Dr Corey Goodman Receives George Dawson Prize in Genetics

Posted on: 18 November 2011

Neuroscientist and biotechnologist, Dr Corey Goodman, of the University of California at San Francisco, has been awarded the Trinity College Dublin George Dawson Prize in Genetics.  The prize, a gold miniature of the ‘Double Helix’ by Brian King, was presented to Dr Goodman at a special ceremony followed by a public lecture given by Dr Goodman on ‘Wiring the Brain’.

Dr Corey Goodman at the Double Helix, Trinity College Dublin.

Dr Goodman pioneered genetic analysis in Drosophila, a genus of small flies, of the mechanisms by which nerves grow and connect.  He discovered a series of genes which code for proteins that guide the construction of neural networks in higher animals, including humans.  Dr Goodman is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.  Several Trinity graduates and members of the Smurfit Institute of Genetics have studied with him, including Associate Professor in Genetics, Dr Kevin Mitchell and Assistant Professor in Genetics, Dr Pablo Labrador.  

The Dawson Prize in Genetics was established in 2006 by a gift from George Dawson, founder of the School of Genetics and Microbiology. Previous winners of the prize, which is a gold miniature of the Double Helix, designed by Brian King, were John Sulston, Nobel laureate, and Mary Claire King.