Karen A. Lillycrop
Karen A. Lillycrop is a British geneticist. She is professor of Epigenetics at the University of Southampton. She is listed as a notable scientist in Thomson Reuters' Highly Cited Researchers 2014, ranking her among the top 1% most cited scientists. Early life Lillycrop obtained a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc, Joint Hons) in Chemistry and Biochemistry at Imperial College London. She then obtained a Doctorate in Biochemistry at the University of Leicester. Career Lillycrop undertook post-doctoral research at University College London in Professor David Latchman's laboratory where she studied regulation of gene expression and the role of transcription factors in disease. In 1995, Lillycrop took up a lectureship in Molecular Biology at the University of Southampton,. Her early research in Southampton focused on the influence of early life environment on the epigenetic regulation of genes and the development of human disease. Lillycrop collaborated with Dr. Graham Burdge (also at Southampton) to demonstrate for the first time that pregnant women's diets can affect the epigenetic regulation of key transcription factors within the foetus. In 2007, Lillycrop was appointed Professor of Epigenetics at the University of Southampton. Lillycrop co-founded the Epigen consortium, an international consortium which investigates the role of epigenetic processes