[8][independent source needed] David Baulcombe was born on 7 April 1952 in the United Kingdom, in Solihull, Warwickshire,[4][8] (in England's Midlands), into "a non-scientific family".

Baulcombe returned to the United Kingdom then, where he was given the opportnity to create his own research group at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge[9] (PBI, the John Innes Centre[citation needed]).

[13] Baulcombe "serves on several [professional] committees and study sections",[8][independent source needed] and was president of the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology from 2003–2004.

][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][independent source needed] In 1998 Craig Mello, Andrew Fire, and colleagues reported a potent gene silencing effect—observations on the mechanism of RNA interference—after injecting double stranded RNA into Caenorhabditis elegans,[28][29] a discovery notable as a detailed description of what proved to be the correct mechanism of a broad class of phenomena.

[28] Baulcombe then, with Andrew Hamilton, discovered a small interfering RNA that is the specificity determinant in RNA-mediated gene silencing in plants.

[31]) With other members of his research group at the Sainsbury Laboratory, Baulcombe also helped unravel the importance of small interfering RNA in epigenetics and in defence against viruses.

[citation needed] In June 2009, Baulcombe was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2009 Birthday Honours List, "for services to plant science".