The Department of Genetics is a department of the University of Cambridge that conducts research and teaching in genetics.^[1]

Research

As of 2017^[update], the department has 83 researchers over 27 research groups, studying functional genomics, systems biology, developmental biology, cell biology, epigenetic inheritance, microbial genetics and evolution and population genetics.^[2]

Notable academic staff

• Anne Ferguson-Smith FRS FMedSci,^[3][4] Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics, Head of the Department
• Richard Durbin FRS, Honorary Professor of Computational genomics, Senior Group Leader at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute^[5]
• Julie Ahringer FMedSci, Professor of Genetics and Genomics, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, and Director of the Gurdon Institute
• David Glover FRS FRSE, Wellcome Investigator in the Department of Genetics, formerly Balfour Professor of Genetics

As of 2017^[update], the department also has 50-65 graduate students and about 30 Part II Tripos undergraduate students.^[6]

Emeritus and alumni

Notable alumni of the department include:

• Reginald Punnett FRS, inventor of the Punnett Square
• Michael Ashburner FRS, gene ontologist and co-founder of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI)^[7]
• Ronald Fisher, statistical geneticist, who has been described as “a genius who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science”.

References