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Øjvind Winge

Øjvind Winge (1886-1964) was a Danish biologist and a pioneer in yeast genetics.

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He was born in the city of Aarhus in Jutland, the mainland of Denmark. After completing secondary school he travelled to the University of Copenhagen to study law but found himself more suited to the biological sciences into which he transferred. He graduated with a masters degree in the year 1910. From Copenhagen he travelled to Stockholm, Paris and Chicago, studying mainly chromosomal cytology before finally returning to the University of Copenhagen to do a doctoral thesis entitled The Chromosomes: Their Numbers and General Importance. In 1910 Winge was appointed chair of genetics at the Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, where amongst other works he wrote The Textbook in Genetics, published in 1928.

In 1933 he was offered and accepted the position of Director of the Physiology Department in the Carlsberg laboratories, Copenhagen. Here he dedicated his research to the 3 principal lifeforms of interest to his benefactors; hops, barley and yeast, although his studies became increasingly dedicated to yeast. He developed and used techniques to achieve the micromanipulation of single yeast cells and spores in order to investigate them on a genetic level. He found that yeast spores are diploid and haploid cells occur as a result of conjugation of two haploid cells or self-diploidisation. This was important as it revealed that the species exhibits alternation and that strains can be genetically manipulated by specific mating. Winge also demonstrated that the traits of the organisms were mainly governed by simple Mendelian rules. He continued his research and his lab produced a steady output of genetics papers until 1961.

Winge's work was of critical importance to the basic formation of early genetic engineering and biotechnology. He helped to establish a firm basis for what have now developed into important and lucrative scientific fields. For this reason he is often attributed the title of 'The Father of Yeast Genetics'.