Teaching awards honor Brivanlou and Fuchs

Ali H. Brivanlou (right), head of the Laboratory of Molecular Vertebrate Embryology, and Elaine Fuchs, head of the Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, were this year’s recipients of Distinguished Teaching Awards. The awards were established in 2005 to recognize outstanding individual contributions to the university’s educational environment, and include a plaque and a monetary gift.

    Chosen by a committee that includes the university’s scientific executive officers, the awards are presented each year to one or two faculty members. Since 2009, Drs. Brivanlou and Fuchs have taught a highly successful stem cell course at Rockefeller, which they organized themselves out of their enthusiasm for the material and because they felt it was important instruction for the students. The weekly course is organized into two parts: a seminar series open to the Tri-Institutional community, and a graduate lecture taught by the awardees called Stem Cells in Tissue Morphogenesis and Cancer.
The course covers basic principles of stem cells from self-renewal to tissue development, homeostasis, wound repair and cancer. The teaching awards are presented by the president each year during the Convocation luncheon (Dr. Fuchs was unable to attend).