Nancy Wall

My research training was in the Department of Cell Biology where faculty focused on studying embryonic development, cancer, and neurobiology.  My focus was and still is on embryonic development, so I’m best described as a developmental biologist (a.k.a. embryologist).  Have you ever wondered how a single cell, the fertilized egg, becomes a whole organism like a mouse or a fish?  I mean, how does that happen?  How is a brain made?  Why is the stomach on the left side and the liver on the right?  Students in my lab use molecular biology techniques and microdissection/manipulation to study embryonic development.  We use zebrafish as a model system to examine when and where important genes are ‘turned on’ (i.e. expressed) in the embryo and how altering the expression of those genes alters development.  By studying these alterations we can understand the normal function of the gene in embryonic development and therefore the molecular and cellular events that lead to making something like a fish from an egg!

Courses Offered: Integrative Biology: Heterotrophs, Human Reproduction, Morphogenesis of the Vertebrates, Developmental Biology, Topics in Neuroscience, Seminar in Embryogenesis, Various Tutorials

Education:
PhD Vanderbilt University
Post-doctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt University