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SUMMARY:From Genomes to the Diversity of Life - Professor Michael Akam\, U
 niversity of Cambridge
DTSTART:20120120T173000Z
DTEND:20120120T183000Z
UID:TALK30607@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Janet Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Abstract\n\nPublication of the human genome sequence in 2001 r
 epresented the culmination of a multi-million dollar international effort.
   But since then\, the cost of sequencing DNA has fallen more than 10\,000
  fold\, and it is now possible to sequence the genomes of organisms repres
 enting the great diversity of life on earth.  Already\, complete genome se
 quences are available for animals as diverse as sea anemones and centipede
 s\, as well as for literally thousands of different bacteria and other mic
 roorganisms.  These genomes contain not just the instruction sets for maki
 ng life work today\, but also a rich record of the history of life.  I wil
 l discuss what we can and cannot read in genome sequences. I will describe
  some of the surprising relationships among living organisms that have bee
 n revealed by comparing genomes\, and I will consider what the study of ge
 nomes can tell us about the process by which single celled organisms evolv
 ed into complex multicellular animals. \n\n\nBiography\n\nMichael Akam too
 k his first degree in Zoology at Cambridge\, where the influence of Sidney
  Brenner and Peter Lawrence kindled his interest in developmental genetics
  and pattern formation.  As a graduate student in Oxford he identified and
  mapped genes encoding the larval blood proteins of the fruit fly Drosophi
 la. After a brief flirtation with nematodes at the Laboratory for Molecula
 r Biology in Cambridge\, he moved to the Department of Biochemistry at Sta
 nford in 1979\, where he participated in the first isolation\, from Drosop
 hila\, of the developmental control genes known as Hox genes\, and in the 
 development of techniques for localizing gene expression in the tiny embry
 os of these flies.  Returning to the Genetics Department in Cambridge in 1
 982\, he was able to show for the first time that Hox genes were expressed
  at specific positions along the body axis. He has since worked on many as
 pects of the functional organisation of Hox genes in fruit flies and other
  species.\n\nOver the last twenty years he has exploited our growing knowl
 edge of developmental genetics to study the genetic basis for animal diver
 sity.  His particular interests are the diversity of embryonic patterning 
 mechanisms among arthropods\, and the control of body plans by Hox genes. 
  His current passion is for the embryos of centipedes\, and the biology of
  segment formation. He is coordinating a centipede genome project.  \n\nIn
  1989\, he moved as a founding member to the Wellcome/CRC Institute for Ca
 ncer and Developmental Biology in Cambridge.  In 1997 he became Director o
 f the University Museum of Zoology\, where he established a laboratory for
  the Study of Development and Evolution.  He relinquished this post in 201
 0 to  become Professor of Zoology and Head of the Department of Zoology.  
 He has been a Fellow of Darwin College since 2006.  \n
LOCATION:LMH\, Lady Mitchell Hall
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