Skip to main content
Search
Main content

Prof. David Klenerman

FMedSci FRS

Group Leader

Determining how protein clumps form, damage the brain and change as the different neurodegenerative diseases develop to know which ones to target for therapies

Techniques

Advanced microscopy & imaging, Biophysical techniques, Fluid biomarkers, Software development

Biography

Professor Sir David Klenerman is a physical chemist who graduated and completed his doctorate at Cambridge University working with Professor Ian Smith on infra-red chemiluminescence for his PhD in 1985. This was followed by postdoctoral research at Stanford University, California with Professor Dick Zare on high overtone chemistry. He then returned to the UK and worked for seven years for BP Research in their Laser Spectroscopy Group before returning to the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, progressing to a Professorship. At Cambridge his work has focussed on the development and application of physical methods, particularly laser spectroscopy and single molecule fluorescence, to biological and biomedical problems. 

His recognition includes being knighted by the Queen in 2018, for development of high speed DNA sequencing, and being awarded the Royal Society’s Royal Medal in 2018. He was awarded the 2020 Millennium Technology Prize jointly with Shankar Balasubramanian and the 2022 Breakthrough Prize for Life Sciences and 2024 Gairdner Prize for Life Sciences jointly with Shankar Balasubramanian and Pascal Mayer for next generation DNA sequencing.

News

Key publications

Nature
Published

Accurate whole human genome sequencing using reversible terminator chemistry.

Authors
David R Bentley, Shankar Balasubramanian, Harold P Swerdlow, Geoffrey P Smith, John Milton, Clive G Brown, Kevin P Hall, Dirk J Evers, Colin L Barnes, Helen R Bignell, Jonathan M Boutell, Jason Bryant, Richard J Carter, R Keira Cheetham, Anthony J Cox, Darren J Ellis, Michael R Flatbush, Niall A Gormley, Sean J Humphray, Leslie J Irving, Mirian S Karbelashvili, Scott M Kirk, Heng Li, Xiaohai Liu, Klaus S Maisinger, Lisa J Murray, Bojan Obradovic, Tobias Ost, Michael L Parkinson, Mark R Pratt, Isabelle M J Rasolonjatovo, Mark T Reed, Roberto Rigatti, Chiara Rodighiero, Mark T Ross, Andrea Sabot, Subramanian V Sankar, Aylwyn Scally, Gary P Schroth, Mark E Smith, Vincent P Smith, Anastassia Spiridou, Peta E Torrance, Svilen S Tzonev, Eric H Vermaas, Klaudia Walter, Xiaolin Wu, Lu Zhang, Mohammed D Alam, Carole Anastasi, Ify C Aniebo, David M D Bailey, Iain R Bancarz, Saibal Banerjee, Selena G Barbour, Primo A Baybayan, Vincent A Benoit, Kevin F Benson, Claire Bevis, Phillip J Black, Asha Boodhun, Joe S Brennan, John A Bridgham, Rob C Brown, Andrew A Brown, Dale H Buermann, Abass A Bundu, James C Burrows, Nigel P Carter, Nestor Castillo, Maria Chiara E Catenazzi, Simon Chang, R Neil Cooley, Natasha R Crake, Olubunmi O Dada, Konstantinos D Diakoumakos, Belen Dominguez-Fernandez, David J Earnshaw, Ugonna C Egbujor, David W Elmore, Sergey S Etchin, Mark R Ewan, Milan Fedurco, Louise J Fraser, Karin V Fuentes Fajardo, W Scott Furey, David George, Kimberley J Gietzen, Colin P Goddard, George S Golda, Philip A Granieri, David E Green, David L Gustafson, Nancy F Hansen, Kevin Harnish, Christian D Haudenschild, Narinder I Heyer, Matthew M Hims, Johnny T Ho, Adrian M Horgan, Katya Hoschler, Steve Hurwitz, Denis V Ivanov, Maria Q Johnson, Terena James, T A Huw Jones, Gyoung-Dong Kang, Tzvetana H Kerelska, Alan D Kersey, Irina Khrebtukova, Alex P Kindwall, Zoya Kingsbury, Paula I Kokko-Gonzales, Anil Kumar, Marc A Laurent, Cynthia T Lawley, Sarah E Lee, Xavier Lee, Arnold K Liao, Jennifer A Loch, Mitch Lok, Shujun Luo, Radhika M Mammen, John W Martin, Patrick G McCauley, Paul McNitt, Parul Mehta, Keith W Moon, Joe W Mullens, Taksina Newington, Zemin Ning, Bee Ling Ng, Sonia M Novo, Michael J O'Neill, Mark A Osborne, Andrew Osnowski, Omead Ostadan, Lambros L Paraschos, Lea Pickering, Andrew C Pike, Alger C Pike, D Chris Pinkard, Daniel P Pliskin, Joe Podhasky, Victor J Quijano, Come Raczy, Vicki H Rae, Stephen R Rawlings, Ana Chiva Rodriguez, Phyllida M Roe, John Rogers, Maria C Rogert Bacigalupo, Nikolai Romanov, Anthony Romieu, Rithy K Roth, Natalie J Rourke, Silke T Ruediger, Eli Rusman, Raquel M Sanches-Kuiper, Martin R Schenker, Josefina M Seoane, Richard J Shaw, Mitch K Shiver, Steven W Short, Ning L Sizto, Johannes P Sluis, Melanie A Smith, Jean Ernest Sohna Sohna, Eric J Spence, Kim Stevens, Neil Sutton, Lukasz Szajkowski, Carolyn L Tregidgo, Gerardo Turcatti, Stephanie Vandevondele, Yuli Verhovsky, Selene M Virk, Suzanne Wakelin, Gregory C Walcott, Jingwen Wang, Graham J Worsley, Juying Yan, Ling Yau, Mike Zuerlein, Jane Rogers, James C Mullikin, Matthew E Hurles, Nick J McCooke, John S West, Frank L Oaks, Peter L Lundberg, David Klenerman, Richard Durbin, Anthony J Smith
Accurate whole human genome sequencing using reversible terminator chemistry.

Klenerman Lab

Explore the work of the Klenerman Lab focused on determining how protein clumps form, damage the brain and change as the different neurodegenerative diseases develop to know which ones to target for therapies.

Klenerman culture