Abstract
The study of the development of a living organism from conception to birth, or of the evolution of its embryonic pathways, has made extraordinary strides in recent years, thanks in particular to the tools of genetics and genomics. These advances open up vast new horizons in terms of understanding the mechanisms of living organisms, as well as the possibility of repairing or even modifying them, even to the point of imagining a future genetically-augmented human being. However, our understanding of how our genetic heritage is put to work is still very partial, and society's perception of these events is confused.
Recognizing the rapid emergence of these scientific advances and the upheavals they imply, in terms of paradigms, approaches, crossing of disciplines and new horizons, the Collège de France has appointed Denis Duboule, one of the most recognized researchers in the field of developmental genetics, to a new international chair: Evolution of Development and Genomes.
Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Morphogenesis at the University of Geneva and of the Laboratory of Developmental Genomics at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Denis Duboule and his teams work on the genetic regulatory mechanisms underlying mammalian development, including interfaces with medical genetics, evolutionary biology and transcriptional regulation.
