Turnbull was knighted in the
2016 Birthday Honours.[16] According to the BBC, his knighthood was awarded for "creating a groundbreaking
IVF technique which prevents disabling
genetic disorders from being passed on to future generations".[17] This technique uses
mitochondrial donation, also known as "three-person babies".[18][19]
Turnbull was awarded the
Buchanan Medal for outstanding contributions to biomedicine particularly in relation to mitochondrial disease, including the development of a method to prevent their transmission.[20]
^Lightowlers, Robert N.; Chinnery, Patrick F.; Turnbull, Douglass M.; Howell, Neil (1997). "Mammalian mitochondrial genetics: heredity, heteroplasmy and disease". Trends in Genetics. 13 (11): 450–455.
doi:
10.1016/S0168-9525(97)01266-3.
PMID9385842.
^Bender, Andreas; Krishnan, Kim J; Morris, Christopher M; Taylor, Geoffrey A; Reeve, Amy K; Perry, Robert H; Jaros, Evelyn; Hersheson, Joshua S; Betts, Joanne; Klopstock, Thomas; Taylor, Robert W; Turnbull, Douglass M (2006). "High levels of mitochondrial DNA deletions in substantia nigra neurons in aging and Parkinson disease". Nature Genetics. 38 (5): 515–517.
doi:
10.1038/ng1769.
PMID16604074.
S2CID13956928.
^Taylor, Robert W.; Barron, Martin J.; Borthwick, Gillian M.; Gospel, Amy; Chinnery, Patrick F.; Samuels, David C.; Taylor, Geoffrey A.; Plusa, Stefan M.; Needham, Stephanie J.; Greaves, Laura C.; Kirkwood, Thomas B.L.; Turnbull, Douglass M. (2003).
"Mitochondrial DNA mutations in human colonic crypt stem cells". Journal of Clinical Investigation. 112 (9): 1351–1360.
doi:
10.1172/JCI19435.
PMC228466.
PMID14597761.