Dr. Anne Ferguson-Smith University of Cambridge, UK

Dr. Anne Ferguson-Smith is a Reader in Developmental Genetics in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Cambridge. She conducts research into the role of genetic imprinting in normal mammalian development and disease states. Genomic imprinting causes some genes to be expressed solely from either maternally or paternally inherited... read morechromosomes, and a number of disorders can arise when this process is disrupted. Her group is investigating the evolutionary origin of imprinting by examining the developmental impact of altering the gene dosage of imprinted genes on mouse chromosome twelve. Changes in gene dosage can be lethal to the developing embryo or cause a range of defects in the muscle, skeleton and placenta. The group has identified a number of imprinted genes on this chromosome and is studying their function in the development of mesoderm and placenta. Dr. Ferguson-Smith is also an Associate Member of the EU Epigenome network of excellence.