Wen-Hsiung Li
Wen-Hsiung Li (李文雄; born September 22, 1942 in Pingtung , Taiwan ) is a Taiwanese geneticist and evolutionary biologist at the Center for Biodiversity Research at the Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He was a professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago . As a leading researcher in the field of molecular and human evolution, he worked at the DNA sequencing of the human genome in the Human Genome Project with.
His main research interests are:
- genetic basis and evolutionary mechanisms for color vision in mammals
- Researching Junk DNA
- Development of statistical methods and computer programs for the analysis of protein and DNA sequences
- Molecular evolution, molecular distance and molecular clock : the speed of the molecular clock depends on the succession of generations. The shorter the generations, the faster the clock runs. The clock runs five times as fast for rats and mice as it does for monkeys and humans.
- Influence of gender on evolution: The mutation rate is higher in male organisms (higher primates, rodents) than in female.
- Differences between chimpanzees and humans are much smaller than assumed (2001)
- Research into coevolution at the molecular level (coevolution of growth hormone and its receptors)
- Evolution of gene regulation
- Gene duplication, evolution of duplicate genes
Life
Wen-Hsiung Li was born in Taiwan in 1942. In 1968 he received an MS in geophysics from the National Central University in Taiwan. In 1972 he received his Ph.D. in applied math / genetics from Brown University in Providence Rhode Island . From 1972 to 1973 he worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (genetics). In 1973 he moved to the University of Texas, where he was appointed professor in 1984. Since 1998 he worked at the University of Chicago.
Honors, membership
- Academia Sinica , 1998
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences , 1999
- President of the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution , 2000
- National Academy of Sciences , 2003
- 2003 Balzan Prize for Genetics and Evolution; After Sewall Wright (1984) and John Maynard Smith (1991), Li is the third evolutionary geneticist to receive the Balzan Prize.
Works
- Editor of the journal 'Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution' since 1991
- Molecular Evolution 1997 Handbook
- Co-editor of the 'Journal of Molecular Evolution' since 1998
- Editor of the magazine 'Gene' from 1997 to 2001
Web links
- Biography on the website of the International Balzan Prize Foundation
- Wen-Hsiung Li on the site of the Center for Biodiversity Research, Academia Sinica
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Li, Wen-Hsiung |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American geneticist, evolutionary biologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 22, 1942 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pingtung , Taiwan |