Donor Day Celebrations 2025
The Warden, Sir Richard Heaton KCB, will host the annual Robinson College Donor Day on Saturday 28 June 2025 from 12.30-16.00 at the Crausaz Wordsworth Building. This special event serves as an annual thank you to those who have given substantially to the College over the past 3 years.
Please note: this is an invitation-only event and is not open to all. If you have received an email invite for this event, please use the booking form below to register your attendance:
Event Programme:
12:30 - 13:00 Welcome Drinks
13:00 - 14:00 Buffet Lunch
14:00 - 15:00 Talks from members of the Robinson Community
15:00 - 15:30 Music Concert
15:30 - 16:00 Tea & Cake
Donor Day Speakers:
Dr Alberto Rosello-Diez
Title: Going out on a limb to study the genetic mechanisms controlling organ growth and repair
Bio: Alberto received his BSc/MSc degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Zaragoza, Spain. He then completed his PhD in 2011 in Molecular Biology (Autonomous University of Madrid) at the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (Madrid, Spain), in the group of Dr Miguel Torres. His PhD work, focused on the control of limb patterning by intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms, was included in Gilbert’s Developmental Biology textbook. During his postdoc at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, USA) with Dr Alex Joyner (2012-2018), he pioneered mouse genetic models of unilateral perturbations of limb growth to study the repair of developmental defects, finding that cell-non-autonomous responses play a key role in this repair. In June 2018, he joined the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (Monash University, Melbourne) as a Group Leader, where his lab studied the organ-repair responses activated by developmental perturbations, with a focus on the long bones of the limbs. In June 2023, he joined the University of Cambridge as Associate Professor in Developmental Genetics, with a joint appointment between the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, and the Department of Genetics. A new line of work at Cambridge will use inter-species chimeras to study if/how the patterning, tempo and size of the limb are affected by the embryonic environment of a different species.
Abstract: What makes an elephant bigger than a mouse? What controls body proportions, so important for daily activities? Do these control mechanisms play a role in regeneration and repair? My team addresses these questions, using mouse and chicken embryos, focusing on the arms and legs. We use genetic, surgical and cellular manipulation approaches to alter limb growth and study the subsequent responses of the embryo. We combine imaging and molecular techniques to decipher how cells communicate and coordinate with each other, such that the combination of their individual behaviours leads to robust organ growth. I will present an overview of our results and future directions.
Professor Amy Erickson
Title: Female entrepreneurship and labour force participation rate in England before 1850
Bio: Amy Erickson is Professor of Feminist History in the Faculty of History. Her undergraduate degree was from the University of California, Berkeley, and her PhD from Cambridge. In 1993 she published Women and Property in Early Modern England, which remains the standard text in its field. Recently she has published articles on the origins of ‘Mrs’ and ‘Miss’, European labour migration, and entrepreneurs.
Abstract: It is widely assumed that women entered the labour force in large numbers only in the later twentieth century. In fact, where measurable, the female labour force participation rate was higher in the centuries before 1850 than it is today. Since quantifiable data in the earlier period is scattered, one key to understanding labour force participation is entrepreneurship. This talk presents manufacturing businesses and their employees over the long 18th century.
Robinson College Event Terms and Conditions
If you'd be interested in attending a future event, and would like to find out more, please contact: Katharine Cantell, Development Director: knc23@robinson.cam.ac.uk.