Sean B. Carroll

For the physicist, see Sean M. Carroll.

Sean B. Carroll
Born	Toledo, Ohio
Citizenship	American
Fields	Evolutionary developmental biology
Institutions	University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Colorado at Boulder
Alma mater	Washington University in St. Louis (B.S.), Tufts University (Ph.D.)
Doctoral advisor	B. David Stollar
Other academic advisors	Matthew P. Scott
Notable awards	Presidential Young Investigator Award

Sean B. Carroll (born September 17, 1960) is a Professor of Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Medical Genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studies the evolution of cis-regulation in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Biography

Carroll is at the forefront of a field known as evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo"). He is also the author of Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom (ISBN 0-393-06016-0), one of the first popular summary narratives of the field. He is a professor of genetics, medical genetics, and molecular biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madsion, and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Additionally, he writes a monthly column for the New York Times called "Remarkable Creatures." He is a strong advocate of the primacy of cis-regulatory evolution in the context of morphological evolution.

He is also the author of The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution (ISBN 0-393-06163-9), in which he argues for the irrefutable existence of natural selection by detailing numerous examples of DNA which has recently been traced from current species to long extinct ones.

Education

Carroll received his bachelors at Washington University in St. Louis. He then received his Ph.D. in immunology from Tufts University.

Bibliography

• From DNA to Diversity: Molecular Genetics and the Evolution of Animal Design, with Jennifer Grenier and Scott Weatherbee (2004, Wiley-Blackwell; ISBN 1405119500)
• Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom (2005, W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0393060160)
• The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution (2006, W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0393061639)
• Into the Jungle: Great Adventures in the Search for Evolution (2008, Benjamin Cummings; ISBN 0321556712)
• Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; ISBN 015101485X)

External links

• Official website
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute biography for Sean B. Carroll
• An excerpt from Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo
• Scientific American article "Regulating Evolution: How Gene Switches Make Life"
• The New York Times article "From a Few Genes, Life’s Myriad Shapes"
• NPR:Talk of the Nation, October 20, 2006 podcast "Author Uses DNA Record to Argue Evolution"
• Video of Sean B. Carroll's lecture: "Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species" at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival.