| Citation | Distinguished for his original and varied contributions to mammalian developmental genetics, genome organisation and gene expression. His early work established the abundance of messenger RNAs during mouse development, and led to the cloning of several genes that are expressed specifically in the liver. Further studies of the serpin gene family uncovered the first clear example of "accelerated protein evolution". At this time he also identified several novel repetitive elements in the mouse genome. His group was the first to characterise mammalian telomeres, and to demonstrate telomere?shortening with age in man. Nick Hastie's current work is focused on human developmental mutations, notably Wilm's Tumour and Aniridia. His group demonstrated that aniridia, and the mouse equivalent, smalleye, are caused by mutations in the PAX?6 gene. He continues to make incisive contributions to our understanding of the role of WT1, the candidate Wilm's Tumour gene, in development of the kidney and gonad. |