Julie Ahringer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Julie Ahringer
FMedSci FRS
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Ahringer in 2014
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| Born |
Julie Ann Ahringer
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| Nationality | American |
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| Known for | RNA interference Caenorhabditis elegans |
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| Institutions | Gurdon Institute University of Cambridge Laboratory of Molecular Biology University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Thesis | Post-transcriptional regulation of fem-3, a sex-determining gene of Caenorhabditis elegans (1991) |
| Doctoral advisor | Judith Kimble |
| Other academic advisors | John Graham White |
Julie Ann Ahringer is a leading American and British scientist. She is a Professor of Genetics and Genomics. She works at the University of Cambridge in the UK. She also directs the Gurdon Institute, a research center.
Professor Ahringer leads a lab that studies how genes work. Her team looks at how genes are "turned on" or "turned off." This process is called gene expression. They use a tiny worm called C. elegans for their research.
Her lab made a big discovery. They found a way to turn off most genes in an animal. They did this using a method called RNA interference (RNAi). This helped scientists understand what each gene does.
Early Life and Education
Julie Ahringer grew up in Miami, Florida, in the United States. She went to Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. There, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry in 1984.
She then continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She earned her PhD degree there. During her PhD, she worked with a scientist named Judith Kimble.
Research and Discoveries
After her PhD, Dr. Ahringer moved to Cambridge, UK. She did more research at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). She worked with John Graham White.
In 1996, she became a group leader in genetics at Cambridge. In 1998, she moved to the Gurdon Institute. Her lab was the first to systematically turn off most genes in an animal. They did this using an RNAi library for the worm C. elegans. This was a huge step for genetic research.
Her team now studies how chromatin works. Chromatin is like the packaging material for DNA inside cells. They want to understand how this packaging affects gene expression. They also study how the entire genome (all the genes) is organized. The C. elegans worm helps them learn about development and diseases. The Wellcome Trust helps fund her important research.
Awards and Recognition
Julie Ahringer has received many honors for her scientific work. In 2003, she became a member of EMBO. This is a group of top scientists in Europe. In 2007, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci).
She gave the Francis Crick lecture in 2004. This is a special lecture given by the Royal Society. In 2020, she won the George W. Beadle Award. This award is for scientists who make amazing contributions to genetics. In 2021, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
She also helps guide the Medical Research Council (MRC). She serves on its scientific advisory board.
Personal Life
Julie Ahringer married Richard Durbin in 1996. They have two children together.
