Professor Sonja Vernes FRSE

Professor of Biology, University of St Andrews

Sonja Vernes is Professor of Biology at the University of St Andrews. She leads the Neurogenetics of Vocal Communication Lab and is an internationally recognised leader in genetics and neurobiology of vocal communication. As director and co‑founder of the Bat1K consortium she advances global efforts to produce reference‑quality genomes for all living bat species. Supported by major awards including an ERC Consolidator Grant and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, she was also honoured by the Blavatnik Awards for pioneering work establishing bats as a model, revealing how genes and neural circuits can underpin vocal learning and the evolution of speech.

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