Darwin College Lecture Series

Notes and noises in nature: not a swan song?

Professor Hans Slabbekoorn, Leiden University.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 23 January 2026, 17:30-18:30

Genetics Seminar

CANCELLED - Entrenchment and compensation in the evolution of vertebrate gastrulation

Host - Aylwyn Scally

Dr James DiFrisco from The Francis Crick Institute, London.

Part II room, Department of Genetics and Zoom.

Thursday 29 January 2026, 14:00-15:00

Developmental Biology Seminar Series

Engineering and Safeguarding Synthetic Genomes

Patrick Cai, University of Manchester.

Biffen Theater- Please subscribe to mailing list for link.

Friday 30 January 2026, 13:00-14:00

Darwin College Lecture Series

Throat-Singing: Body, Spirit, Pathways, Place

Dr Carole Pegg, University of Cambridge.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 30 January 2026, 17:30-18:30

Developmental Biology Seminar Series

Decoding bivalency: Mechanisms of poising at developmental gene promoters

Philipp Voigt, Babraham Institute.

Biffen Theater- Please subscribe to mailing list for link.

Friday 06 February 2026, 13:00-14:00

Darwin College Lecture Series

Songs We Grow By

Dr Ibrahim Baltagi, Lebanese American University.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 06 February 2026, 17:30-18:30

Genetics Seminar

Where do we stand on the origin of eukaryotic cells?

Host – Antoine Hocher

Dr Tom Williams from Bristol Palaeobiology Research Group, University of Bristol.

Biffen Lecture theatre and Zoom.

Thursday 12 February 2026, 13:00-14:00

Darwin College Lecture Series

Song in the Ancient World: Echoes of Religion and Resistance

Dr Matthew Gordley, Carlow University.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 13 February 2026, 17:30-18:30

Darwin College Lecture Series

Hearing Her Voice: Women musicians in Vienna 1900

Dr Carola Darwin, Royal College of Music.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 20 February 2026, 17:30-18:30

Developmental Biology Seminar Series

To divide or differentiate, that is the question

Anna Philpott, Department of Oncology and Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.

Biffen Theater- Please subscribe to mailing list for link.

Friday 27 February 2026, 13:00-14:00

Darwin College Lecture Series

Songs of the Stars: unravelling stellar music with asteroseismology

Professor Conny Aerts, KU Leuven.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 27 February 2026, 17:30-18:30

Genetics Seminar

Viruses: from within-host evolution to global pandemics

Host - Charlotte Houldcroft

Professor Katrina Lythgoe from Department of Biology, University of Oxford.

Biffen Lecture theatre and Zoom.

Thursday 05 March 2026, 13:00-14:00

Developmental Biology Seminar Series

Inter-Organ Communication and Metabolic Regulation in Drosophila

Norbert Perrimon, Harvard Medical School.

Biffen Theater- Please subscribe to mailing list for link.

Friday 06 March 2026, 13:00-14:00

Darwin College Lecture Series

Palestinian Song in Transition: The Interplay of Tradition and Innovation, 1936-1948

Professor Issa Boulos, University of Chicago.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 06 March 2026, 17:30-18:30

Genetics Seminar

Remodelling the septin cytoskeleton for cytokinesis in budding yeast

Host - Marco Geymonat

Dr Simonetta Piatti from Centre de Recherche en Biologie Cellulaire de Montpellier.

Biffen Lecture theatre and Zoom.

Thursday 12 March 2026, 14:00-15:00

Developmental Biology Seminar Series

Illuminating mechanisms of PGC migration in the early mouse embryo

Kate McDole (LMB).

Biffen Theater- Please subscribe to mailing list for link.

Friday 13 March 2026, 13:00-14:00

Darwin College Lecture Series

How Song Shapes Society, and Society Shapes Song

Richard Morrison, The Times.

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue.

Friday 13 March 2026, 17:30-18:30

Genetics Seminar

Title to be confirmed

Host - Ben Steventon

Professor Rebecca Heald, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley.

Biffen Lecture theatre tbc and Zoom.

Thursday 30 April 2026, 14:00-15:00

Genetics Seminar

Title to be confirmed

Hosts – Alex Cagan, Elena Scarpa and Ben Steventon

Professor Richard White from Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oxford.

Biffen Lecture theatre tbc and Zoom.

Thursday 14 May 2026, 14:00-15:00