25 Sep 2020
Alfonso Martinez-Arias and Naomi Moris receive MRC and AMED Award
Professor Alfonso Martinez-Arias and Dr Naomi Moris have received an award from the Medical Research (MRC) and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) in collaboration with Dr Cantas Alev to use their human gastruloid system to study somitogenesis associated birth defects.The below image provides an outline of the work. For fur…
8 Sep 2020
Salje Group COVID-19 Research
Dr Henrik Salje provides us with a summary of the work being done by his group in relation to COVID19:SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, continues to spread, causing substantial burden on public health worldwide. We have been working closely with researchers at Institut Pasteur in analysing hospitalisation records in France. In this …
7 Sep 2020
Uncovering the structural basis for intrinsic asymmetry in the spindle pathway under cyclin-dependent kinase control
A new study from the Segal group uncovers the structural basis for intrinsic asymmetry in the spindle pathway under cyclin-dependent kinase controlCell division gives rise to two progeny cells carrying copies of the progenitor's genetic material. In so call symmetric divisions, daughter cells also share the progenitor's identity. Yet, in the specia…
30 Jul 2020
Course change statement issued for incoming Part II students
Statement on Part II Genetics teaching for 2020-2021 Due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and government guidance, we have had to make some changes to the programme in order to mitigate against risks to health and to give you the best possible academic experience in the circumstances. We will continue to monitor and respond to the changing p…
25 Jun 2020
Dr Gos Micklem promoted to Professor
We would like to offer our warmest congratulations to Gos Micklem who has been promoted to Professor in the most recent round of the Senior Academic Promotions exercise. Gos will be the Professor of Computational and Molecular Biology. The formal announcement is listed in the Cambridge University Reporter, 24 June 2020.
16 Jun 2020
Philip Oliver - St Catherine's College and retired Lecturer in the Department of Genetics
It is with great sadness that we learnt of the death of Philip Oliver on Saturday 13 June 2020. Philip retired from Genetics in 2012. David Summers remembers Philip here:Dr Philip Oliver: a personal reflectionI first crossed paths with Philip Oliver when I came to Cambridge as a Natural Sciences undergraduate in 1974. I think this was probably th…
10 Jun 2020
N. Moris and A. Martinez Arias group develop ESC based model of early human development
Scientists from the Department of Genetics, in collaboration with the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands, have developed a new model to study an early stage of human development, using human embryonic stem cells. The model resembles some key elements of an embryo at around 18-21 days old and allows the researchers to observe the processes underl…
24 Mar 2020
Cambridge University enters 'red' phase in response to COVID-19 outbreak
All University Staff, except those needed for business-critical activity, are now working remotely. Please contact us by email until further notice.For the University's updated guidance, please visit their dedicated webpages. A collection of useful links for Department members have been provided below:Library and Information Services:The Cambridge…
18 Mar 2020
Global human genome study reveals our complex evolutionary history
Cambridge researchers have contributed to an international study of human genetic diversity and ancestry in 54 indigenous populations across six continents. The study, published this week in Science, clarifies the genetic relationships between human populations around the world, including shared ancestry from ancient interbreeding with extinct rela…
20 Feb 2020
Segmentation in mouse gastruloids
Segmentation in mouse gastruloidsA few years ago the Martinez Arias group, reported a model system to study mammalian development. Using mouse embryonic stem cells, they found that under defined culture conditions, precise numbers of cells would aggregate and undergo a series of events that mimic the early embryos. In particular, they broke symmetr…
18 Feb 2020
Dr Ben Steventon on Open Research with Wellcome
Dr Ben Steventon has been recently appointed to the Wellcome Trust Open Reseach early career advisory board. The aim of this group is to inform the Wellcome Trust about specific issues faced by early career researchers when publishing and sharing their research output through open research publishing initiatives such as Wellcome Open Research.Here…
28 Jan 2020
CANCELLED - Cambridge Science Festival 2020
CANCELLEDUnfotunately our event as part of the Science Festival 2020 has had to be cancelled due to safety precautions relating to the COVID-19 virus.The Department of Genetics are delighted to open their doors again for the Cambridge Science Festival.We will be running a family-friendly event on 14 March 2020 from 11am - 4pm. Come and join us by …
10 Oct 2019
Genetics at the Big Biology Day
Members of the Department took part in the Big Biology Day at Hills Road Sixth Form on 05 October 2019.Attendees got to play an interactive game to show what a large number of biologists do daily, identify common Drosophila melanogaster phenotypes. They also played a game where they identified different species of fruit flies that are worked on in…
4 Jul 2019
Genetics Society Centenary Celebrations
Centernary celebrations were hosted at the John Innes Conference Centre on Tuesday 25 June 2019.Posters designed for our Saunders Lecture 2018 were displayed during the celebrations (pictured above). The posters were very much appreciated and attendees commented on how much they had learnt through these.The Director of the John Innes Centre opened…
27 Jun 2019
Ben Steventon joins the ERC Advisory Board for Wellcome Open Research
As part of their continued drive towards promoting open access publishing, and the open sharing of research data, the Wellcome trust have launched an online platform called “Wellcome Open Research”. This provides all Wellcome researchers with a place to rapidly publish any results they think are worth sharing. All articles benefit from immediate pu…
