The Genetics Society has announced Dr Giles Yeo, of the Cambridge University Metabolic Research Laboratories and MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit, as winner of their centenary year JBS Haldane Lecture. The lecture will be given at the Royal Institution, London, in October 2019.
The Genetics Society has announced Dr Giles Yeo as winner of their centenary year JBS Haldane Lecture. Giles will present his lecture at the Royal Institution, London, in October 2019.
The award is open to active researchers working in the UK and recognises an individual for outstanding ability to communicate topical subjects in genetics research to an interested lay audience. The speaker should have a flair for conveying the relevance and excitement of recent advances in genetics in an informative and engaging way.
Originally from San Francisco, Giles Yeo received his bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1994, he came to Cambridge, joining the lab of Prof Sydney Brenner (Nobel Laureate 2002) for his PhD studies in molecular genetics. In 1998 Giles began his post-doctoral training with Prof Sir Stephen O’Rahilly in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, working on the genetics of severe human obesity. During this time, he was the first to report that the disease resulted from mutations in the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) and in the neurotrophic receptor TRKB. Giles is currently a group leader at the MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit and University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Labs. A graduate tutor and fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, Giles is also the current president of the British Society for Neuroendocrinology. His group is interested in studying the brain control of food intake and bodyweight, and how these might be dysregulated in obesity.
Giles is a passionate science communicator, presenting science documentaries for the BBC, including ‘Horizon’ and ‘Trust Me I’m a Doctor’. He is also the Public Engagement Champion for the School of Clinical Medicine.