SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 7 - 9 may 2008
New Fellows Seminar
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Professor Peter Koopman
Professorial Research Fellow, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland
Peter Koopman has a degree in genetics and a PhD in paediatrics from the University of Melbourne. He worked for six years with the Medical Research Council in London, UK, where he was part of the team that discovered the Y-chromosomal sex-determining gene Sry. He established a research group at the University of Queensland, focusing on genes that regulate embryonic development, with special emphasis on the control of sexual dimorphism and gonadal development. Peter is author of over 160 papers, including four in Nature, seven in Nature Genetics, one in Science and two in Cell, which together have been cited over 6000 times in the literature. He is an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow.
Boys, girls and children of uncertain sex: The genetics and biology of sex development
Our development as either males or females shapes each of us as individuals and defines our roles in human society. My research focuses on the genetic events that regulate this critical fork in the road during embryonic life. In the embryo, different patterns of gene activity cause development of either testes or ovaries from the same primitive tissue. The cells of this tissue must be able to specialise for male or female roles, depending on genetic and hormonal signals received. These signals are easily upset, resulting in either sexual ambiguity or complete sex reversal in some individuals. Disorders of sexual development are among the most common forms of inherited disorders, and are often compounded by side effects such as infertility and gonadal cancers. My research not only probes the fundamental biological differences between male and female, but also provides a basis for diagnosis, counselling and management of intersex disorders.
