By Asia Samachar | United States |
Genetics Society of America (GSA) has named evolutionary biologist Dr. Harmit Singh Malik as one of its top prize winners.
Dr Harmit won the Edward Novitski Prize for extraordinary creativity and intellectual ingenuity in genetics research.
Dr Harmit is a professor and associate director for the Basic Sciences Division at the US-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Here, he studies genetic conflict, the competition between genes and proteins with opposing functions that drives evolutionary change. His research could have implications for a range of diseases, from HIV to cancer. As part of this work, his team developed an approach for identifying genes that divide one species from another, which could help solve the riddle of how new species evolve, according to his profile at the centre’s website.
He also studies the evolutionary processes that drive our body’s interactions with viruses, including contemporary scourges like HIV as well as ancient viruses whose fossils litter our genome. With Hutch colleagues, he has characterized the rapidly evolving interface between proteins on human cells and viruses that make us sick. This work has highlighted surprising deviations from “textbook” models of these interactions, and it is revealing gene variants that could influence our susceptibility to infection.
What did he do to deserve the GSA award? The citation states: Recognizing innovative studies at the interface of evolution and chromosome biology, developing the concept of centromere-drive, and contributions to understanding genetic conflict wherein competition between genes with opposing functions drives evolutionary change.
“I am incredibly humbled by this award, especially as I have been inspired by Ed Novitski’s formative work on genetic conflicts,” Dr Harmit said in a report at Fred Hutch website. “This is an individual award, which would never have happened were it not for the creative geneticists who have trained me and trained with me.”
GSA is an international society of more than 5,000 scientists committed to deepening our understanding of the living world through genetics. Founded in 1931, GSA is the professional membership organisation for scientific researchers and educators in the field of genetics. Its members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level.
Established in memory of pioneering geneticist Dr. Edward Novitski, the prize recognizes a single experimental accomplishment or a significant and exceptionally creative body of work that solves a difficult problem in genetics.
“Harmit’s work requires a multi-disciplinary approach and he nimbly moves between organisms and techniques to address whatever mechanism is at the root of a genetic conflict,” Basic Sciences Director, fellow HHMI Investigator and previous Novitski Prize winner Dr Sue Biggins, was quoted in the same Fred Hutch article.
With fellow Hutch geneticist Dr. Michael Emerman, Malik pioneered the field of paleovirology. He pioneered the idea of “evolutionary echoes” — the traces of long-past viral infections that left their mark in a species’ anti-viral genes — to infer the evolutionary influence of ancient, extinct viruses.
University of Pennsylvania geneticist Dr. Mia Levin, who trained with the Sikh biologist, has this to say about him: “Talking science with Harmit is invigorating and joyful in part because of his openness, his authenticity, and his humility. He is a perpetual student, making these conversations feel like one of collaborative discovery. These interactions help you see the gold that you are sitting on and give you the confidence to tell the world about it.”
Dr Harmit obtained a Ph.D. in Biology from University of Rochester in 1999 and a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Bombay-based Indian Institute of Technology in 1993.
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A very great achievement for the hard work spanning few decades to solve the mysteries of virues that cause untold problems for humans
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