We are proud to share the news that MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS) Group Head, Professor Irene Miguel-Aliaga has been awarded the 2022 Mary Lyon Medal in recognition of her outstanding research contributions to genetics.

Commenting on this accolade, Professor Miguel-Aliaga said: “I am honoured to receive the 2022 Mary Lyon Medal. I accept it on behalf of everyone who has worked in my lab, past and current members, as well as all of my collaborative partners.

“I would like to thank the Genetics Society for this recognition, and I must of course also give thanks to the humble fruit fly, as the discoveries we have made would not have been possible without the powerful genetic toolkit of Drosophila.”

The Genetics Society established the Mary Lyon Medal in 2015. It is an annual award named after the distinguished geneticist, intended for mid-career scientists as an accolade for their outstanding research contributions.

Winners of the medal are chosen by The Genetics Society through peer-nominations. Professor Miguel-Aliaga was recommended by Professor Alex Gould and Professor Petra Hajkova based on her pioneering work on genetic mechanisms underlying inter-organ communication. Professor Hajkova, head of the LMS Reprogramming and Chromatin research group was herself awarded the Mary Lyon Medal in 2017.

You can find out more about Professor Miguel-Aliaga’s research here on the LMS website. 

The winners of the medal are invited to present a lecture at a Genetic Society scientific meeting and appear in a Genetics Unzipped podcast. Further information on this will follow.