Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A leading geneticist and Oxford professor, best known for researching a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy and advancing therapies for other genetic disorders
On the island
Eight records
Piano Sonata in B-flat major, D.960 (2nd movement)Favourite
first heard Alfred Brendel live in Edinburgh when cleaning out Nick's flat before he went up to university. This is a beautiful piece of piano work; I play the piano, though not like he does of course, but I can have a go.
Anna Jones (as per presenter announcement)
a tribute to my brothers and the family, running through the hills — such a happy time.
epitomizes my going up to Somerville. My father found me a second-hand reel-to-reel tape recorder and I could put all this music on it before I went up.
Dove sono i bei momenti (from Le nozze di Figaro, K.492)
I'm very fond of Mozart; I'll listen to Mozart any time of day and night. Soile Isokoski singing the Countess's aria from The Marriage of Figaro — wonderful for any mood at any time of day.
The IMM Impostors (colleagues at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford)
one of the happiest periods of my scientific career… they always played at the parties. They represent the passion of science, the happiness of the whole place.
a rather sad piece… when he had a sad time in his life. I had sad times in my life and it just picks you up.
we used to love 10cc when I was doing my DPhil. I just remember[s] giggling on the floor… it was a huge community of people that just loved science. We used to study the words of 10cc songs as well.
La donna è mobile (from Rigoletto)
I'm very fond of opera. Someone was kind enough as my fiftieth birthday present to give me tickets in a box at Covent Garden; I took six of my friends along and we had a ball.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:52Given that you are a sticker, and that you do power away at things until you get it right, with the type of work you do you're not able to take that work home — it must mean many long hours at the lab bench. Is that the case?
It does. I mean, it's very satisfying because you do it with a passion. But biology is very unpredictable, so some of the experiments you expect to work don't work.
Presenter asks
2:13Is this a very anxious time for you, with successful trials already in animals but the human trials about to begin?
Yes, and it isn't the only treatment. Three years ago I used to stand up and say I don't know when treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is going to be available. Now I stand up and say I'm really optimistic that the next ten years either the treatment we're developing or treatment other people are developing or a combination of those will provide an effective treatment for the disease.
Presenter asks
5:33What sort of parents were your mum and dad? Were they ambitious for you?
My father worked for the car industry. He's a very warm, giving person. And actually indeed so is my mother. But my mother is the person that's highly organised, which is where I get that from… they were very supportive all the way through. And I was a quite a timid child. I didn't have much self-confidence at all. And they helped a lot with that. In fact, when I first went to Oxford, they almost had to glue me to the seat for the first term.
The keepsakes
The book
Alan Bennett
Because parts of it are sad and parts of it are really, really funny. You have to recognise that occasionally you're sad, but you also have to recognise that most of the time it's fun and it's certainly worth it.
The luxury
It's very boring, but it has to be a piano. Because I can be creative, I can try and be as good as Alfred Brendel if I get really lonely. And he can even make up my own tunes.
Presenter asks
8:54Given that you were so much more capable than the other pupils around you, did that have a tricky side socially — did you feel you had to keep it private?
Well, in socially, that's definitely true. But of course, in school, there were lots of bright people doing languages and other subjects. It's just in the sciences, because there's such a small number of us, I could easily stand out… I think I didn't think it was feminine. I also think that since a lot of people in my family hadn't been to university before, in part of my father's family, hadn't been to university before, there was a sort of I just felt self-conscious about it.
Presenter asks
11:47Explain to me how Duchenne muscular dystrophy affects the boys.
Yes, it's a progressive muscle wasting disease. So that means that they usually show symptoms between the ages of three and five, having difficulty pulling themselves up from the floor and climbing upstairs. And they're usually wheelchair-bound by the age of eleven or twelve, and then they die in their early twenties of respiratory failure most commonly.
Presenter asks
15:12When you were pregnant, is it true you had every test going?
There weren't very many tests then, so it wasn't an arduous task, but yes. So I would test myself for a carrier status for DMD and cystic fibrosis… and so on, yes.
“I loved solving problems. I was very tenacious, and I would sit in my room until I had finished the problem. I am a sticker.”
“In fact, when I first went to Oxford, they almost had to glue me to the seat for the first term.”
“I think I didn't think it was feminine. I also think that since a lot of people in my family hadn't been to university before… there was a sort of I just felt self-conscious about it.”
“One of the things they've taught me is exactly that. You've got to live for what you can get out of the situation, not concentrate on the negatives. And all of the families do that in a quite honourable way.”
“I thought, this is really exciting. If this takes off, it's going to transform the world in medicine. And of course it has, and still is.”