Benjamin Blencowe

PhD
Medical Advisory Board
Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON, Canada
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Ben Blencowe is recognized for his contributions to the understanding of alternative splicing, a critical process by which a gene can encode multiple RNA and protein products.

By pioneering the development and application of high-throughput RNA profiling technologies, Ben and his colleagues discovered and characterised entire landscapes of alternative splicing regulation in diverse cell types, species and disease states. These studies provided fundamental insight into the complexity, mechanisms and evolution of alternative splicing. Ben’s research has further revealed pivotal roles for alternative splicing in the control of stem cell pluripotency and neurogenesis, and has demonstrated how its misregulation represents a convergent mechanism underlying autism spectrum disorder.

Ben is Professor and Banbury Chair in Medical Research at the Donnelly Centre and Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, and also serves as Director of the Donnelly Sequencing Centre. He has received several awards, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada John C. Polanyi Award in 2011, for his research on the splicing code. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2017.