Fellow

Dr Ahringer is a Senior Research Fellow at the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute, Cambridge University. She has made important contributions to our understanding of the first events in animal development and the role of chromatin remodelling complexes. Her pioneering work in the Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans has been particularly distinguished. It was in this species that she completed the first systematic gene inactivation project in any animal. This work has had a far-reaching impact on our understanding of gene function in many other species, including humans. Dr Ahringer used the genome sequence of C.Elegans, together with advances in fields such as bioinformatics and RNA interference technology, to develop a revolutionary RNAI feeding library of 16,757 clones, allowing her to silence nearly every C. Elegans gene, one at a time. Using this approach, Dr Ahringer and her colleagues have identified genes that function in many biological processes including cell division, DNA repair, senescence, and insulin pathway regulation. I am delighted to welcome her into the Academy.