Stem Cells: It's All About the Environment

Elaine Fuchs, PhD

Cell biologist Elaine Fuchs revolutionized the molecular and genetic study of skin and its tissue stem cells. She studies where these stem cells reside, how they make and repair tissues and how they cope with different stresses, ranging from inflammation to cancer. Fuchs will discuss her work that continually unravels mechanisms that have major implications for our general understanding of tissue stem cells and for advancing cancer therapeutics and regenerative medicine.

About the Speaker

Elaine Fuchs is renowned for her research in skin biology, its stem cells and associated genetic disorders, particularly cancers. She studies how stem cells make and repair tissues and how they withstand stress from wounds, mechanical trauma, inflammation, and cancer-causing mutations. Following her Ph.D. from Princeton and post-doctorate at MIT, Fuchs joined the faculty at the University of Chicago. In 2002, she relocated to The Rockefeller University, where she is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development. Fuchs has published over 350 peer-reviewed manuscripts and trained more than 30 PhD students and 100 postdoctoral fellows. Fuchs’ awards and honors include the National Medal of Science, L’Oreal-UNESCO Award, Albany Prize in Medicine, March of Dimes Prize, International Pezcoller Award in Cancer Research, EB Wilson Award in Cell Biology, Vanderbilt Prize, AACR Clowes Award, ISSCR McEwen Award for Innovation in Stem Cell Research, and the Gairdner International Award. Fuchs is an honorary member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, American Philosophical Society, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society.  Her honorary doctorates include Harvard University.  She is past-President of the American Society of Cell Biology and the International Society of Stem Cell Research. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, Board of Directors of the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation, Scientific Advisory Boards of many international and national universities and the Editorial Boards of major scientific journals. Fuchs is a tireless supporter of women scientists.

The Spectrum Seminar series brings Gladstone scientists together around topics that apply across fields of study.