Biography
Professor Aoife McLysaght
From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Published on
Last updated on
Aoife McLysaght is Chair of Evolutionary Genetics in Trinity College Dublin. She was educated at Trinity College Dublin where she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Genetics in 1998, followed by a PhD in 2002.
Aoife was a member of the international consortium that published the first draft of the Human Genome sequence in 2001; was the first to discover novel human-specific genes, in 2009; identified links between gene duplication patterns and human disease; and has made significant contributions to our understanding of the human genome, as well as the genomes of other animals, plants and viruses.
Aoife has led a research team in Trinity College since 2003 and has been funded through a prestigious President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (PIYRA) and a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Researcher Award and Consolidator Grant.
Aoife takes a keen interest in communicating science to the public in an engaging and accessible manner. She has given many talks at public events, including music festivals, The Royal Institution (London), science festivals, and Brian Cox and Robin Ince’s Christmas Science shows. She is a frequent contributor in the media in Ireland and internationally. She was awarded the UK Genetical Society Haldane Prize for communicating genetics to a general audience. In 2018, with Alice Roberts, she co-wrote and presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, broadcast on BBC.