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Sir Ronald Fisher Lecture: Genomic imprinting and the divided self

Date/Time: Tuesday, 7 July 2015, 5:30 pm

Location: Scott Theatre

Cost: FREE

Abstract: My mother’s kin are not my father’s kin and the interests of these two kin groups do not always coincide. Therefore, our genomes are sometimes divided against themselves over what choices maximise genetic fitness. This evolutionary conflict has resulted in genes evolving conditional strategies in which a gene behaves differently when it is inherited from a mother or a father. The expression of these conflicts will be illustrated with examples from human medical genetics.

David Haig is George Putnam Professor of Biology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Chair of the Australian Studies Committee at Harvard University. David received his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Macquarie University before a Royal Society Endeavour Fellowship at Oxford University and a Harvard Junior Fellowship. He has been on the faculty at Harvard University since 1995. He is author of Genomic Imprinting and Kinship, is an evolutionary geneticist/theorist interested in conflicts and conflict resolution within the genome, with a particular interest in genomic imprinting and relations between parents and offspring.

R.A. Fisher’s extraordinary contributions to science have consequences in many current branches of human thought and endeavour. After his death in Adelaide in 1962, J.H. Bennett, former Professor of Genetics at Adelaide, edited Fisher’s papers and gathered much associated material. The collection is held in the Barr Smith Library, the University of Adelaide.

This public lecture series was endowed by P.A. Parsons, former Professor of Genetics and Human Variation at La Trobe University.

Contact: Professor Frank Grutzner (email), ARC Australian Research Fellow, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, and Robinson Research Institute, The University of Adelaide, Business: +61 8 8313 4812, Mobile: 0417 026 302

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