Michael J. Berridge has been awarded the Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics 1994 for his contribution to the study of cellular signal mechanisms and the role of inositol trisphosphate in them.

His findings have shown how a signal molecule can influence the intracellular concentration of calcium ions without entering the cell itself. Calcium ions play a role in such basic biological processes as muscle contraction, neurotransmission, growth, fertility, immunology and secretion of fluids and electrolytes.
Michael Berridge has a number of important surveys to his name which have appeared primarily in Nature. Few researchers share Professor Berridge's ability to pinpoint the principal issues in his field and to present them so clearly. His articles are among the most frequently quoted of the '80s and '90s. Berridge has conducted his research with a small team, but also collaborated closely with other colleagues. At a time when many scientists have become managers of research rather than researchers themselves, he is a sterling example of how important discoveries can still be made by individuals carrying out the right experiment at the right time.

Biography

Michael John Berridge was born in Gatooma, Rhodesia, in 1938 and obtained the B.Sc. degree from the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in Salisbury. In 1965 he received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge, and then spent four years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Virginia and at Case Western Reserve University in the USA. In 1969 he returned to Cambridge where he was appointed to a scientific position in the Invertebrate Chemistry and Physiology Unit of the Department of Zoology, now Laboratory of Molecular Signalling. In 1994 Berridge was made honorary professor. He is working as an Emeritus Babraham Fellow at the Babraham Institute.
Professor Berridge is a fellow of the Royal Society and has won many prizes and awards for his scientific work. These include the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award and the CIBA-GEIGY/DREW Award in Biomedical Research. He has given numerous award lectures, such as the 16th FEBS Ferdinand Springer Lecture and the Inaugural Albert L. Lehninger Lecture. He sits on the editorial boards of many prestigious scientific journals.