Abstract
The study of a living organism’s development from conception to birth, or of the evolution of its embryonic stages, has made extraordinary strides in recent years, thanks in particular to the tools of genetics and genomics. These advances open up broad prospects not only for understanding the mechanisms of life but also for possibilities to repair or even modify it, extending as far as envisioning a genetically enhanced human of the future. Yet our understanding of how our genetic heritage is expressed remains very limited, and society’s perception of these developments is confused.
Recognizing the rapid emergence of these scientific advances and the upheavals they entail—in terms of paradigms, approaches, interdisciplinary collaboration, and new horizons—the Collège de France has appointed Denis Duboule, one of the most renowned researchers in the field of developmental genetics, to a new international chair: Evolution of Development and Genomes.
Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Morphogenesis at the University of Geneva and the Laboratory of Developmental Genomics at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Denis Duboule and his teams are working on the genetic regulatory mechanisms underlying mammalian development, including interfaces with medical genetics, evolutionary biology, and transcriptional regulation.
