Professor of Genetics, University of Oxford

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Professorship of Genetics at the

Cyril Darlington – had retired or were about to retire.[1] The University created a lecturer and a demonstrator post in the discipline at the same time.[2]

Support came from three departments - the

Rodney Porter had just been appointed as the new Whitley Professor of Biochemistry
and Cyril Darlington was Professor of Botany. Space for the new Genetics Laboratory was allocated in the old Physiology building

It might have been expected that the first Professor of Genetics would be an ecological geneticist, replacing Ford's expertise. But instead, a human geneticist, Walter Bodmer, who was working in areas including the HLA system (encoding the major histocompatibility complex proteins) and human somatic cell genetics,[3] was chosen. Sir Walter was at the time a Professor at Stanford University and had previously studied at the University of Cambridge.[4] He moved to Oxford in 1970 and was asked to decide which department genetics should be allied with - Zoology, Botany or Biochemistry. For Sir Walter, the obvious choice was the Department of Biochemistry since his work was increasingly moving towards that discipline.[1]

Sir Walter and his group settled in the Genetics Laboratory, which would later become the Walter Bodmer Building (now demolished). He and his colleagues taught a single introductory genetics course to students across all departments, from medical students to biochemists and biologists.[1] His was the only major genetics group at the University during the early 1970s, and he remained in post until 1979 when he moved to become Director of Research at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now part of Cancer Research UK) in London.[4]

Since the creation of the Chair, genetics has expanded and diversified across the University of Oxford with the arrival of David Weatherall, Kay Davies, Peter Donnelly and many others.[5] It is no longer a sub-department within the Department of Biochemistry.[6]

The Professor of Genetics chair has been held by:

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Sir Walter Bodmer and the Department of Genetics at University of Oxford". Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  2. ^ Conversation with Sir Walter Bodmer, Oxford, September 2017
  3. ^ "Biography of Sir Walter Bodmer, FMedSci, FRS". The Royal Society. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b "The Bodmer Archive". Archives and Manuscripts at the Bodleian Library. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Genes, Genetics, Epigenetics and Genomics". Graduate School, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford". Retrieved 14 November 2017.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Professor_of_Genetics,_University_of_Oxford&oldid=1115890313"