News

Dr Anjali Hinch and her group have this month joined the Dunn School.

Having been awarded a Wellcome Trust Henry Dale Fellowship, Dr Hinch recently established her group at Oxford’s Centre for Human Genetics. Her move ‘down the hill’ reflects her alignment with the Dunn School mission to discover the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie human disease.

Anjali has a computational background and in fact started her career in finance, but moved into computational genomics, completing a doctorate in population genetics. Her independent research now focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying the induction and repair of germline DNA breaks and their impacts on human disease.

She has recently published* that DNA breaks, which are intrinsic to the process of meiosis, are also an unexpectedly powerful source of human germline mutations. Contrary to the prevailing view, subsequent error-prone repair processes are a significant cause of multiple autosomal and X-linked genetic diseases.

Head of the Dunn School, Matthew Freeman said, ‘We are delighted to welcome Anjali and her growing team. Her work epitomises our goal of revealing the fundamental mechanisms that drive human disease, so that we can pioneer entirely new therapeutic approaches. It is also a real pleasure to have the opportunity to support the early career stages of such a promising scientist’.

Anjali Hinch is excited about the move the Dunn School, saying ‘The Dunn school is one of the very best places in the world for fundamental biological research. We are delighted to be part of its incredibly dynamic and friendly community.’

*https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh2531