News

Using tiny fragments of bones and teeth dated to between 500 and 700 years ago, along with saliva samples from living members of the Picuris Pueblo, Willerslev and his team at the University of Copenhagen have demonstrated a genetic link between the Picuris Pueblo and the Pueblo Bonito site in Chaco Canyon.Located in the southwestern United States,…

We are pleased to announce that Professor Richard Durbin and Dr Felipe Karam-Teixeira have been awarded a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award for their research on genome evolution and function: 'Genome evolution driven by transposable element across the Tree of Life'.Their work focuses on how genome sequencing across species is revolutionizing biology.…

Recently published in Nature, Trevor Cousins, Aylwyn Scally and Richard Durbin are trying to understand how ancient human populations mixed and changed in size over time, which is key to studying human evolution. They developed a new genetic model, called COBRAA, that helps track how ancient groups split apart and later merged again.Using this mode…

Phylowave; The latest framework developed by researchers to identify more infectious variants of viruses or bacteria, including those responsible for flu, COVID, whooping cough and tuberculosis. Noémie Le Franq, lead author, has had her manuscript published in Nature on 01 January 2025. Noémie was a joint PhD student between the Pathogen Dynamics G…

Dr Ben Steventon featured on the latest episode of the Infinite Monkey Cage, 'The Science of Baby Making', which aired on Thursday 05 December.Professor Brian Coz and Robin Ince were joined by Sara Pascoe, Professor Joyce Harper and Dr Ben Steventon to discuss all things embryology, IVF and artificial wombs.You can listen to the whole episode here.

We are absolutely delighted to report that for the fourth year in a row members of the Department were announced as winners in the ProfessionalServices Recognition ceremony on Thursday 05 December 2024.Emily Kempin was the winner of the individual award in the new Improving Our Environmental Performance category, recognising the tremendous work she…

We are delighted to share that Dr Henrik Salje has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant, as only 1 in 4 Life Sciences awarded in the UK.  He will be exploring how host, immunity and mosquito factors combine to determine the evolving fitness of the dengue virus The title of the project is: Linking vector, virus and immunity to the evolving fitness…

Many congratulations to Noémie Lefranq on being awarded the 2025 Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize by the Genetics Society.Noémie was a joint PhD student between the Pathogen Dynamics Group at the Department of Genetics and the Pathogen Genomics and Evolution Group at the Department of Veterinary Medicine. She worked on Bordetella pertussis, the ba…

David P Judge1948-2024David Judge was a computer scientist who pioneered Bioinformatics training in the University and more widely. In 1986 he started the University of Cambridge Bioinformatics Training Facility in the Department of Genetics and virtually single handedly developed and ran it until his retirement in 2015. After a degree in Computer …

The Department of Genetics is delighted to announce that Paul Fannon, a teaching associate in data science and machine learning in our bioinformatics training facility has been awarded an OBE for services to Education. Paul has taught many aspects of mathematics across the University and he won CUSU student-led teaching awards in the University twi…

The AwardThe Schmidt Science Fellowships are highly competitive awards established by Eric Schmidt from Google that support a pathway to independence. Around 30 awards are made internationally per year to individuals with recent PhDs that are focused on analytical approaches in the sciences.We have two recipients from the Pathogen Dynamics Unit in …

We are delighted to announce the Department of Genetics is participating in a major new research initiative funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Wellcome. Led by Prof Eske Willerslev at the University of Copenhagen, who will shortly join the Department as a Director of Research, and Prof Richard Durbin, the AEGIS (Ancient Environmental Genomic…

It is with great sadness we announce the death of Adelaide Carpenter.  Adelaide has been in the Department for over 30 years, initially working in Michael Ashburner’s lab, then with David Glover and latterly as a visitor in Felipe’s group.Prior to coming to Cambridge she was a full professor at University of California, San Diego. Adelaide was one …

Professor Henrik Salje, is the joint senior author on a new study about the measles vaccine which has found that a single dose of the measles jab is up to 2.6 times more likely to be completely ineffective in children born by C-section, compared to those born naturally."Measles remains a major global killer. We have an excellent vaccine but sometim…

BioTryp TherapeuticsBioTryp Therapeutics is a spin-off company from the Department of Genetics, developing novel oral antibiofilm therapies for bacterial infections, with an initial focus on urinary tract infections (UTIs). Bacterial biofilms are communities surrounded by an extracellular matrix, providing structural protection against antibiotics …