Alec Jeffreys

Sir Alec John Jeffreys (born 9 January 1950) and became an honorary freeman of the City of Leicester on 26 November 1992. In 1994, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to genetics.

Early life and education Jeffreys was born into a middle-class family in Oxford, where he spent the first six years of his life until 1956 when the family moved to Luton, Bedfordshire. He won a scholarship to study at the University of Oxford as an undergraduate of Merton College, Oxford on a four-year course, where he graduated in 1971 with first-class honours in biochemistry.

Career and research

After finishing his doctorate, he moved to the University of Amsterdam, where he worked on mammalian genes as a research fellow,

Jeffreys's DNA method was first put to use in 1985 when he was asked to help in a disputed immigration case to confirm the identity of a British boy whose family was originally from Ghana. with DNA from his mother and son, in a similar way to paternity testing. with the term (DNA fingerprinting) being retained for the initial test that types many minisatellites simultaneously. By focusing on just a few of these highly variable minisatellites, DNA profiling made the system more sensitive, more reproducible and amenable to computer databases. It soon became the standard forensic DNA system used in criminal case work and paternity testing worldwide.

The development of DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) opened up new approaches to forensic DNA testing, allowing automation, greatly increased sensitivity, and a move to alternative marker systems. The most commonly used markers are now variable microsatellites, also known as short tandem repeats (STRs), which Jeffreys first exploited in 1990 in the Mengele case. STR profiling was further refined by a team of scientists led by Peter Gill at the Forensic Science Service in the 1990s, allowing the launch of the UK National DNA Database (NDNAD) in 1995. With highly automated and sophisticated equipment, modern-day DNA profiling can process hundreds of samples each day. Sixteen microsatellites, plus a marker for sex determination, are used with the current system developed for the NDNAD, giving a discrimination power of one in over a billion. Under British law, anyone arrested in England, Wales or Northern Ireland has their DNA profile taken and stored on the database whether or not they are convicted (different rules apply in Scotland). Jeffreys has opposed the current use of DNA profiling, where the government has access to that database, 1989 – Press, Radio and TV awards for the Midlander of the Year, 1988, 1989 26 November 1992 – Honorary freeman of the City of Leicester and to science and technology 1995 – Honorary member of the International Society for Forensic Genetics 1996 – Albert Einstein World Award of Science 1999 – Sir George Stokes Medal 2003 – Association for Molecular Pathology Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics 2004 – Honorary doctorate awarded by the University of Leicester, where Jeffreys is a member of staff 2004 – Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine jointly with Edwin Southern of the University of Oxford 2005 – United States National Academy of Sciences, elected member 2006 – Great Briton Award for the Greatest Briton of the year, winner in the category of Science and Innovation, as well as the overall winner 2006 – Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics 14 April 2010 – Awarded Edinburgh Medal 21 February 2011 – Awarded ABRF Annual Award 2012 – Officially opened the Sir Alec Jeffreys Building in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the scientific support building for West Yorkshire Police and the wider Yorkshire and the Humber region 2014 – Copley Medal 2017 – Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour

Personal life Jeffreys met his future wife, Sue Miles, in a youth club in the centre of Luton, Bedfordshire, before he became a university student, Jeffreys has one brother and one sister; he and his wife have two daughters, born in 1979 and 1983.