Dr Fred Sanger, winner of two Nobel Prizes and Honorary Fellow of the Society of Biology, died on 19th November 2013 at the age of 95.

Dr Mark Downs, chief executive of the Society of Biology says: "We are saddened to hear of the death of Dr Sanger but we should take this moment to celebrate his life and his huge contribution to science.

"He transformed our understanding of how living organisms are built at the molecular level and revolutionised the way we think about biology. To be the recipient of two Nobel prizes is a remarkable achievement and his work continues to have a daily impact on science and society. "The sequencing of  insulin was of great medical importance, but it also altered the way that we think about proteins in other areas of science and medicine, bringing us closer to our current understanding of proteins as having distinct chemical composition, shape and structure.

"His pioneering work on DNA sequencing in the 1970s laid the foundation for our knowledge of DNA sequences in areas as diverse as medical screening and plant pathology. Despite the astounding rate at which we are learning about our genome, the 'Sanger' method of DNA sequencing for which he was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize is still in use today."