UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Harmit Singh Malik, professor and associate director in the Basic Sciences Division at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and affiliate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, will present the Russell E. Marker Lectures in Evolutionary Biology on Oct. 14 and 15 in Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library, on the Penn State University Park campus. The free public lectures are sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science.
The series includes a lecture intended for a general audience, titled “Molecular Arms Races Between Host and Viral Genomes,” at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14, as well as a more specialized lecture, “Genetic Conflicts During Meiosis Drive the Rapid Evolution of Essential Chromatin Proteins,” at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
About the speaker
Harmit Singh Malik is a professor and associate director within the Basic Sciences Division at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, and an affiliate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. His research focuses on continuing his work on genetic conflict, which explores how different genetic entities in human cells and the microbiome strive to maximize evolutionary success. Malik and his team are interested in understanding the mechanisms and consequences of what he terms “molecular arms races.” His research hypothesizes how genetic conflict drives genetic innovation, from both evolutionary biology and human disease perspectives.
His research has implications for a range of diseases, from HIV to cancer. As part of this work, Malik’s research team has developed an approach for identifying genes that distinguish one species from another — exploring the riddle of how new species evolve, and the viruses, bacteria and other species over time that have contributed to shaping human evolution. With his colleagues at Fred Hutch, Malik has characterized the rapidly evolving interface between proteins on human cells and viruses that cause disease. He has demonstrated that formerly infectious viruses can also become integrated into an organism’s own genetic heritage, helping to pioneer the field of paleovirology.
During his undergraduate studies in chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, Malik discovered a passion for molecular biology, particularly the topic of transposons — “jumping genes.” This fascination drove his decision to pursue a doctorate in biology; he immigrated to the United States in 1993, when he was offered the prestigious Sproull Fellowship at the University of Rochester. His doctoral research revolutionized scientists’ understanding of retrotransposons, demonstrating that some transposons are much more ancient than previously believed. Following the completion of his doctoral degree, he went on to complete postdoctoral work at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center, before being appointed to the faculty in 2003.
For his research leadership in molecular biology, Malik has earned many accolades. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist Award in 2009 and was appointed an investigator in 2011. He also received the Eli Lilly Prize from American Society of Microbiology in 2017 and the Edward Novitski Prize from the Genetics Society of America in 2022.
About the Marker Lectures
The Marker Lectures were established in 1984 through a gift from the late Russell Earl Marker, professor emeritus of organic chemistry at Penn State, whose pioneering synthetic methods revolutionized the steroid hormone industry and opened the door to the current era of hormone therapies, including the birth control pill.
The Marker endowment allows the Penn State Eberly College of Science to present annual Marker Lectures in astronomy and astrophysics, the chemical sciences, evolutionary biology, genetic engineering, the mathematical sciences, and the physical sciences.