Thursday 26th April – Dr Kat Arney: “Everything you know about genetics is wrong”

Many of us learn about genetics in school starting with Mendel and his pea plants. We learn that one gene is linked to one trait, and one gene fault causes one disease. But the recent revolution in DNA sequencing is revealing that it’s much more complicated. People are not peas – and even peas are not peas!

From strange patterns of inheritance to real life genetic superheroes living amongst us, whose DNA provides them with resilience against serious illnesses, science writer and broadcaster Dr Kat Arney explains what we do and don’t know about how our genes work.

Dr Kat Arney holds a degree in natural sciences and a PhD in developmental biology from Cambridge University, followed by a post-doc at Imperial College, London.

For her day-job Kat is a professional science communicator, media spokesperson, award-winning blogger, podcaster and general comms dogsbody for Cancer Research UK. She counts among her achievements saying the word “boobs” and discussing oral sex on the Today programme, the infamous “drink it down your face” interview, and likening part of the cell division machinery to something out of Star Wars.