Jonathan Alan Hodgkin (born 1949)^[1] FRS is a British biochemist, Professor of Genetics at the University of Oxford^[4] and an emeritus fellow of Keble College, Oxford.^[5]

Hodgkin was educated at the University of Oxford where he graduated in 1971.^{[citation needed]} He was awarded a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1974 for research on the genetics of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans.^[6]

Hodgkin was a scientist at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.^[7][1] Hodgkin was one of the earliest researchers to explore the genetics of development in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.^[8] He first unraveled the genetic and maturational events in worm sex determination before extending his interest to other developmental pathways, behaviour and immunity.^[8]

Most Caenorhabditis elegans worms are self-fertilizing hermaphrodites, with two X chromosomes, but X0 males can also arise spontaneously, permitting genetic crosses.^[8] Hodgkin used genetic mutations in this tiny, fast-breeding species to define the regulatory cascade of genes that controls the development of male or hermaphrodite characteristics providing a model for approaching development in other species.^[8]

Since 2000, Hodgkin has focused on the nematode's response to attack by bacteria, exploring highly conserved pathways of innate immunity that are also relevant to development.^[8] Through microarray analysis, he has identified antibacterial factors produced by the worm that could be candidates for new antibiotics.^[8] He has also discovered novel pathogenic bacteria that attack nematodes, which may have potential as biological pest control agents against parasitic nematodes.^[8]

Hodgkin is the son of Nobel laureate Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and the editor Marni Hodgkin.^[1]