Speaker

Irene Miguel-Aliaga is Professor of Genetics and Physiology at Imperial College London, and MRC Investigator at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences.

Irene’s lab was one of the first to tackle the study of the brain-gut axis using the powerful genetics of Drosophila: work that they have now extended to mouse and human models. Irene and her team discovered that the brain-gut axes of males and females are very different, and that these intestinal sex differences impact food intake, gamete production and tumour susceptibility. They have also investigated how the intestine senses nutrients, revealing unexpected roles for metal sensing in the regulation of feeding and growth.

Irene was the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant and currently holds an ERC Advanced Grant. She has been elected to the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, EMBO and, previously, the EMBO YIP programme. She has also been awarded the Genetics Society Mary Lyon Medal and a Suffrage Science Women in Science award.

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