Edith Heard facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Edith Heard
FRS MAE
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| Born | 5 March 1965 |
| Nationality | British, French |
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| Spouse(s) | Vincent Colot |
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| Thesis | Analysis of a gene amplification event in rat cells (1990) |
| Doctoral advisor | Mike Fried |
Edith Heard (born 1965) is a famous British-French scientist. She studies epigenetics, which is how your genes can be turned on or off without changing the actual DNA code.
Since 2019, she has been the Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). This is a big science center in Europe. She is also a Professor at the Collège de France, where she teaches about epigenetics. In 2025, she will become the CEO of the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK.
From 2010 to 2018, Edith Heard led the Genetics and Developmental Biology department at the Curie Institute (Paris) in France. She is well-known for her important work on something called X-inactivation.
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Education and Early Research
Edith Heard went to the University of Cambridge. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences (Genetics) in 1986.
Later, she earned her PhD from Imperial College London in 1990. Her research looked at how genes can make many copies of themselves in rat cells. She did this work at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory in London.
What Edith Heard Studies
Edith Heard's main research areas are genetics, epigenetics, and how living things develop. She is especially famous for her work on X-inactivation.
Understanding X-Inactivation
X-inactivation is a process that happens in female mammals. Females have two X chromosomes. One of these X chromosomes gets "turned off" or inactivated. This makes sure that females don't have too much genetic information from the X chromosome.
Edith Heard started studying X-inactivation in the 1990s. She looked at how this process begins. She also found that X-inactivation happens twice during development. First, it happens in cells that will form the placenta. Then, it happens again in cells that will form the embryo.
New Ways to Study Cells
Her team developed special ways to study single cells. This allowed them to look at how X-inactivation works in early embryogenesis (when an embryo is forming). They found that this process is very active and changes a lot. They also discovered that X-inactivation works differently in various mammals, like mice and humans.
Edith Heard's work also showed that how chromosomes are organized inside the cell's nucleus is important for X-inactivation. Her group also helped discover something called Topologically Associating Domains (TADs). These are special areas in the DNA that help control how genes work.
Leading Science Programs
From 2010 to 2018, she led a department at the Curie Institute (Paris) in Paris. In 2019, she and her lab moved to EMBL.
In 2016, Edith Heard helped start a program in France. This program helps scientists who have had to leave their homes because of war or conflict. It's called PAUSE.
In 2017, she was chosen to be the Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). She started this role in 2019. Since 2021, she has also been a member of the science council for the World Health Organization (WHO).
Awards and Honors
Edith Heard has received many important awards for her scientific work.
- In 2017, she won the Inserm Grand Prix for her discoveries in epigenetics.
- In 2013, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
- She received the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards in 2020. This award celebrates women who have made big contributions to science.
- She is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.
- In 2024, she received the CNRS Gold Medal, a top science award in France.
She has been chosen to receive The Croonian Medal and Lecture in 2025. This is for her leading work on X-chromosome biology.
Personal Life
Edith Heard is married to Vincent Colot, who is also a molecular biologist. They have two children.
