Professor
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
Alan Attie’s research focuses on the genetics of diabetes and disorders affecting cholesterol metabolism. His lab takes advantage of natural variation in mouse strains to look for genes that affect these disease processes. He believes scientific thinking is important for everyone, not just scientists, so he’s happy to talk about this subject, too.
Talks:
What Mice Can Teach us About Human Disease
Alan Attie will cover what mice can teach us about human disease. He will discuss the relationship between obesity and diabetes and how we can use mouse genetics to better understand this subject.
Why Evolution Matters
Alan Attie will talk about how we are in a renaissance in the study of evolution, largely because of DNA sequencing, and how it teaches us about human origins and the spread of disease.
Critical Thinking for All
Alan Attie will talk about how evidence-base thinking is critical for our democracy and our continued leadership in the world.
The Soul in Things—a portrait project
I ask people to identify an object that has very special meaning to them and we collaborate to make a portrait with the object, accompanied by the back story. The photos span a broad emotional range. Some of the stories are deeply personal. There are a few convergent themes that emerge and tell a story about human nature.