Institute of Genetics and Biophysics "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso"

Via P. Castellino, 111 - 80131 Napoli

2015 IGB Courses

CNR Conference Room

Prof. Claudio Stern
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology

University College of London

Claudio Stern was born in Uruguay, and moved to the United Kingdom where he took a BSc in Biological Sciences and PhD at Sussex University, followed by postdoc at University College London. After a year as Demonstrator in Cambridge he was University Lecturer in Oxford (1985-1994), then Chair of Genetics and Development at Columbia University, New York. He returned to UCL in 2001 as “J Z Young Professor” and Head (until 2011) of the Department of Anatomy (now Cell) and Developmental Biology. Claudio Stern has been elected a Fellow of many academies including the Royal Society, Academy of Medical Sciences, Latin-American Academy of Sciences, Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and member of EMBO and was awarded the Waddington Medal from the British Society for Developmental Biology. He was also President of the International Society for Developmental Biology (2010-2013).
Claudio Stern’s research focuses on the processes that establish cell diversity and pattern in the early embryo, particularly to understand how complexity is set up and how the “programme” for development is encoded in the genome. Four main projects are currently in progress in the lab: (a) early gastrulation and twinning, exploring how the embryo establishes polarity and how it decides how many individuals to form, (b) the molecular mechanisms of neural induction, disentangling the gene interactions that take place over time and in different cell populations, resulting in some cells acquiring a neural identity (in vivo and in vitro), (c) what is an “organizer”? finding a molecular definition of this and using it to discover new organizers (cells than can both induce and pattern other cells) around the embryo, and (d) somite formation: the mechanisms that subdivide the embryonic axis into regular, repeated blocks that will later be the main body plan of the musculoskeletal system.

Wednesday, September 23rd - 10.00-12.00

"From egg to embryo: Gastrulation –the most important event in your life"

Thursday, September 24th - 10.00-11.00

"Advice for young scientists and a discussion on how to succeed"

Friday, September 25th - 12.00-13.00

"LECTIO MAGISTRALIS" in occasione del Premio Giovani Biologi 2015

"Two for the price of one: twinning – the ultimate regeneration"