Portrait of Wendy Bickmore

Three quarter-length portrait of Wendy Bickmore, taken in her office at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, February 2020. Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh Castle are visible through the window behind her.

Professor Wendy Bickmore is fascinated by the three-dimensional structure and organization of the genome and her work has changed thinking about how the expression of genes is controlled. By combining imaging and molecular genetics she showed that different human chromosomes have preferred positions in the cell nucleus, and she has revealed that the packaging of individual genes in the nucleus changes during the differentiation of stem cells and in response to epigenetic mechanisms. Current research in Wendy Bickmore’s laboratory focuses on how spatial genome organisation influences the regulation of genes in development and in disease.

Wendy makes significant contributions to the scientific community. She is the Director of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, and the current President of the Genetics Society. She is an EMBO member, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Academy of Medical Sciences.