Sean B. Carroll

For the physicist, see Sean M. Carroll.

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

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. Since 2010, he has been vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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.

In 2010, he was named vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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 1-4051-1950-0)
• Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom (2005, W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0-393-06016-0)
• The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution (2006, W. W. Norton & Company; ISBN 0-393-06163-9)
• Into the Jungle: Great Adventures in the Search for Evolution (2008, Benjamin Cummings; ISBN 0-321-55671-2)
• Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species (2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; ISBN 0-15-101485-X)

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.