Paul Griffiths

Integrating evolutionary, developmental and physiological mismatch

Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)

Date: 2023

DOI: 10.1093/EMPH/EOAD023

Abstract: Contemporary evolutionary medicine has unified the idea of ‘evolutionary mismatch’, derived from the older idea of ‘adaptive lag’ in evolution, with ideas about the mismatch in development and physiology derived from the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm. A number of publications in evolutionary medicine have tried to make this theoretical framework explicit. The integrative theory of mismatch captures how organisms track environments across space and time on multiple scales in order to maintain an adaptive match to the environment, and how failures of adaptive tracking lead to disease. In this review, we try to present this complex body of theory as clearly and simply as possible with the aim of facilitating its application in new domains. We introduce terminology, which is as far as possible consistent with earlier usage, to distinguish the different forms of mismatch. Mismatch in its modern form is a productive organizing concept that can help researchers articulate how physiology, development and evolution interact with one another and with environmental change to explain health outcomes.

The Case for Basic Biological Research

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 02-2019

DOI: 10.1016/J.MOLMED.2018.12.003

Abstract: The majority of biomedical and biological research relies on a few molecular biology techniques. Here we show that eight key molecular biology techniques would not exist without basic biological research. We also find that the scientific reward system does not sufficiently value basic biological research into molecular mechanisms.

Genetic, epigenetic and exogenetic information in development and evolution

Publisher: The Royal Society

Date: 18-08-2017

DOI: 10.1098/RSFS.2016.0152

Abstract: The idea that development is the expression of information accumulated during evolution and that heredity is the transmission of this information is surprisingly hard to cash out in strict, scientific terms. This paper seeks to do so using the sense of information introduced by Francis Crick in his sequence hypothesis and central dogma of molecular biology. It focuses on Crick's idea of precise determination. This is analysed using an information-theoretic measure of causal specificity. This allows us to reconstruct some of Crick's claims about information in transcription and translation. Crick's approach to information has natural extensions to non-coding regions of DNA, to epigenetic marks, and to the genetic or environmental upstream causes of those epigenetic marks. Epigenetic information cannot be reduced to genetic information. The existence of biological information in epigenetic and exogenetic factors is relevant to evolution as well as to development.

Decolonising child protection discourses using narrative practices

Publisher: Dulwich Centre Publications

Date: 07-2022

DOI: 10.4320/OITI8153

Abstract: The ‘child protection’ system has been a key site of colonisation in Australia. This paper describes some of the decolonising initiatives of a First Nations practitioner working within the child protection system. This includes resisting dominant discourses such as those embedded in assessment policies and processes that sometimes have long-lasting and intergenerational effects: First Nations workers collaborated to develop an alternative rubric for considering the ‘needs’ of Indigenous families. The paper also describes the use of practices of welcome and yarning to show respect and elicit strong stories. In addition, the paper introduces the use of ‘narrative vision boards’, which use images to thicken preferred stories. In these ways, the paper seeks to contribute to the ongoing resistance of Aboriginal people to colonisation and the resurgence of Indigenous knowledge and culture.

Diseases are Not Adaptations and Neither are Their Causes

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Date: 12-05-2020

DOI: 10.1007/S13752-020-00350-X

Australian National University

Location: Australia

View Organisation

University Of Sydney

Location: Australia

View Organisation

University Of Cambridge Trinity Hall

Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

View Organisation

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0984826

Start Date: 01-2009

End Date: 06-2010

Amount: $264,147.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0878650

Start Date: 01-2008

End Date: 12-2016

Amount: $641,815.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Federation Fellowships - Grant ID: FF0457917

Start Date: 09-2004

End Date: 07-2007

Amount: $1,519,710.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP150102875

Start Date: 02-2015

End Date: 12-2016

Amount: $172,700.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL170100160

Start Date: 2018

End Date: 12-2023

Amount: $2,568,846.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP130101774

Start Date: 04-2013

End Date: 12-2018

Amount: $160,000.00

Funder: Australian Research Council