News
Appointment of Dr. Deborah Leigh as Professor of Genomic Biomonitoring at the LOEWE Center TBG
Researching the genetic diversity of living organisms and thus contributing to their conservation - that is the goal of Dr. Deborah Leigh. As the newly appointed Cooperation Professor for Genomic Biomonitoring, she is building a bridge from basic research to applied research. Her research profile fits in well with the orientation of the Hessian LOEWE Center for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG), where she now heads one of four program areas. Leigh's appointment was made as part of a joint appointment by the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, where the LOEWE Center TBG is located, and Goethe University Frankfurt, where she is a member of the Department of Biosciences.
The new Frankfurt professor Deborah Leigh focuses her research on genetic diversity within species. “This genetic diversity is a crucial component of overall biodiversity, as the characteristics of individual species have a significant impact on the community of living organisms in natural habitats and play a key role in determining the performance and resilience of entire ecosystems,” explains Leigh. Together with her team, she wants to uncover patterns and trends in the changes in genetic diversity. She has already done pioneering work in this area. “Despite its great importance for our environment, genetic diversity has so far been insufficiently researched. My work has provided the first concrete evidence that it is declining in wild species worldwide. I am very keen to continue researching these developments,” emphasizes Leigh.
At the LOEWE Centre TBG, Leigh's group will work on deepening the understanding of genetic diversity through innovative approaches: studies on endangered species in the field of conservation genomics will be combined with new methods of macrogenetics, which brings together genetic and genomic data on a large scale, for example to identify cross-species patterns. Her working group thus enriches the Genomic Biomonitoring program area of the LOEWE Center TBG, which serves to establish and expand application-oriented genomic detection systems that are used in nature conservation and environmental monitoring. With Leigh's appointment, all four TBG program areas now have a top-class professor.
Prior to her appointment in Frankfurt, Leigh conducted research at renowned institutions, including the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, at Queen's University in Canada and in the UK at the University of Edinburgh, Imperial College London and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
“I am starting my new research environment with great enthusiasm and look forward to using our research and fruitful collaborations to provide sound information to support policy makers and conservation management stakeholders in protecting genetic diversity - the foundation of biodiversity and life,” says Leigh.
Further information:
https://tbg.senckenberg.de/de/tbg-project-deborah-leigh-and-team/