John Burn and the genetics of cancer
The Life Scientific
BBC
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2018
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Professor Sir John Burn, has made Newcastle on Tyne a centre for research on genetics and disease. He was one of the first British doctors to champion the study of genes in medicine back in the 1980s. More recently his research with families with a propensity to develop certain cancers has shown the benefits of taking aspirin as a prevention against the disease. John Burn was part of the team that set up the Centre for Life on derelict industrial land near the River Tyne, where the public can watch research in action. It now attracts a quarter of a million visitors each year to its public science centre. John Burn was knighted for services to medicine in 2010 and was one of first 20 'local heroes' to have a brass plaque on Newcastle Quayside in 2014, alongside Cardinal Hume, Alan Shearer and Ant and Dec.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Doleepa, and I'm at your service. |
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| 0:41.0 | If you've ever arrived at Newcastle on the train from the south, |
| 0:45.0 | you'll have seen the impressive building housing the Centre for Life. |
| 0:49.0 | My guest today, Professor Sir John Byrne, |
| 0:52.0 | was one of the founders of this unique science village |
| 0:54.6 | that houses 600 research scientists and attracts a quarter of a million visitors each year to its public |
| 1:00.1 | science centre. |
| 1:01.7 | But more important is his work as a clinical geneticist, and he was a pioneer |
| 1:06.5 | of bringing genetic testing into medicine. |
| 1:10.2 | When John Byrne moved back to his native northeast in 1984, he was one of the first |
| 1:14.4 | consultants in clinical genetics in the UK. |
| 1:17.6 | He built up the Northern Genetic Service, in which doctors and scientists work closely |
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