At 27, Aoife McLysaght became Trinity College Dublin’s youngest professor in history. As the head of the Genetics Department, she has helped lead a Molecular Evolution research group since 2003. McLysaght is now one of the world’s leading genetic researchers and works with others to write about their findings.
McLysaght completed her degree in science at Trinity, where she specialized in genetics. Later, she headed to the University of California, Irvine for her postdoctorate; McLysaght claimed that one of the pros of pursuing her postdoc in Irvine was that the original Planet of the Apes was filmed in Irvine. Right after getting her postdoc degree, McLysaght headed back to Trinity to pursue her Ph.D. in genetics saying that Trinity’s supportive and motivating environment could not be found anywhere else.
Aoife currently works in an area of genetics called comparative genomics. Comparative genomics is essentially analyzing all the DNA sequences of various different species and then comparing them to learn about the general and universal processes of evolution as well as the special biology of those species. This depth of genetics might confuse the average person, but not McLysaght—in fact, when she first discovered genetics she “felt like [she] had found a new home (Dublin.ie).” McLysaght’s current main focus is on vertebrates, including humans, but she has also worked on various animals, plants, fungi, and virus genomes. So far, her interest is in how new genes evolve as well as how they originate. Through their research, McLysaght’s team has discovered evolutionary signatures that are useful in identifying human disease genes. Later, her team became the first to discover completely new human genes—genes that don’t exist in any other organisms, including chimpanzees. Much of McLysaght’s research has been funded by the President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (PIYRA) and the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Researcher Award.
McLysaght also takes interest in teaching the public about the recent discoveries within the scientific community. She has given talks at many public events, including music festivals, radio discussions, and live television, and is a regular columnist for the Irish Times science page. Aside from educating the public, McLysaght also gives lectures at many large conferences, such as the JBS Haldane Lecture of the Genetics Society. As an editorial board member of ‘Molecular Biology and Evolution', ‘Genome Biology and Evolution’, ‘Genome Biology and Evolution', and ‘Cell Reports’, she has received frequent invitations to speak at large international conferences and participates in the organization of international meetings. Her large impact within the current science society has allowed her to become a member of the Genetics Society, and the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, where she served as Treasurer from 2012-14 and was eventually elected as President in 2017.
At such a young age, Aoife McLysaght is already incredibly accomplished. Her passion for researching entire genomes has already made incredible contributions to the world, and we can’t wait to see what she does next.
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