Sheep Showcase TAGS: Annexe | CRC | Dolly | Fringe | genetics | Sheep | Special Collections | Towards Dolly | University of Edinburgh Have you ever met Jordan, the Library Cat? What if there was another furry animal in the Library, maybe not as alive, but nonetheless as interesting? The Main Library’s newest …Continue reading →

Edinburgh’s first geneticist: Arthur Darbishire (1879-1915) TAGS: animal genetics | genetics | Towards Dolly | Untold stories In 1911, the University of Edinburgh appointed its first Lecturer in Genetics. The Lectureship was the first academic genetics post in Britain – the Balfour Chair in Genetics at the …Continue reading →

Mary Lyon (1925-2014) – Edinburgh connections TAGS: Edinburgh | genetics | genome | mary lyon | mottled | mouse | muscular dystrophy | mutants | x-chromosome We were saddened to hear recently of the passing of Mary Lyon, a distinguished mouse geneticist. Born in 1925 in Norwich, Mary was best known for her X-chromosome inactivation hypothesis, …Continue reading →

Science From The Tomb… TAGS: ancient egypt | beatty | Edinburgh | genetics | halloween | institute of animal genetics | mummies | reproductive physiology It’s nearly Hallowe’en, when spooky subjects are foremost in our minds. An ideal time, then, to look at some rather unusual correspondence from the Richard Alan Beatty archive about Egyptian mummies! At first …Continue reading →

‘Lotte’: Charlotte Auerbach (1899-1994) TAGS: auerbach | drosophila | genetics | mosaics | muller | mustard gas | mutagenesis | mutation | neurospora Recently I have been cataloguing the various papers we have concerning Charlotte Auerbach (known as ‘Lotte’ to her friends), who passed away 20 years ago this year. Mention has already been …Continue reading →

New Strides, Old Stripes: Zebras and the tsetse fly TAGS: east africa | Edinburgh | genetics | genome | genomics | hagenbeck | james cossar ewart | sequencing | trypanosomiasis | tsetse | zebra It was announced last week that scientists have deciphered the genetic code of the tsetse fly, which offers hope of eradicating one of Africa’s most deadly diseases. The fly, which …Continue reading →

Picture Perfect! TAGS: drosophila | Edinburgh | genetics | institute of animal genetics | photographs | science | waddington Being lucky, as I am, to work with a wide variety of archival collections relating to the history of animal genetics in Edinburgh, it can be mightily difficult to select …Continue reading →

The Hen Who Made History…Nearly TAGS: alan greenwood | Edinburgh | egg laying | egg production | eggs | eglantine | genetics | institute of animal genetics | L1641 | poultry | poultry breeding | poultry research centre | world record Edinburgh holds a number of world records in genetics and animal breeding, which, considering its historic significance in the history of the science in Britain, is not all that surprising. …Continue reading →

Geoffrey Herbert Beale TAGS: Archives | epigenetics | genetics | geoffrey beale | john innes | malaria | medical research council | paramecium | plasmodium | russia Two weeks ago, when we posted about the Lysenko Controversy in Soviet Russia, mention was made of Geoffrey Beale’s interest in and knowledge of the Russian language and scientific history. …Continue reading →

Hermann J Muller (1890-1967), American Geneticist: Radiation and Mutation Studies in the USA, USSR and Edinburgh TAGS: genetics | radiation | USSR Continuing with the Soviet –Edinburgh genetics link, this week’s post focuses on the American geneticist and Nobel laureate, Hermann Joseph Muller (1890-1967) known for his work on the physiological and …Continue reading →