When
Date: Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Time: 4:00 pm
Location
Carnegie Library Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
About the Speaker
Rob Martienssen studies epigenetic mechanisms that shape and regulate the genome, and their impact on transposable elements, first discovered by Barbara McClintock at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. These mechanisms underlie clonal propagation of oil palm, with implications for rain forest conservation, and of aquatic plants, including the humble duckweed, that are being engineered in the Martienssen lab for biofuel production and carbon sequestration. The link between epigenetics and RNA interference was named “Breakthrough of the Year” by Science magazine. Dr Martienssen obtained his PhD in Genetics at the Plant Breeding Institute at Cambridge University. After postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley, he joined the faculty at Cold Spring Harbor in 1989. Dr. Martienssen is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He was awarded the McClintock Prize in 2018, and the Darwin Medal in 2020. Dr. Martienssen is a co-founder of Orion Genomics LLC and Orion Biosains.