Kenneth Henry Wolfe is an Irish geneticist and Professor of Genomic Evolution at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

(UCD),

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

., University College Dublin

Education

Wolfe was educated at Trinity College, Dublin where he was awarded

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in

Genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

in 1986Ken Wolfe's followed by a PhD in 1990 for research investigating

synonymous substitution A synonymous substitution (often called a ''silent'' substitution though they are not always silent) is the evolutionary substitution of one base for another in an exon of a gene coding for a protein, such that the produced amino acid sequence i ...

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...

s and mammals supervised by Paul M. Sharp.

Research and career

Wolfe's research focuses on comparative genomics,

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

and bioinformatics. Work in his laboratory investigates the

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

eukaryotic Eukaryotes () are organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the ...

genome In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...

s and

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

organisation. He is best known for his discovery that the genome of the yeast ''

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungus microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have b ...

'' underwent complete genome duplication about 100 million years ago, an event that is now known to be the result of hybridization between two divergent species. This finding reshaped our understanding both of yeast biology, and of mechanisms of

genome evolution Genome evolution is the process by which a genome changes in structure (sequence) or size over time. The study of genome evolution involves multiple fields such as structural analysis of the genome, the study of genomic parasites, gene and ancient ...

in eukaryotes. His subsequent discoveries of similar ancient genome duplications (paleopolyploidy) during

human evolution Human evolution is the evolutionary process within the history of primates that led to the emergence of '' Homo sapiens'' as a distinct species of the hominid family, which includes the great apes. This process involved the gradual development o ...

, and in almost all families of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s, led to the realisation that whole-genome duplication is widespread. His group also studies the origin and evolution of

mating system A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to animals, the term describes which males and females mate under which circumstances. Recognised ...

s in yeasts, and the process of mating-type switching in which one cell type can change into another by moving or replacing a section of chromosome. Wolfe was a

postdoctoral researcher A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

with Jeffrey D. Palmer at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...

before returning to Ireland in 1992 to establish his research group in the Genetics Department of Trinity College Dublin, where he remained for over 20 years. In 2013, he moved to

's UCD School of Medicine and Conway Institute. his most highly cited

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...

ed papers have been published in leading scientific journals including ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', '' PNAS'', ''

The Plant Cell ''The Plant Cell'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of plant sciences, especially the areas of cell and molecular biology, genetics, development, and evolution. It is published by the American Society of Plant Biologists. The editor ...

'', ''

Genome Research ''Genome Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. Disregarding review journals, Genome Research ranks 2nd in the category 'Genetics and Genomics' after Nature Genetics. The focus of the jo ...

'' and ''

Nature Reviews Genetics ''Nature Reviews Genetics'' is a monthly review journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 2000 and covers the full breadth of modern genetics. The editor-in-chief is Linda Koch. The journal publishes review and perspective arti ...

''. Former doctoral students from the Wolfe lab include Mario A. Fares,

Aoife McLysaght Aoife ( , ) is an Irish feminine given name. The name is probably derived from the Irish Gaelic ''aoibh'', which means "beauty" or "radiance". It has been compared to the Gaulish name ''Esvios'' (Latinized ''Esuvius'', feminine ''Esuvia''), whic ...

, Estelle Proux-Wéra and Cathal Seoighe.

Awards and honours

Wolfe was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017, One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: a member of the Royal Irish Academy (MRIA) in 2000 and a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2010. In 2011 he served as president of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (smbe.org).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe, Kenneth Henry Academics of Trinity College Dublin Academics of University College Dublin Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Members of the Royal Irish Academy Irish bioinformaticians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)