Milstein Lecture 2025: Mechanisms driving the rapid evolution of genomes by David Pellman

César Milstein Lecture 2025
By David Pellman
Mechanisms driving the rapid evolution of genomes

Read more about David's research here: https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/2025-c...

Lecture Abstract:

Abstract: Genome evolution has long been viewed as a gradual process, with small-scale genetic alterations accruing over many generations. However, it is now appreciated that saltatory mutational events, driving rapid evolution, can be layered onto gradual Darwinian evolution. These episodic events are particularly common in cancer, where they generate highly rearranged genomes. At least some of these processes cause human congenital disease, can be passed through the germline, and may contribute to organismal evolution. My group has contributed to this paradigm by identifying mechanisms and consequences of these catastrophic mutational events, linking them to common errors in cell division. My talk will focus on the mechanism of chromothripsis, a catastrophic mutational process that originates from aberrations in the architecture of the nucleus. I will focus on the processes that fragment chromosomes during chromothripsis.


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