Fellowship Lunchtime Lectures: Lars Jansen

This is Teddy Hall’s new online lunchtime lecture series which aims to highlight the incredible depth and breadth of research across the Teddy Hall Fellowship.

This week’s speaker and topic: Professor Lars Jansen, ‘Genes, genetics and epigenetics’. 

In this lecture, Lars will dive into the question of what are genes? The gene is well known yet enigmatic, in science and society alike. We have all seen the iconic helical structure of DNA, the material of genes. The workings of this molecule are powerful in explaining how we pass on the instructions of life to our children. The prevailing view is that all genetic instructions are encoded in the sequence of letters of the long string that is DNA. Moreover, that sequence is deemed unchanging except by random chance leading to unfortunate disease or to a rare adaptation in evolution.

Lars will illustrate some wonderful and provocative exceptions to these rules and show examples from our work and others that sometimes what we pass on to our children is not only our DNA instructions but also other molecules that can act like genes, and that these are under the influence of environmental signals. Such odd forms of genetics, called epigenetic memory are redefining what is inheritance.

This lecture is hosted by the Principal of St Edmund Hall, Professor Katherine Willis. It is a 45mins lecture followed by a Q&A.

Registration

Registration is required on Eventbrite. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom joining link the day before the Lecture.

Please note that this lecture will be recorded and published on St Edmund Hall’s digital and print communication platforms where appropriate.