Editing Alec Jeffreys (section)

{{Short description|British geneticist (born 1950)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = Sir
| name              = Alec Jeffreys
| honorific_suffix  = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH|FRS|MAE}}
| image             = Alec Jeffreys.jpg
| caption           = Alec Jeffreys, 2009
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1950|1|9|df=y}}<ref name=whoswho/>
| birth_place       = [[Oxford]], [[Oxfordshire]], England
| spouse            = {{marriage|Susan Miles|1971}}
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| thesis_url        = http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.460797
| thesis_title      = Studies on the mitochondria of cultured mammalian cells
| thesis_year       = 1975
| doctoral_students = 
| field             = [[Genetics]]<ref name=scopus>{{Scopus id}}</ref>
| work_institutions = {{Plainlist|
* [[University of Amsterdam]]
*  [[University of Leicester]]}}
| education         = [[University of Oxford]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[DPhil]])
| known_for         = [[Genetic fingerprinting]]
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Mendel Medal (genetics)|Mendel Medal]] (1987)
* [[Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society|Bicentenary Medal]] (1987)
* [[Colworth Medal]] (1987)<ref>{{Cite journal |pmid=2887471 |year=1987 |last1=Jeffreys |first1=Alec John |title=Highly variable minisatellites and DNA fingerprints |journal=Biochemical Society Transactions |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=309–17 |doi=10.1042/bst0150309 |url=https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/450/1/BST0150309.pdf |hdl=2381/450 |access-date=29 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809072903/https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/450/1/BST0150309.pdf |archive-date=9 August 2017 |url-status=dead |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
* [[Albert Einstein World Award of Science]] (1996)
* [[Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine]] (2004)<ref name="The winners of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine" />
* [[Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research|Lasker award]] (2005)
* [[Royal Medal]] (2004)
* Great Briton Award (2006)
* [[Copley Medal]]<ref name="AJ2014">{{cite news|url=http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Sir-Alec-wins-science-s-oldest-prize/story-22074042-detail/story.html|work=Leicester Mercury|title=Leicester University Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys wins science's oldest prize|date=5 August 2014|access-date=5 August 2014|archive-date=16 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516190048/http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Sir-Alec-wins-science-s-oldest-prize/story-22074042-detail/story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> (2014)
* [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] (2016)}}
| module            = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Alec Jeffries BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 9 Dec 2007 b008fcdz.flac|title={{center|Alec Jeffreys' voice}}|type=speech|description={{center|[[:File:Alec Jeffries BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 9 Dec 2007 b008fcdz.flac|Recorded December 2007]] from the BBC Radio 4 programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]''}}}}
}}

'''Sir Alec John Jeffreys''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|CH|FRS|MAE}}<ref name=frs/> (born 9 January 1950)<ref name=whoswho/> is a British [[geneticist]] known for developing techniques for [[genetic fingerprinting]] and [[DNA profiling]] which are now used worldwide in [[forensic science]] to assist police detective work and to resolve paternity and immigration disputes.<ref name=scopus/><ref name="BBC">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8245312.stm DNA pioneer's 'eureka' moment]  BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2011</ref><ref name="DIDiscs AJ"/>

Jeffreys is professor of genetics at the [[University of Leicester]],<ref name="Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys">{{Cite journal 
|last1 = Zagorski|first1 = Nick 
|title = Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys
|doi = 10.1073/pnas.0603953103 
|journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 
|volume = 103 
|issue = 24 
|pages = 8918–8920 
|year = 2006 
|pmid = 16754883 
|pmc =1482540 
|bibcode = 2006PNAS..103.8918Z 
|doi-access = free 
}}</ref><ref name="UofL AJ">{{cite web|url=http://www.le.ac.uk/genetics/pages/staff/staff_pages/jeffreys.html|title=Staff pages: Professor Sir Alec J. Jeffreys FRS |access-date=15 December 2007|publisher=University of Leicester|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026015206/http://www.le.ac.uk/genetics/pages/staff/staff_pages/jeffreys.html |archive-date=26 October 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and became an honorary [[Freedom of the city|freeman]] of the City of [[Leicester]] on 26 November 1992.<ref name="freeman Leicester">{{cite web|url=http://www.leicester.gov.uk/about-leicester/lordmayorcivic/freemen/honorary-freemen/list-of-freemen |title=List of persons upon whom the honorary freedom of the city has been conferred |access-date=15 December 2007 |publisher=Leicester City Council |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414130133/http://www.leicester.gov.uk/about-leicester/lordmayorcivic/freemen/honorary-freemen/list-of-freemen |archive-date=14 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1994, he was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] by Queen [[Elizabeth II]] for services to genetics.<ref name="Profile of Alec J. Jeffreys"/><ref>{{Cite journal|pmid = 24245655|pmc = 3831583
|year = 2013
|last1 = Jeffreys
|first1 = A. J.
|title = The man behind the DNA fingerprints: An interview with Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys
|journal = Investigative Genetics
|volume = 4
|issue = 1
|pages = 21
|doi = 10.1186/2041-2223-4-21
|doi-access = free
}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/leicester/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8242000/8242497.stm|title=Jeffreys reflects on DNA finding|date=11 September 2009|work=BBC News}}</ref>