PULLMAN, Wash. – Michael Skinner has been selected to give the 2016 Distinguished Faculty Address as part of the annual Showcase celebration.
He will talk about “Ancestral Ghosts in Your Genome: Environment and Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance Impacts on Disease and Evolution” 3:30-5 p.m. Thursday, March 24, in Jones Theater in Daggy Hall. A reception will follow. Reservations are requested at https://showcase.wsu.edu/dfaregistration/.
The annual award from Washington State University recognizes a faculty member whose achievements in research, scholarship and teaching place him or her in the front ranks of his or her discipline.
Skinner is one of the first to demonstrate that exposure to environmental toxins can be inherited across generations through epigenetic changes. Epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that are (usually) caused by structural changes to the genome, rather than by changes to the genetic code itself.
He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has secured nearly $30 million in research funding, holds 10 patents and has authored 263 publications. He received the American Ingenuity Award in 2013 from the Smithsonian Institution and was invited to present a TEDx Talk in 2014.
In 2008, one of his papers was selected as the most highly cited in reproductive biology (2004-08) and two others were in the top 10 in 2007 and 2005. Discover Magazine selected his research as one of the top 100 discoveries in 2007.
Skinner received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from WSU in 1982. He is founding director of the WSU Center for Reproductive Biology and has served as a professor at the university for 20 years. He has trained 35 graduate students and postdoctoral/senior fellows, directed 13 undergraduate honors theses and supervised the research of 50 undergraduate students.
Learn more about Skinner at http://skinner.wsu.edu/. Learn more about the Distinguished Faculty Address, including past winners, at https://faculty.wsu.edu/awards/distinguished-faculty-address/.
The award is part of WSU Showcase (http://showcase.wsu.edu/), an annual celebration of the achievements of WSU faculty, staff and students. Showcase includes the Academic Showcase of research, scholarship and arts and the Celebrating Excellence Recognition Banquet, both on Friday, March 25. Register for the banquet by March 18 at https://showcase.wsu.edu/celebrating-excellence-banquet/.