Mammalian Genetics Unit


The Mammalian Genetics Unit is a genetics and genomics research institute in Oxfordshire.

History

Earlier research on the same site at the Radiobiology Research Unit, which opened in 1954, in the 1950s was into cytogenetics, where Charles Edmund Ford and John Hamerton confirmed on 12 January 1956 the size of the human genome. In the early 1970s this unit led research into mutagenic effects of radiation on the human chromosome. In the mid-1980s, important early work was done in genomic imprinting.
From 2007, the site no longer carried work into the effects of radiation on genes.

MGU

The MGU is largely derived from the earlier Radiobiology Unit. In 2010, work at the unit discovered that overexpression of the FTO gene led to obesity.

Structure

The unit is in Oxfordshire.

Function

The unit carries out work into genetics and genome engineering.