Cassandra Extavour
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| This article, Cassandra Extavour, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
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| This article, Cassandra Extavour, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
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Cassandra Extavour | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canada United States |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto University of Madrid |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Evolutionary Genetics |
| Institutions | Harvard University Handel and Haydn Society Juilliard School Emmanuel Music |
| Thesis | Germ Cell Selection in Genetic Mosaics in Drosophila melanogaster (2001) |
Cassandra Extavour is a Canadian American Geneticist, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at HarvardUniversity[.[1] Her research has focused on Evolutionary and Developmental genetics. She is known for demonstrating that germ cells engage in cell to cell competition before becoming a gamete, which implicates that natural selection can affect and change genetic material before adult sex reproduction takes place.[2][3] She is also currently the Director of EDEN, a national research collaborative that is pushing scientists to use more than Drosophila as their model organisms in the lab to create diverse study populations.[4] .[5][6][7]
Career in Science
Extavour received an Honors BSc at the University of Toronto. Her Ph.D. thesis was on germ cell selection in genetic mosaics and was published in 2001.[8]
In 2003 Extavour did a study at Cambridge University on epigenesis and preformation that showed cells can be and often are specified by inductive signals (epigenesis).[9] This went against the mainstream scientific view at the time that cells are specified by maternally inherited determinants (preformation).Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page).. She then published a study that she further supported her theory of inductive signaling.[10] During a 2013 interview with Qaunta Magazine, she explained the concepts of her research as such: "Before there is even an embryo, the molecular content of some cells predetermines them to develop as either germ or soma. In other organisms, there is instead a signaling mechanism: An embryonic cell receives chemical signals from neighboring cells that activate (or repress) the genes that allow for germ-line function."[4]
In 2007 she created her independent laboratory in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University as an Assistant Professor. Later she was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and to Full Professor in 2014.[2]
Extavour directs a national research collaborative called EDEN, which stands for Evo-Devo-Eco (evolutionary-developmental-ecological) Network. The organization, funded by the National Science Foundation, encourages geneticists to dissect more exotic creatures than the ubiquitous fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and by doing so will create diverse study populations.[4][7] Extavour believes that a number of deep evolutionary questions cannot be answered by examining only one organism and thus promotes science to move past the model organism paradigm.[6] Her own lab focuses on dissecting insect embryos and ovaries, searching for genetic clues to the origin of multicellularity.[7]
Publications
Her most highly cited publications are :
- xtavour, CG , M Akem"Mechanisms of germ cell specification across the metazoans: epigenesis and preformation" ''Development'' 2004 Dec125, 130 (24) 589-840 According to Google Scholar, this publication has beencited 618 times,as of Feb 10,2018.
- Rwe-Campen, Evelyn E Schwager, and Cassandrs GM Extavour, ''The molecular machinery of germ line specification'' Molecular and Cellular Reproduction. Volume 77, Issue 1, pages 3–18, January 2010. According to Google Scholar, this publication has beencited 114 times,as ofFeb 10,2018.
References
- ^ "CASSANDRA EXTAVOUR, PHD". I Am A Scientist.
- ^ a b "People". Harvard University. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
- ^ "Germ cell selection in genetic mosaics in Drosophila melanogaster". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the Unites States of America. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b c "Debating the Evolution of Multicellularity". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
- ^ "RCN: EDEN (Evo-Devo-Eco Network): A research coordination network to promote technique and community development across the Evo-Devo-Eco field". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b "The bounty of EDEN". The Harvard Gazette.
- ^ a b c "Debate on Evolution of Multicellular Organisms Starts to Gain Focus". The Scientific American.
- ^ "Extavour Part 1 General Information" (PDF). Sematic Scholar. Retrieved 2017-12-07.
- ^ "Mechanisms of germ cell specification across the metazoans: epigenesis and preformation". National Institutes of Health-PubMed. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Refuting the hypothesis that the acquisition of germ plasm accelerates animal evolution". National Institutes of Health-PubMed. Retrieved 2017-12-08.
| This article, Cassandra Extavour, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
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