Caroline Dean is a biologist who focuses on understanding the molecular controls used by plants to judge when to flower. She is specifically interested in vernalisation — the acceleration of flowering by exposure to periods of prolonged cold. This led to the characterisation of conserved chromatin pathways that converge on the co-transcriptional regulation of an Arabidopsis thaliana floral repressor locus called Flowering Locus C, or FLC. Modulation of these mechanisms has contributed to the adaptation of A. thaliana to its wide geographical range.
Caroline’s research has received many accolades, including an Award for Excellence in Bioscience from the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council and the 2015 FEBS | EMBO Women in Science Award. She was elected as a foreign member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the German Leopoldina Academy in 2008, and was named an OBE in 2004 for services to plant science.
Subject groups
- Organismal biology, evolution and ecology
Plant sciences / botany
Awards
Darwin Medal
For her work addressing fundamental questions in the perception of temperature cues and how modifications in epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in adaptation.
Royal Medals
She has elucidated molecular mechanisms underlying seasonal timing in plants, thus discovering fundamental processes of plant developmental timing and the epigenetic basis of vernalization.
