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The S. Meryl Rose Lectureship
7/23/09 - 3:30 PM - Speck Auditorium
"Endogenous Bioelectric Signals in Left-Right Patterning, Regeneration and Neoplasm: Molecular Mechanisms and Opportunities for Biomedicine"
Michael Levin, Tufts University
Michael Levin was a software engineer with a degree in computer science. His Ph.D. was done at Harvard Medical School, with Cliff Tabin (Genetics department); this work uncovered the first molecular-genetic pathway controlling invariant left-right asymmetry of the vertebrate body-plan. Levin's post-doctoral training was done at Harvard Medical Schools' Cell Biology department (with Mark Mercola); this work revealed long-range gap junctional paths for physiological signals in early embryonic patterning. He opened an independent lab in 2000, at Forsyth Institute/Harvard School of Dental Medicine, focusing on the molecular mechanisms by which spatial (morphogenetic) and temporal (memory/learning) information is processed in cells and tissues. Levin recently moved the group to Tufts University. The group's work is highly interdisciplinary, at the intersection of biology, engineering, and physics, merging the tools of molecular genetics, cell biology, mathematical/computer modeling, and physiology and using model systems such as chick, frog, zebrafish, and planaria. Current projects include the bioelectrical control of appendage regeneration and eye development, automated analysis of behavioral for studies in neuroplasticity and nootropic drug screening, the role of neurotransmitters as pre-nervous morphogens in development, and the dynamics of memories during brain regeneration.
About the S. Meryl Rose Lectureship
The S. Meryl Rose Lectureship was established in honor of Dr. Rose’s distinguished career as a research scientist and his dedication to teaching. Dr. Rose conducted innovative zoological research with a major emphasis on the regeneration of limbs of amphibians. He received his MA from Amherst College in 1935 and his Ph.D. in Zoology from Columbia in 1940.
During his career, Dr. Rose held professorships at Smith, the University of Illinois, and Wesleyan. From 1961 until his retirement, he was Professor of Experimental Embryology and University Professor of Biology at Tulane University Medical School. Dr. Rose mentored 23 PhD candidates and one MD, encouraging all to develop and defend ideas even when they differed from his own. He authored and co-authored more than 50 published research papers, a number written in collaboration with his wife, Florence Rose, his long-time research co-worker and critic.
Dr. Rose spent many summers in Woods Hole doing research at the Marine Biological Laboratory. He was course director of the Marine Embryology course from 1950 to 1955 and served two terms as a member of the MBL’s Board of Trustees. Dr. Rose was an avid sailor who loved sailing his sloop, Mystic, in Vineyard Sound. He will long be remembered by his students, colleagues, and friends for his great wit, devotion to science, boundless imagination, and unending generosity.
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