The Compatibility Gene
Daniel M Davis

• Saturday 21 June 2014, 2.00PM to 3.00pm
• Free admission
  Booking required
• Ron Cooke Hub, University of York (map|getting to campus)

Event details

There are around 25,000 human genes. We each have a similar set of these genes but those that vary the most from person to person are: our compatibility genes. These few genes, argues Daniel M Davis, influence which diseases we are susceptible and resistant to, whether our tissue and organs can be used in transplantation, what our chances of successful reproduction are, how our brains are wired, and perhaps even how compatible we are with one another.

In exploring the history of these genes' discovery, and the unfolding of their secrets, Daniel M Davis seeks an answer to questions of how genetic compatibility affects our relationships, reproduction, medical research and ethics - and, looking to the future, considers the startling possibilities of what our knowledge of these genes might mean for you and me.

About the speaker:

Daniel M Davis is a renowned scientist who became a Professor at Imperial College London aged 35. He earned a PhD in Physics before studying the immune system at Harvard University, and he is now the Director of Research at The University of Manchester's Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research. He has published over 100 academic papers, including articles in Nature, Science, and Scientific American. He has previously won the Oxford University Press Science Writing Prize, and has given numerous interviews for national and international media, including the Times, Guardian, Metro, and National Public Radio (USA). In 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK).

Follow @dandavishello on Twitter

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Wheelchair accessible

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