Biology

CAN A PERSON BE ENGINEERED?

Thursday March 4th 2020, 5:45pm – 7pm,

Oakeshott Room, Berrow Foundation Building, Lincoln College, Oxford.

GEORGE BROWNLEE

George G. Brownlee is Emeritus Professor of Chemical Pathology at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at Oxford. He received his PhD from Cambridge where he worked under Fred Sanger, a two-time Chemistry Nobel Laureate and the ‘father of genomics’. During his time at Cambridge, he also mentored Gregory Winter, now Sir Gregory Winter and the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2018. Prof Brownlee joined Oxford in 1980 and held the position of E P Abraham Professor of Chemical Pathology until his retirement in 2008. Professor Brownlee devoted his efforts studying haemophilia B and his group was the first to isolate the gene for clotting factor IX. His group characterized the genetic basis of the disease and published early papers on possible gene therapy for haemophilia B. His interest later shifted to the influenza virus and the mechanism of its reverse genetics system. Professor Brownlee is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science. In 2014, he authored the first biography of Fred Sanger, following his death in 2013.

JAMES FLEWELLEN

James Flewellen is a postdoctoral research scientist based in London, at both Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute. He graduated with a DPhil in Physics in 2013 under the supervision of Dr Richard Berry, and has been working at the interface between biology and physics. His current work involves advancing digital holographic microscopy and image processing techniques, which are applied in the context of the biomechanical relationship between proteins of the HIV viral envelope proteins and B cell antibodies. Dr Flewellen was also very active outside of science during his days in Oxford. He was the Social Secretary of the Lincoln MCR committee, a rower for the college, a choral singer and a competitive wine taster. Currently outside of his day job, Dr Flewellen runs his own wine consultancy company, teaches wine tasting and regularly writes on the topic.

JASPER HUNT

Jasper Hunt received his Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Wyoming in 2019. He is now in his first year at Oxford pursuing both an MSc and a DPhil in Neuroscience. Jasper is currently a rotation student in Adam Packer’s group, where he is using multiphoton imaging techniques to investigate the function of an enigmatic brain region known as the claustrum. Outside of this research, Jasper maintains an interest in many subjects including scientific communication and the contributions of the liberal arts to STEM fields, as well as actively competing with the Oxford University Company of Archers.

ALEX TSUI

Chair