Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize 2026 (Undergraduate) Shaoqi Wang

The Genetics Society is delighted to announce Dr Shaoqi Wang as the winner of the 2026 Sir Kenneth Mather Memorial Prize (Undergraduate).

Shaoqi Wang received her BA in Natural Sciences from University of Cambridge, where she completed her undergraduate research in Department of Genetics under the supervision of Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith. Her bachelor’s project focused on exploring the establishment and maintenance of murine variably methylated transposable elements. She then continued in the same laboratory for an MPhil in Genetics, investigating transposable element expansion and regulation, with a focus on intracisternal A-particle (IAP) elements. Her project aimed to study the interplay between transposable elements and host defense mechanisms. Following her MPhil, Shaoqi joined the Max Planck Institute of Epigenetics and Immunobiology to pursue a PhD in Dr. Ayele Denboba’s laboratory. Her current work focuses on developing a dish-based in vitro oogenesis model and dissecting the epigenome-metabolome-microbiome dynamics during oogenesis in both in vivo and in vitro settings.