Developmental Biology (DEVB) Faculty

Yashi Ahmed, Ph.D.

Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology

Office: 613 Vail

Phone: 603-646-5240

The evolutionarily conserved Wnt signal transduction pathway directs cell proliferation and differentiation during animal development and tissue homeostasis. Despite the fact that deregulation of Wnt signaling underlies numerous developmental disorders and cancers, including nearly all colorectal cancers, many of these mechanisms remain poorly understood. The long-term goal of research in the Ahmed Lab is to elucidate the mechanisms that activate Wnt signaling during animal development using a Drosophila model and to use this knowledge to identify control points in the pathway susceptible to therapeutic targeting in Wnt-driven diseases.

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Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Office:  223 Life Sciences Center

Phone:  603-646-9926

My lab seeks to uncover how cell size, zygotic genome activation, chromatin regulation, and the cell cycle come together to regulate early development in the Drosophila embryo. We use a combination of quantitative imaging, cell biology, genetics, genomics, biochemistry, and mathematical modeling to answer questions about how cells sense fundamental biological properties such as their size and developmental stage.

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Ernest Everett Just 1907 Professor of Biological Sciences

Office: LSC 231

Phone: 603-646-2314


My research aims to understand how molecules within cells impart geometric information ultimately leading to cell shape determination. Research in my lab seeks to identify molecules within the cell that control cellular patterning. We are particularly interested in the role of regulators of the cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking and have pioneered the use of the moss Physcomitrella patens. Using the unusually rapid transgenic capabilities of moss, we are pursuing novel approaches to dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying plant cell shape.

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Oscar M. Cohn Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology

Office: 609A Vail

Phone: 603-646-5241

We are interested in understanding how nuclear architecture, chromosome morphology and chromatin structure are modified in response to developmental cues and environmental factors. We are also interested in elucidating the molecular mechanisms through which these modifications function and effect specialized cellular processes.


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Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Office: 348 Life Sciences Center

Phone: 603-646-8269


We are interested in understanding how protein concentration gradients are generated in the cytoplasm and contribute to cell fate specification during development. We combine live imaging, biochemical and genetic approaches to study a series of cytoplasmic protein gradients that help pattern the early C. elegans embryo. 


No longer accepting new thesis students.

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Professor and Chair, Molecular and Systems Biology

Andrew Thomson, Jr., MD 1946 Professor

Office:   725A Remsen

Phone:   603-646-5251

The Halpern lab uses the zebrafish model to examine how left-right differences in the vertebrate brain arise and their functional significance. Using genetic, genomic, transgenic and optogenetic methods, they aim to map, manipulate, and monitor activity of neural pathways to understand their influence on behavior.

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Associate Professor of Biological Sciences

Office: 350 Life Sciences Center

Phone: 603-646-2649 


I am interested in how complex tissue and organ structures arise from simple tissue primordia. Using an interdisciplinary approach combining genetics, cell biology, biophysics and mathematical modeling, we seek to understand how developmental patterning information controls individual cell shape changes and how they are integrated into stereotyped tissue-scale deformations.


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Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences

Office:  322 Life Sciences Center

Phone:  603-646-6428

We study the multicellular interactions between neurons and glia in the brain with a primary focus on the development, plasticity, and regeneration of myelinating oligodendrocytes. Techniques include high-resolution optical imaging in combination with molecular labels, genetic manipulation, and sensors of cellular physiology.

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Dionna M. Kasper, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology

Office:  706A Remsen

Phone:   603-646-5254

The Kasper lab investigates how vascular endothelial cells adopt alternate cell fates to become hematopoietic stem cells or lymphatic progenitors. We use a combination of live imaging, genetic and biochemical approaches, and high-throughput 'omic' technologies in the zebrafish embryo to dissect how epigenetic to posttranslational gene regulatory mechanisms control these important developmental decisions.

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Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology

Office:    413 Remsen

Phone:    603/646-5896

My research group investigates meiotic cell cycle regulation and chromosome segregation in budding yeast and mouse oogenesis. Our goal is to understand how checkpoint mechanisms monitor cell cycle events, how kinetochores attach to microtubules, and how both meiotic divisions are regulated to ensure faithful chromosome segregation. We use a combination of live cell imaging, cell biology, biochemistry, and genetics in our studies. 

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Director of Norris Cotton Cancer Center

Preston T. and Virginia R. Kelsey Distinguished Chair in Cancer

Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology

Office: DH, Rubin Building, Room 801

Phone: 603-653-3611 


The Leach lab studies pancreatic developmental, epithelial and tumor biology, using mouse, zebrafish and human model sytems. 


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Associate Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology

Office: 604 Vail

Phone: 603-646-5258

We are interested in how gene mutations that cause autism alter neuronal development and function. To study this we engineer viruses to perform in vivo genetic manipulations and employ electrophysiology and multi-photon microscopy to study the impact of genetic manipulations on neuronal function. 


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Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology

Office:  658 Williamson Translational Research Building

Phone:  603-650-1866

My lab is interested in how cells grow and divide to form complex structures, such as the transformation from the zygote to an adult human or from a transformed cell into a tumor mass. To study these processes, we develop technologies to trace pattern of cell divisions which recovers the lineage of each cell. This information can be combined with other measures of cell state such as single-cell transcriptomic data to develop a rich picture of how choices are made in development and how this process is dysregulated in diseases such as cancer.

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Professor of Biological Sciences

Office: 339 Life Sciences Center

Phone: 603-646-2525


Signal transduction by the plant hormones ethylene and cytokinin, and how these hormones act to control growth and development.


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Professor of Medicine, and of Microbiology and Immunology

Office:  Borwell 630W

The Sundrud laboratory is focused on the identification and regulation of pro-inflammatory T cell subsets that are involved in the development and persistence of chronic inflammatory disorders. The laboratory integrates the use of clinical human tissue samples, primary T cell culture techniques, mouse models of autoimmunity, and molecular biology and biochemistry to forge new insight into the development and pathogenesis of inflammation. The lab is particularly interested in metabolic and stress response pathways that control T cell development and function.

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Assistant Professor, Molecular and Systems Biology

Office:

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The Walker lab uses a zebrafish model to study how motor neurons find their correct muscle targets to enable coordinated movement. We use a combination of genetics, molecular biology, live imaging, and transcriptomics to understand how neurons interact with cells and signals in their environment to form appropriate connections during development and regeneration.  

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William W. Brown 1835 Memorial Professor

Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology, and Neurobiology

Office: 625 Remsen

Phone: 603-646-5264

My lab is interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter and neuroreceptor interactions in the adult and developing brain. Ongoing research combines neuroanatomical, electrophysiological, molecular and behavioral approaches in a mouse model of FASD to study the consequences of prenatal ethanol exposure on embryonic corticogenesis, neurotransmitter receptors, synaptic transmission, and behavior. Our work has unifying implications insofar as the insights gained may be applicable toward understanding the pathoetiology of other neurodevelopmental brain disorders, such as autism and ADHD.

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