Nationality British Residence Paris, France | Name Edith Heard Doctoral advisor Mike Fried | |
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Born March 5, 1965 (age 59) ( 1965-03-05 ) Institutions College de FranceUniversity of CambridgeImperial College LondonImperial Cancer Research Fund Notable awards FRS (2013)EMBO member (2005)MAE Alma mater | ||
Cshl 2015 symposium interview series with edith heard
Edith Heard (born 1965) is a French born British researcher in epigenetics. She is a Professor at the Collège de France, holding the Chair of Epigenetics and Cellular Memory, and since 2010 has been Director of the Genetics and Developmental Biology department at the Curie Institute (Paris), France. From January 2019, she will be Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Heard is noted for her studies of X chromosome inactivation.
Contents
- Cshl 2015 symposium interview series with edith heard
- Gene le transmissible et le reversible edith heard
- Education
- Career and research
- Honours and awards
- References
Gene le transmissible et le reversible edith heard
Education
Heard graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences (Genetics) from the University of Cambridge as a student of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating in 1986. She was awarded a PhD from Imperial College London for research investigating gene amplification in rat cells in 1990 while working at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory in London, UK.
Career and research
Heard's main areas of research include genetics, epigenetics and developmental biology, in particular focussing on X-chromosome inactivation, which occurs when one of the two copies of the X chromosomes in female mammals is inactivated. Heard and her colleagues discovered that X chromosome inactivation happens not once, but twice, during development: first in all cells designated to building the placenta, then again in some cells sent off to build the embryo.
Heard has been a Professor at the Collège de France, holding the Chair of Epigenetics and Cellular Memory, and since 2010 has been director of the genetics and developmental biology department at the Institut Curie in Paris, France.
In June 2017, Heard's appointment as the fifth Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory was announced, with her term scheduled to begin in January 2019.
Honours and awards
In 2009 Heard received the Prix Jean Hamburger and the Grand Prix de la Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale in 2011. In 2013 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in recognition for her discoveries in epigenetics. Her nomination reads: