Dr. Wen-Hsiung Li, the division director of Bioinformatics at the Genomics Research Center, will be giving the Clark Cockerham Lecture at North Carolina State University on November 8, 2007. Dr. Li is widely regarded as the most influential leader in the study of the molecular evolution of genes and populations. He has made significant contributions related to the rates and patterns of DNA sequence evolution and their application to the molecular clock hypothesis. His research focused on the comparative genomics has draw great attention in scientific field. Currently, Dr. Li’s work mainly emphasizes on the regulatory evolution, especially the trans and cis variation effect in yeast evolution, and the transcription factor binding site prediction and its evolution.

        The Cockerham Lecture is held to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Columbus Clark Cockerham (1921-1996), the former Distinguished University Professor of Statistics and Genetics and Director of the Program Project in Quantitative Genetics at North Carolina State University from 1960 to 1990.