Alan S. Beedle

Research Fellow
BSc PhD (Southampton)

Research interests

• Application of evolutionary and developmental biology to human health and disease.

Alan is a biochemist who became a professional science editor and writer. He has held senior positions in scientific and medical publishing in the UK, Europe and New Zealand, and has been editor of several high-impact journals in the biomedical sciences. Alan advises members of the Institute on publication strategy, and also has research interests in the application of evolutionary and developmental biology to human health and disease. For 2009-2011, Alan has been seconded on a part-time basis to the position of Chief of Staff for the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor (Professor Sir Peter Gluckman).

1. Gluckman PD, Beedle AS, Hanson MA. Principles of Evolutionary Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009

2. Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Buklijas T, Low FM, Beedle AS. Epigenetic mechanisms that underpin metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2009; 5 (7): 401-8

3. Kuzawa CW, Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Beedle AS. Evolution, developmental plasticity, and metabolic disease. In: Stearns SC, Koella JK, eds. Evolution in health and disease, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp. 253-264

4. Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Beedle AS. Non-genomic transgenerational inheritance of disease risk. BioEssays 2007; 29 (2): 145-154.

5. Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Beedle AS. Early life events and their consequences for later disease: a life history and evolutionary perspective. Am J Hum Biol 2007; 19: 1-19