Neil Brockdorff

Neil received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Glasgow. He developed his interest in X chromosome inactivation through post-doctoral work with Steve Brown, (St Marys Hospital, London), and Sohaila Rastan (MRC-CRC, London). In Sohaila Rastan’s laboratory Neil worked on the identification and characterisation of the Xist gene.

Neil established his own lab at the Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, London in 1994. Building on his post-doctoral work he provided the first direct evidence that Xist is required for X inactivation, contributing also to studies on Xist gene regulation and the mechanism of chromosome silencing.

In 2008 Neil relocated his lab to the Biochemistry Department at the University of Oxford with the award of a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship. Work in his lab continues to focus on X chromosome inactivation and related fields.

Neil was awarded the Tenovus (Scotland) Medal in 1999 for his work on Xist and X inactivation. He is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation and elected fellow of the Society of Biology and the Academy of Medical Science. Neil has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2018.