Bioengineering, developmental biology departments have new leadership
New chairs have been named for the Department of Developmental Biology and the Department of Bioengineering.
Professor Roel Nusse, PhD, is the new chair of developmental biology, and professor Russ Altman, MD, PhD, who has joint appointments in bioengineering and in genetics, is the new chair of bioengineering.
Nusse, who previously headed the department from 1999 to 2002 and succeeds Margaret Fuller, PhD, said his return to the position comes at an exciting time for the field of developmental biology. In recent years, many human diseases have been shown to occur when the normal processes of development go awry. Likewise, stem cell research—in which researchers coerce a single cell or group of cells to develop into tissues or organs—is a direct application of developmental biology research.
"Historically, developmental biology has been somewhat at the periphery of biomedical research. Now that is going to change," Nusse said.
The move toward becoming more central to medical research is demonstrated in Nusse's own work with the Wnt family of proteins. These proteins were first found to be important in early fruit fly development, then later turned up in mice and other animals. In recent work, Nusse and colleagues found that Wnt proteins may also help regulate stem cells.
With this strong link to stem cell research, it's no surprise that developmental biologists hold several leadership positions in Stanford's Program in Regenerative Medicine. Nusse, who heads the program's research committee, said the PRM, along with the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, all draw on his department's strengths and provide excellent partners for clinical collaborations. The department will also have a major role in teaching in these areas.
Nusse said he hopes to foster collaborative projects with the school's clinical departments. He has already taken one step in that direction, attending brain surgery as part of a collaboration with neurosurgery professor Gary Steinberg, MD, PhD. Steinberg hopes to use stem cells to repair damage caused by stroke.
Altman's work also focuses on the relevance of scientific problems to the clinic, applying computational technology to problems in molecular biology that affect medicine. "I have an MD and practice general internal medicine at a very small percent time," said Altman. "It is very important to me to maintain a connection with those who will benefit ultimately from much of the work we do in bioengineering."
His main scientific interest is pharmacogenomics—the study of how variation in genes affects the response to drugs. "As a physician, I see that we currently still have a 'one-size-fits-all' attitude toward medications," he said. Studying the human genome could help determine which patients might benefit most from different drugs.
His appointment as chair of bioengineering mirrors the multidisciplinary nature of the department, which functions jointly under the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering. The department was founded on the premise that an interdisciplinary structure was critical to apply the principles of engineering to living systems.
Altman succeeds Scott Delp, PhD, who held the position since the department was founded in 2003.
"The department is still in a period of relatively rapid growth," said Altman. "We are recruiting the faculty who will form the basis of the department for decades. I am impressed and humbled by the quality of the initial recruitments, and I am excited at the opportunity to continue recruiting the best bioengineers in the world."
In addition to continued faculty recruitment, Altman said he is eager begin creating the soon-to-be-offered undergraduate curriculum and to start fundraising.
