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Prof Duncan Greig
Professor of Genetics
Genetics, Evolution & Environment
Div of Biosciences
- Joined UCL
- 1st Mar 2004
Research summary
I do experiments with yeast to investigate the process of evolution and to test evolutionary theories. Baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is an ideal laboratory model organism because it's a sexual eukaryote (just like us), but it reproduces and evolves very quickly, its genome is simple and well defined, and it's easy to genetically engineer. My work spans several research areas including the origin and maintenance of species, the evolution of social cooperation and conflict, sexual selection, and the evolution of sex. I'm also interested in the genetics, ecology, and natural history of wild yeast populations.
Teaching summary
I've supervised several successful PhD students and postdocs. I organise and teach two two modules: BIOL0028, a field course in ecological and evolutionary genetics in Spain, and BIOL0051, a laboratory course on experimental evolution.
Education
- University of Oxford
- Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy | 1999
- University College London
- First Degree, Bachelor of Science (Honours) | 1995
Biography
I did my undergraduate degree at UCL then doctoral research in the yeast genetics lab of Ed Louis and Rhona Borts in Oxford. I did a postdoc with Mike Travisano in Houston, Texas, where I learned about experimental evolution. Then I got a Royal Society fellowship back at UCL and set up my own group. I later worked in Germany at the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Biology for several years before returning again to UCL.