IBB Breakfast Club Seminar Series

Evan Zamir, PhD - Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering

The primary mission of Dr. Zamir's research program is to uncover the biophysical mechanisms that both drive and regulate tissue morphogenesis and cell motility during embryonic development; he uses gastrulation as an experimental system for studying these phenomena. Gastrulation is, perhaps, the fundamental morphogenetic event that occurs during development of higher organisms, as it involves the formation of mesoderm (the middle of the three primary germ layers), which gives rise to vital internal organs, including the heart. Moreover, in recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that many of the genetic regulatory mechanisms that regulate cellular processes during gastrulation play crucial, if not central, roles in abnormal developmental processes that can occur in children or adults — notably, cancer. Therefore, Dr. Zamir is interested in several areas of human health that, at first glance, may appear unrelated — heart development, cancer, tissue engineering — yet involve many of the same fundamental cellular processes and genetic pathways.

The IBB Breakfast Club seminar series was started with the spirit of the Institute's interdisciplinary mission in mind. The goal of the seminar series is to highlight research taking place throughout the institute to enable the IBB community to further collaborative opportunities and interdisciplinary research. Faculty are often asked to speak at other universities and conferences, but rarely present at their home institution, this seminar series is an attempt to close that gap. The IBB Breakfast Club is open to anyone in the bio-community.

Continental breakfast and coffee will be served.