Deborah Leigh’s goal is to explore the genetic diversity of living organisms and support their conservation. As the newly appointed Professor of Genomic Biomonitoring in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, she is building a bridge between basic and applied research. She now heads one of the Hessian LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG) four programme areas. Prof. Leigh’s appointment is part of a joint appointment between the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, where the LOEWE Centre TBG is based, and the Goethe University Frankfurt, where she is also a member of the Faculty of Biological Sciences.
Increasingly powerful technological tools are becoming available to comprehensively analyse the diversity of living organisms. This makes it possible to decode the genetic material of a wide range of organisms, providing information about characteristics, phylogenetic developments or the formation of natural substances.
The new Frankfurt professor, Deborah Leigh, focuses her research on genetic diversity within species: Her work examines the genetic differences between individuals and populations of a species. “These differences are crucial and impact how well species can adapt to our changing environmental conditions. This genetic diversity is also a foundational component of overall biodiversity because it impacts the characteristics of individual species, which in turn impact on the community of living organisms. Genetic diversity ultimately plays a key role in determining the performance and resilience of entire ecosystems,” explains Prof. Leigh. She and her team aim to identify patterns and trends in changes in genetic diversity. Deborah Leigh has already done pioneering work in this area. “Despite its importance to our environment, genetic diversity has been under-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 to support science and society,” emphasises Prof. Leigh.
At the LOEWE Centre TBG, Deborah Leigh’s group will work to improve our understanding of genetic diversity through innovative approaches: conservation genomics studies of threatened species will be combined with new methods of macrogenetics, which brings together genetic and genomic data on a large scale. “Our research aims to address core questions in conservation biology and to carry out projects with a strong application focus, whether at a local level or in international collaboration,” says Prof. Leigh. Her research group will enrich the Genomic Biomonitoring programme area of the LOEWE Centre TBG, which aims to establish and expand application-oriented genomic detection systems for use in conservation and environmental monitoring. With Deborah Leigh’s appointment, all four TBG programme areas now have a top-class professor at their head.
In addition to Senckenberg, the Faculty of Biological Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt is also looking forward to the new professor’s expertise and future collaboration. “Genomics is a pioneering field of biological research that can be used to comprehensively analyse and understand many questions – from individual species to communities and entire ecosystems. We were impressed by Deborah Leigh’s methodological approaches and her ambition to use the research results to support nature conservation management,” says Dean Prof. Dr Sven Klimpel. With this new appointment, together with Senckenberg, we are strengthening cutting-edge, application-oriented research with international visibility and at the same time expanding genome research in Frankfurt as a centre of science in the long term.”
Prof. Leigh is involved in teaching on the two English-language Master’s programmes “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health” and “Environmental Sciences” with courses on applied and conservation genomics.
Prior to her appointment in Frankfurt, Prof. Leigh conducted research at renowned institutions including the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) at the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (ETH) in Switzerland, 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 very excited about my new research environment. I look forward to using my research and collaborations to provide sound information that supports policy makers and conservation management stakeholders to protect genetic diversity – the foundation of biodiversity and life,” says Prof. Leigh.
Dr Deborah Leigh is new Professor of Genomic Biomonitoring at Senckenberg Society for Nature Research and Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Source: Press release by LOEWE-TBG on the appointment of Dr Deborah Leigh as Professor of Genomic Biomonitoring at the LOEWE Centre TBG / Senckenberg and Goethe University Frankfurt, to be published on 08.10.2024
