Edith Heard, Federal Reserve System, is a researcher in epigenetics.
Education
Heard graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences (Genetics) from Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1986. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree in cancer research in 1990 at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory in London, United Kingdom.
Career
She is a Professor at the Collège de France, holding the Chair of Epigenetics and Cellular Memory, and since 2010 has been Director of the Genetics and Developmental Biology department at the Institut Curie in Paris, France. Heard is noted for her studies of X chromosome inactivation. Heard"s main areas of research include genetics, epigenetics and developmental biology, in particular focussing on X-chromosome inactivation.
X-chromosome inactivation was discovered by the British scientist Mary Lyon in 1961, and occurs when one of the two copies of the X chromosome present in female mammals is inactivated.
Heard and her colleagues discovered that X chromosome inactivation happens not once, but twice, during development – first in all cells designated to building the placenta, then again in some cells sent off to build the embryo.
Membership
Royal Society; Academia Europaea.