John Aitken (biologist)

Robert John Aitken (born 4 September 1947) is a British-born Australian-based reproductive biologist and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Health and Medicine and Laureate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Newcastle. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.
Early life and Education.
John Aitken was born in Bath, in England, on 4 September 1947. Born into a family of real estate agents in Devon, John attended Barnstaple Boys Grammar School, but quit at the age of 16 to follow his parents' footsteps and become an estate agent. After six months of selling houses to the semi-rural residents of Barnstaple, John decided to return to school. He then re-enrolled at his former school to study art, English, and geography, but they were all full, so he had no choice but to study chemistry, botany, and zoology, despite his initial intention to avoid science.
Professor John Aitken graduated from the University of London, where he received a Bachelor of Science (Special Honours) in 1967. While at university, he studied zoology, specifically elephant reproduction, which made him interested in reproductive biology, prompting him to pursue a Master's degree in Embryology and Mammalian Reproduction from the University College of North Wales in 1969.
He continued his post-graduate studies focusing on wild animal reproduction in Veterinary Clinical Studies at the University of Cambridge under Professor Roger Short's supervision.
First scientific papers.
In 1971, John Aitken's first paper, "Ultrastructural changes in the uterine glands of the Roe deer during delayed implantation” was published in the Journal of Physiology. After 4 years working with Dr Roger Short, Aitken completed his thesis, and received a PhD for research on reproductive study in roe deer from the University of Cambridge in 1973.
Scientific career.
1973-1976: First start on research career.
After Cambridge, John Aitken started a postdoctoral position at the University of Edinburgh's Institute of Animal Genetics, working collaboratively with Anne McLaren, a graduate from the University of Oxford. However, for the first 12 months at Edinburgh, he had not done any outstanding research due to transformations in study models from descriptive on wild animals to mechanistic approaches using the mouse, as well as changes in laboratories. Despite initial difficulties, he became familiar with new study models of in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer in the second year. In later years, combining these techniques with electrophoretic analysis of proteins, his publication rate rose dramatically and was being cited by other scientists at that time.
WHO mission.
In late 1975, Professor John Aitken was invited to study problems associated with fertility regulation at the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s Human Reproduction Unit in Geneva. As consulting scientists of WHO, he and Mike Harper conducted several reviews on fertility control strategies, which help prevent or disrupt implantation.
Returning from the WHO informative sessions, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bordeaux for 1 year before continuing his research activities at the University of Edinburgh in September 1977.
1977-1981: Human Reproductive study.
Despite a short period at WHO, Professor John Aitken had the opportunity to consider all the problems that concern human health, particular infertility issue, during his time here, which prompted him to pursue research in human reproductive biology.
In 1977, John had been appointed to the first Medical Research Council Centre for Reproductive Health at University of Edinburgh, where he and his team focused on the biochemistry of implantation. During his early days at the newly founded centre, he found an advanced technique for examining proteins and carbohydrates more precisely during the pre-ovulatory period to study hormonal control of implantation. Despite early achievements, his team had suspended all research activities due to material shortage from gynaecology wards.
1982-1999: Initiative in Andrology.
After months of waiting for clinical supplies, John Aitken took the lead in Andrology with Roger Short and David Mortimer's encouragement, despite the fact that the discipline was still in its infancy around the 1950s. With this transition in research styles, he could gain direct access without relying on his clinical colleagues' supply, thus solving the need for clinical materials. In 1982, he was promoted to senior scientist at the Medical Research Council; however, it was initially difficult since he and his team were all obscure about how they could influence this field. After few years with renovated laboratory facilities, John started to focus his future study on clinical research into male contraceptives, androgen physiology, and male infertility, especially molecular mechanisms that regulate sperm function.
John remained at the University of Edinburgh for most of the 1980s to 1990s. It was there that he discovered an abnormally free radical attack in failures of fertilisation and later did research on the relationship between reactive oxygen species and their effects on impaired sperm function. He also proposed new techniques in contraception that had helped prevent sexually transmitted diseases and treat male infertility. These contributions laid the foundation for the reproductive studies done in the latter half of the twentieth century in reproductive biology.