Conférence – Stephen Quake : Understanding the Mysteries of the Cell: How Do Mutations Arise in Our Bodies?

Edith HeardCollège de FranceEpigénétique et mémoire cellulaireAnnée 2024-2025Conférence - Stephen Quake : Understanding the Mysteries of the Cell: How Do Mutations Arise in Our Bodies?Stephen QuakeHead of Science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Lee Otterson Professor at Stanford UniversityStephen Quake est invité par l'assemblée du Collège de France sur proposition de la Pr Edith Heard.RésuméThe question of how heritable mutations arise is one of long-standing interest in biology. In the case of bacteria, there was a debate about whether mutations arise as a consequence of adaptation to selective pressure from the environment, or whether they are pre-existing in populations even in the absence of such selective pressure. This was famously resolved as the latter by Luria and Delbruck. Genomic technologies now allow us to ask similar questions in humans. How is genetic diversity generated and what are the consequences? How do mutations acquired during the course of our life sometimes lead to cancer, and can we understand the evolutionary history of a tumor? My lecture will discuss these issues and illustrate how we have used single cell genomics to provide answers to some of these questions.Stephen QuakeStephen Quake is Head of Science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, where he oversees CZI's science grant programs, technology development, and the CZ Biohub Network. He has received numerous awards for his contributions to science and is one of only two dozen scientists elected to all three National Academies. Steve also holds a faculty position at Stanford University, where he is the Lee Otterson Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics. Previously he was the founding co-president of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (2016-2022), investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2006-2016), and professor at the California Institute of Technology (1996-2005).