News

VCSCB Welcomes First Faculty Recruit

In October of 2005, Dr. Stacey S. Huppert accepted an appointment as Assistant Professor for the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and member of the VCSCB. It is anticipated that four additional faculty members will be appointed over the next two years.

Dr. Huppert earned her doctorate in genetics from Indiana University in the Laboratory of Marc A. T. Muskavitch. Her thesis work demonstrated that Notch signaling exerts feedback regulation on ligand and receptor expression, and that the resultant asymmetries underlie proper cell fate determination. She continued to study Notch signaling mechanisms with Dr. Raphael Kopan, first as a postdoctoral fellow, then as an Instructor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology at Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr. Huppert’s research program will focus on exploring how intercellular signaling pathways are integrated in both developmental and disease responses of the liver. She will explore the role of Notch in liver organogenesis and regeneration in order to better understand the role of progenitor/stem cells in hepatocyte cell population maintenance and renewal.

"We are delighted to have her join the VCSCB," said Mark Magnuson, Director of the VCSCB. “She is going to have a tremendous impact on the VCSCB and many other centers and research activities at Vanderbilt.” A search for a second new faculty member is currently ongoing.