معرفی
Dr. Andrew Hammond is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London and co-founder/Head of R&D at Biocentis, an Imperial spinout focused on genetic control of harmful insects. His work centers on CRISPR-based gene drives to eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes. He holds honorary positions at both Imperial College London and Johns Hopkins University, where he teaches and supervises students in academia-industry partnerships.
Education: BSc Biological Sciences (Imperial College London), MSc Applied Biosciences and Biotechnology, and MSc Genes, Drugs and Stem Cells. His research spans over 10 years, including a PhD (2012–2016) developing the first gene drive system for African malaria mosquitoes. Notable contributions include overcoming gene drive resistance and demonstrating lab-scale mosquito population suppression.
Research interests include genetic engineering of insect vectors, neurogenetics of mosquito host-seeking behavior, and ethical deployment of genome editing. His work has been published in Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications, and PNAS, and has received global media attention.
Scientific Awards: Biochemical Society Early Career Award (2020), Imperial College President's Award (2019), Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship (2018), and multiple presentation prizes. Current projects include mathematical modeling of gene drive efficacy and public outreach on genome editing ethics.
Teaching: He instructs courses on parasitology, vector biology, and biotechnology at Imperial College. Collaborations with institutions like Oxford and Johns Hopkins ensure interdisciplinary innovation. Biocentis R&D facilities in Italy enable field-testing of genetic control technologies.
