12 February 2004

DNA fingerprinting inventor delivers lecture

Photo and interview opportunity 3.30pm, Friday 13 February, MSI Large Lecture Theatre, University of Dundee

Sir Alec Jeffreys, the man who discovered a new region of human DNA and developed DNA fingerprinting, the technology that revolutionised forensic medicine, will deliver the Peter Garland Lecture in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee at 4pm on Friday, 13 February.

Alec Jeffreys discovered a region of human DNA that is highly variable from person to person and realised that this information could be exploited to develop the technique of DNA fingerprinting that has subsequently been invaluable in police detection work. He has been personally involved in helping to solve many famous criminal cases and his anecdotes about them are legendary.

Alec has received numerous awards for this discovery and its exploitation, including the Albert Einstein World of Science Award from the World Cultural Council in 1996 and the Davy Medal of the Royal Society in 1987. In 1989 he was voted "Midlander of the Year" by the general public, a press, radio and TV award. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and Wolfson Research Professor of the Royal Society at the University of Leicester.

The Peter Garland Lecture is the School of Life Sciences' most prestigious lecture and seven of the previous eighteen annual speakers have been Nobel Prize winners. Peter Garland became the first Professor of Biochemistry in Dundee in 1970 and over the next 14 years built it up into one of the strongest in the UK.

The lecture, entitled "Genetic Fingerprinting and Beyond" will be held in the MSI Large Lecture Theatre.

By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910, out of hours: 07968298585, j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk