Anne Ferguson-Smith is a mammalian developmental geneticist using mouse genetics to explore gene regulation and function. She is known for her work on genomic imprinting – a process regulated by epigenetic mechanisms - and applying imprinting as a model system to understand epigenetic regulation more widely.
Her work has uncovered epigenetically regulated processes in development and over the life course, and identified key in vivo mechanisms involved in the maintenance of epigenetic states. She also explores communication between the environment and the genome with implications for health, disease and inheritance.
Anne trained in molecular biology at the University of Glasgow and obtained her PhD in developmental genetics from Yale University. She is the Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics and Head of the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge.
Awards
Buchanan Medal
For her pioneering work in epigenetics, her interdisciplinary work on genomic imprinting, the interplay between the genome and epigenome, and how genetic and environmental influences affect development and human diseases.
