News from the Department of Genetics
February 2012
Open Day for Part II Genetics : 15 March
This year the Department will be holding one Open Day for those interested in Part II Genetics [or some of our Modules]. This will be on Thursday 15 March. Come along at 2.30 if you can, for the introductory talk. If you cannot make this, there will be some current Part IIs and teaching staff of hand to answer questions, and examples of work undertaken in the Department will be on display. Oh, and there are cakes and drinks on offer!
Can't make Open Day? No problem! Information on the course is available on this website and you can pick up a detailed booklet from reception - this will also be available in some other departments.
Photo at right by James Rice
January 2012
Department of Genetics Centenary Symposium : Friday 7 September 2012
The Arthur Balfour Chair of Genetics at Cambridge will be 100 years old in 2012. To celebrate this centenary the Department of Genetics will be hosting a one-day symposium and dinner to which all past and present members, alumni and friends of the Department are very warmly invited.
The symposium will take place on Friday 7 September 2012 at Churchill College, Storey's Way, Cambridge, CB3 0DS, starting at 10:00. This one-day celebration of genetics will reflect the wide range of research in the Department throughout its history and right up to the present day. Confirmed speakers include Sir Walter Bodmer and Professors Chris Marshall, Robert Martienssen, Edith Heard, Daniel St Johnston, Allan Bradley, Philip Ingham and Nicholas Harberd.The talks will be followed by a dinner at Churchill College.
The cost of the one-day symposium, including all lectures, lunch and the dinner is £100 per person. Please follow this link to book online, or visit the Cambridge Alumni Relations Office (CARO) website www.alumni.cam.ac.uk/events for more information. The registration fee does not include accommodation but there is a list of recommended hotels available on the CARO website. Some participants may want to stay in Cambridge for the weekend following the Symposium. Should you be interested in participating in informal events throughout the weekend, please register your interest via the online booking form or email events@alumni.cam.ac.uk.
See also the page on the history of the Department.
Pictured on the right: Reginald Punnett, first incumbent of the Arthur Balfour Chair of Genetics, 1912-1940
Luca Cavalli-Sforza 90th birthday : 25 January 2012
On 25th January, Luca Cavalli-Sforza celebrates his 90th birthday. He is most well-known for his work on population genetics and human evolution, and worked in this Department with Professor Ronald Fisher in the late 1940s and early 1950s. During this time, he published the first characterisation of an E. coli Hfr strain, 'Recombination in bacteria; outcrossing Escherichia coli K 12' in Nature (1949) 164 : 1057. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15397435. [Copy available in the Genetics Library]. In the 1960s, he also collaborated with another alumnus of this Department, Professor Anthony Edwards, on phylogenetic trees [Some of their co-authored papers also available in the Genetics Library]
>> Wikipedia Article on Cavalli-Sforza
Fourth Evolutionary Genetics Workshop : 13 January 2012
On January 13th, 2012, the Department of Genetics is hosting the 4th Cambridge Evolutionary Genetics Workshop. This has become an annual event designed to bring together evolutionary genetics researchers from all around Cambridge for a one-day symposium of talks on a wide range of topics in evolutionary genetics - from population genetics to evo-devo, from experimental work to theoretical research and the development of statistical methods for evolutionary applications.
This year's program will bring together researchers from the departments of Genetics, Zoology, Veterinary Medicine, Biochemistry, Plant Sciences, Pathology and Physiology, Development and Neuroscience as well as researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Gurdon Institute amongst others. Additionally we welcome our invited speaker, Judith Mank, from the University of Oxford/University College London who will be giving a talk on "Sex chromosomes, sex-specific selection and the genomic basis of sexual dimorphism".
The programme is available as a pdf HERE
Earlier news
See links in panel at left.
Page updated 16 January 2012