Bernard Crespi
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Bernard Joseph Crespi is an American professor of
evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes ( natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life ...
at
Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...
in
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Canada. His research focuses on social evolution across multiple scales, using genetic and ecological approaches. He is one of the initiators of the imprinted brain hypothesis. In 2010, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.


Career

After earning his PhD and conducting postdoctoral work in Europe, Crespi joined the faculty at
Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...
in 1992. In 2006, he was the recipient of a Killam Research Fellowship. In 2008, Crespi published a paper describing observed patterns of imprinting in humans and other organisms. He explained that Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic process by which certain
gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...
s are expressed in a parent-of-origin-specific manner. The imprinted brain theory is a variant of the conflict theory of imprinting which argues that in diploid organisms, such as humans, the maternal and paternal set of genes may have antagonistic reproductive interests since the mother and father may have antagonistic interests regarding the development of the child. Following this, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2013, Crespi and fellow UMich alumni Kyle Summers co-edited "''Human Social Evolution, The Foundational Works of Richard D. Alexander,''" which was published through the
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. In 2016, Crespi won SFU's Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy for his evolutionary biology research. The next year, he conducted a study with Gerhard Gries, and Regine Gries to study the effect of natural selection on stick insects and mating. He was also selected as a Tier 1
Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...
in Evolutionary Genetics and Psychology.


References


External links

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NYT article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crespi, Bernard Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Evolutionary biologists Simon Fraser University faculty Canada Research Chairs