JBS Haldane Lecture 2016 – Aoife McLysaght
Aoife McLysaght is a Professor of Genetics in Trinity College Dublin, where she has led a research group since 2003. She was a member of the international consortium that published the first draft of the Human Genome sequence in 2001; was the first to discover novel human-specific genes, in 2009; identified links between gene duplication patterns and Copy Number Variation (CNV) pathogenicity; and has made significant contributions to our understanding of the human genome, as well as the genomes of other animals, plants and viruses.
Aoife’s research team has been funded through prestigious President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (PIYRA) and a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Researcher Award. Aoife is on the editorial board of Molecular Biology and Evoution, and Cell Reports, she was Treasurer of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution for three years, and receives frequent invitations to speak at major international conferences and participate in the organisation of international meetings.
Aoife takes a keen interest in communicating science to the general public in an engaging and accessible manner. She has given many talks at public events, including music festivals, The Royal Institution and Brian Cox and Robin Ince’s Christmas Science shows. She is a frequent contributor to radio discussions including on BBC Radio 4, appeared on live TV, contributed to TV science documentaries, and has been a regular columnist for the Irish Times science page.
Aoife’s lecture, “Evolution: New genes from scratch”, was presented on Tuesday 8 November, at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, London.
