institute’s Signalling Programme: Cells communicate with each other to co-ordinate their growth, differentiation and specialised cellular functions.

The signalling mechanisms responsible for this cellular communication are relevant to many areas of biomedicine and represent a major research activity at the Babraham Institute.