A childhood spent on a small farm in South Carolina helped Associate Professor of Biology Nancy Wall develop an inquisitive interest in all things living. Whether it was the mayonnaise jar lids that served as mock Petri dishes or the kitchen knife dissections of the mice brought home by the family cat, Wall foresaw herself as a scientist before she was eight years old.
While her dream has been realized, her youthful clairvoyance never could have envisioned the type of cutting edge science in which she has immersed herself since joining the Lawrence faculty in 1995. As a developmental biologist, Wall's teaching has included courses on the morphogenesis of vertebrates and modern concepts of embryogenesis. In the laboratory, her research interests are influenced by such important national scientific undertakings as the Human Genome Project and stem cell research. Working primarily with chicken and zebrafish embryos, Wall focuses her research on furthering an understanding of developmental processes, such as cell differentiation and body patterning -- the process by which organs wind up in specific places in the body. She uses the tools of molecular biology to determine which genes are involved in these processes. Not only does this provide an understanding of the molecular basis of development, it also provides insight into mechanisms of evolutionary change, such as how limb buds, which initially have a similar morphology in all vertebrate embryos, can give rise to appendages as varied as arms, wings, and fins.
Her research has been published in such journals as Developmental Biology, Mechanisms of Development, and Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, and she serves as a member of the Project Kaleidoscope faculty for the 21st Century Network, a national initiative that identifies educators committed to strengthening undergraduate teaching of science, mathematics, and engineering.
Wall is currently administering a 2002 laboratory equipment grant from the Grass Foundation that she co-authored to support the Lawrence neuroscience program. She also is co-author of a three-year Undergraduate Student Research Program award Lawrence received in March from the Merck Company Foundation to support interdisciplinary learning and cross-disciplinary student collaborative research in biology and chemistry. In addition, she is active in two interdisciplinary areas, serving as co-chair of the gender studies program and teaching Topics in Neuroscience, a cross-listed course offered through the biology and psychology departments.