Date: Sunday, September 14, 2025
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: Building 9, Lecture Hall 2325
Reception will follow the lecture.
What if the keys to today’s most pressing childhood conditions lie hidden in ancient genomic echoes passed down through generations?
This fall, KAUST is honored to welcome Dr. Anthony P. Monaco, esteemed geneticist and President Emeritus of Tufts University, for our Presidential Lecture. A pioneer in human genetics, Monaco has spent his career at the intersection of biology, evolution, and medicine.
From isolating the gene for Duchenne muscular dystrophy early in his career to leading Tufts into a new era of research, his journey reflects relentless curiosity and scientific discovery.
Diving into the mystery
In his upcoming lecture, “The Genetics of Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders,” Monaco will dive deep into the evolutionary mechanisms that may be shaping a rise in conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, and ADHD. Despite major advances in genetic research, much of the heritability behind them remains a mystery.
Monaco’s work points to a compelling frontier: how evolutionary changes in RNA, and their interactions with environmental stress, may influence neurodevelopment across generations.
Drawing on comparative evolutionary genomics, he will explain how ancient RNA sequences such as RN7SL and RN7SK, through complex reverse transcription mechanisms, may insert themselves near critical neurodevelopmental genes — creating a dynamic, multiallelic regulatory system sensitive to environmental shifts.
This timely and thought-provoking lecture, bridging genetics, epigenetics, and environmental science, pushes the boundaries of how we think about inherited health.
About the speaker
A Princeton- and Harvard-trained geneticist whose career includes groundbreaking work on Duchenne muscular dystrophy and leadership roles at Oxford and Tufts, Monaco now focuses on the genetic underpinnings of autism, dyslexia, and language impairment.
This is not just a lecture. It is an invitation to rethink what we know about heredity, mental health, and the fast-changing world in which our children grow up.
Join us for this unforgettable event.
President Sir Edward Byrne AC FMedSci
4 comments
It would have been great if this lecture could have been at 3:30, as there are so many teachers at TKS who would have liked to attend this lecture. As it is at 11 am, we are all in school and unable to attend. As there are so many more neurodivergent children in the world, having the opportunity to attend a lecture by a leading authority would have been amazing. Perhaps in the future, when there are opportunities for this kind of lecture, there could be time consideration made for a later time for those who teach children to attend. Thank you for your consideration.
Agreed, i wish we can have a recording of this lecture.
Hi,
Is this lecture going to be taped for viewing at a later date for all those who cannot attend due to work commitments? This is an important and pertinent topic to many special education teachers and professionals working in the community.
As a speech-language pathologist and special educator working at the KAUST School, I would love to have time to discuss associated topics with Dr. Monaco. His topic of discussion was the same as the topics from my college papers in the 1990s.
Thank you for your attention to this important plea.
I consider this opportunity extremely valuable as I work in a Daycare setting where such lectures are essential for refreshing our approach and discovering new ways to interact with children. However, the timing does make me question whether I will be able to attend. I also wish there was information regarding the duration of the lecture. Additional note we need to find ways to let Parents involvement in such great lecture.