Anne Ferguson-Smith facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anne Ferguson-Smith
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Ferguson-Smith in 2017
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| Born |
Anne Carla Ferguson-Smith
23 July 1961 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
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| Education |
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| Spouse(s) |
Mark McHarg
(m. 1988) |
| Children | 2 |
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| Scientific career | |
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| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | A genomic analysis of the human homeobox gene loci HOX 1 and HOX 2 (1989) |
| Doctoral advisor | Frank Ruddle |
| Other academic advisors | Azim Surani |
Anne Carla Ferguson-Smith (born 23 July 1961) is a very important scientist. She studies how living things grow and develop, especially mammals. She is currently the leader of a big science group called the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). She is also a top professor of genetics at the University of Cambridge. She used to be in charge of the Genetics Department there.
Professor Ferguson-Smith is an expert in something called genomic imprinting. This is a special way genes are controlled. She also studies epigenetics, which looks at how our genes work without changing the actual DNA code. Her work helps us understand how our bodies develop and stay healthy. She has found out how our environment can affect our genes.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Anne Carla Ferguson-Smith was born on 23 July 1961. Her birthplace was Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. She went to the University of Glasgow in Scotland. There, she earned a science degree in molecular biology. This field studies the tiny parts of living things.
After Glasgow, she moved to Yale University in the U.S. She earned her PhD there. Her research focused on identifying human Hox genes. These genes are like blueprints for body development. Her supervisor at Yale was Frank Ruddle.
Career and Research
After her PhD, Professor Ferguson-Smith worked at the University of Cambridge. This was from 1989 to 1994. She worked with another scientist named Azim Surani. During this time, she started studying genomic imprinting. This is a fascinating process where genes act differently depending on which parent they came from.
Her team found one of the first genes that showed this imprinting. They also discovered that a process called DNA methylation controls it. DNA methylation is like a switch that turns genes on or off.
Understanding Genes and Health
Later, Professor Ferguson-Smith continued her research at Cambridge. She looked at how genomic imprinting works. She also studied how it affects development and growth in mammals. Her work helped show that imprinting is key to understanding how our genes function.
Her discoveries have helped us learn about important pathways in development. These pathways affect how we grow and how our bodies use energy. They also influence how new brain cells are made in adults.
In 2013, she became a professor and head of the Genetics Department at Cambridge. In 2015, she became the seventh Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics. Her research still connects DNA with how genes are controlled. She explores how these controls affect our traits and how they can be passed down.
Awards and Recognition
Professor Ferguson-Smith has received many important awards. In 2002, she became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. She also became an EMBO Member in 2006. In 2017, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
She won the Suffrage Science award in 2014. In 2021, she was awarded the Buchanan Medal by the Royal Society. In 2023, she received the title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). This was for her great work in medical research.
Personal Life
Anne Ferguson-Smith married Mark Gregory McHarg in 1988. They have a son and a daughter. Her father, Malcolm Ferguson-Smith, was also a geneticist.
