Gavin obtained a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from King’s College London and then a Ph.D. in Genetics from University College London. Between 1987 and 1995 he was a post-doc at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, where he held a long-term post-doctoral fellowship from EMBO (1987-1999). In 1995 Gavin joined the Babraham Institute as a Group Leader, holding an MRC senior (non-clinical) fellowship from 1995-2005. He came to Babraham to identify and characterise new imprinted genes.

In addition to discovery of a number of imprinted genes, Gavin investigated imprinted gene effects on growth, metabolism and behaviour, and in human disease. His group currently focuses on understanding how epigenetic states are established in mammalian germ cells and early embryos, and the effects of ageing and diet on the integrity of epigenetic information and its transmission to the next generation.

In addition to his role as a Head of the Epigenetics programme at the Institute, Gavin is affiliated to the University of Cambridge Centre for Trophoblast Research (www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk), and is currently an Associate Editor of Clinical Epigenetics and a Faculty 1000 Member for Epigenetics & Epigenomics.