Evolution of the Y Chromosome: Males Will Survive

Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
September 23, 2014 Belmont Media Center, Belmont MA

David Page, M.D., Director, Whitehead Institute; Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Dr. Page is distinguished for his mapping and cloning of the Y chromosome and for publishing the complete sequence of the Y chromosome. He founded the Whitehead Task Force on Genetics and Public Policy and is co-editor (with Matthew Scott) of Current Opinion in Genetics and Development and associate editor of the Annual Review of Human Genetics and Genomics. Dr. Page is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and also the Institute of Medicine. Page Lab at MIT

David Page has spent a career unraveling the odd history of the Y chromosome, its apparent loss of genes and its presumed fragility. Dr. Page and his colleagues have patiently reconstructed the evolution of the Y. In this program, Dr. Page describes the great difficulty of decoding the Y chromosome, and what scientists have discovered about its complex role in the evolution of life. He also considers the relationship between the Y chromosome and conditions that affect males disproportionately, such as autism.

Selected Awards