Dr. Leena Peltonen University of Cambridge, UK

Leena Peltonen was Head of Human Genetics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK. Dr Peltonen passed away due to cancer on March 11, 2010 and is survived by her husband Professor Aarno Palotie, a fellow molecular geneticist, and two children. She was a leader in understanding the... read moremolecular basis of single-gene disorders, as well as complex, more common diseases; her death is a blow to the science of genetics. Prior to joining the Sanger Institute, Professor Peltonen was Professor of Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Helsinki and the National Public Health Institute, Finland. She was a member of the board of the European Research Council, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and was President of the international Human Genome Organization (HUGO) for 2005-7.