Speaker: Marla Sokolowski, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, U of T, “Epigenetics, Genetics and Behaviour”

Talks for Fall 2022: Wednesdays at 10 am (in person at Faculty Club and on ZOOM)

Speaker: Marla Sokolowski, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, U of T
Title: “Epigenetics, Genetics and Behaviour”
Introducer: Harold Atwood

Abstract: Previous ideas about the origins of our individual differences were based around the nature-nurture dichotomy. Current research has shown that not only do we bring genetic predispositions along with us when we are born, but our genes also listen to our experience as we develop. The new field of epigenetics investigates how our behaviour and physiology respond to our experience through changes in the way genes express themselves during development and in response to environmental challenges. This gene-environment interplay throughout development moulds our bodies and minds–making us who we are.

We have studied how DNA variation predisposes organisms to be more or less affected by their experiences (gene-environment interactions), how our experience gets embedded in our biology (epigenetics), and finally how DNA variation interacts with epigenetic processes to affect behaviour. For example, nutritional or social adversity (or enrichment) can occur throughout an organism’s life; such experience in early development can produce changes that endure throughout life, while acute exposure can effect changes over a matter of minutes or hours. To address these issues, we have taken a genetic perspective initiated by our studies of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and subsequently extended to humans. (Support: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research).

Bio: Marla B. Sokolowski (University Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto) is an internationally renowned behaviour geneticist whose ground-breaking research has permanently changed the way we frame questions about individual differences in behaviour. Her comprehensive, multidisciplinary analyses of gene‐environment interactions have been instrumental in refuting longstanding ideas of genetic determinism, and continue to shape fundamental concepts in evolution of behaviour, genetic pleiotropy, and plasticity. Her foundational discoveries in the fruit fly have been extended to other diverse animals and humans. She has held Distinguished Visiting Professorships in the U.S.A. and Europe where she contributes regularly to graduate education. Awards and honours recognizing her work include: Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in 1998; a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (2001-2015); Fellow of Massey College (2004); the Genetics Society of Canada’s Award of Excellence (2007); Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (2013); the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013, RSC); the Distinguished Investigator Award from the International Behaviour and Neurogenetics Society (2014); University Professor, University of Toronto (2014); and the RSC’s Flavelle Medal for research in the Biological Sciences (2020). She was the Weston Fellow and co-director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research’s Child and Brain Development Program from 2008-2019. She directed the Life Sciences Division of the Academy of Sciences of the RSC from 2009-2012. Most recently, in 2021 a special issue of the Journal of Neurogenetics (vol. 35(3)) was published in her honour; and in 2022, she was awarded the JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award from the School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, in recognition of her outstanding supervision of 40 graduate students and 20 postdoctoral fellows.

The link to register is https://forms.office.com/r/Eze2iSA0yB

The deadline to register is the Monday before the event at noon. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants only.