Prof. Dr. John H. Postlethwait

Profile

Academic positionFull Professor
Research fieldsGeneral Genetics, Functional Genome Research,Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology,Evolutionary Cell and Developmental Biology (Zoology)
Keywordsgenome evolution, sex determination, genome stability, cancer, developmental biology

Current contact address

CountryUnited States of America
CityEugene
InstitutionUniversity of Oregon
InstituteInstitute of Neuroscience

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Manfred SchartlLehrstuhl für Physiologische Chemie I, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg
Prof. Dr. Holger HöhnInstitut für Humangenetik, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg
Start of initial sponsorship01/01/2009

Programme(s)

2007Humboldt Research Award Programme

Nominator's project description

Professor Postlethwait is an internationally leading researcher in the field of zebrafish genomics and development. He discovered that during evolution in fish a whole-genome duplication has occurred and described a novel evolutionary mechanism called "subfunctionalization". He is also one of the founders of the new discipline 'Evolutionary Developmental Biology' ("Evo-Devo"), where developmental processes of different species are compared in an attempt to determine the evolutionary relationship between organisms and how developmental processes evolved. In biomedical research he recently established a whole animal model for Fanconi Anemia. While in Germany, he will focus on a better understanding of this human disease.