Tatjana Piotrowski

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Tatjana Piotrowski
Born1968 (age 5354)
Herrenberg, Germany
Education
Partner(s) Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado
Children2
Scientific career
Institutions

Tatjana Piotrowski (born 1968) is a German molecular geneticist who researches zebrafish as models of vertebrate development. She has worked at Stowers Institute for Medical Research since 2011 and is editor of the Annual Review of Genetics .

Contents

Early life and education

Tatjana Piotrowski grew up in Herrenberg, Germany, which is near the Black Forest. She credits her upbringing near the forest for her interest in life sciences, and knew from the time she was in high school that she wanted to study zoology or animal behavior. She lived for a year in San Francisco as an au pair, where she simultaneously enrolled at the University of San Francisco to take classes in biology and geology. She attended the University of Tübingen, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in zoology. Her master's thesis research on the evolution of and anatomy of nervous systems in fish, using the zebrafish as a model organism, was conducted at the University of California, San Diego. After completing her PhD at Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard's laboratory, she returned to the US for a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health's Laboratory of Molecular Genetics in Maryland. [1]

Career

Tatjana Piotrowski was employed at University of Utah School of Medicine as an associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy before accepting a position at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in 2011. [2] Her more recent research is on the zebrafish lateral line, which is a sensory organ. [3] She researches mechanisms that allow the regeneration of hair cells in the lateral line of zebrafish. [1] Her research on hair cells has the potential to function as a model for reversing hearing loss in mammals, including humans. [4] In 2022 Piotrowski succeeded Nancy Bonini as editor of the Annual Review of Genetics . [3] [5]

Personal life

She is married to Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, who is also a scientist at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. They have two children. [1] [6]

Related Research Articles

Zebrafish Species of fish

The zebrafish is a freshwater fish belonging to the minnow family (Cyprinidae) of the order Cypriniformes. Native to South Asia, it is a popular aquarium fish, frequently sold under the trade name zebra danio. It is also found in private ponds.

Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and differentiation of stem cells in the adult organism.

Zoology is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. The term is derived from Ancient Greek ζῷον, zōion ('animal'), and λόγος, logos.

Bonnie Bassler American molecular biologist

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Regeneration (biology) Biological process of renewal, restoration, and tissue growth

In biology, regeneration is the process of renewal, restoration, and tissue growth that makes genomes, cells, organisms, and ecosystems resilient to natural fluctuations or events that cause disturbance or damage. Every species is capable of regeneration, from bacteria to humans. Regeneration can either be complete where the new tissue is the same as the lost tissue, or incomplete where after the necrotic tissue comes fibrosis.

Anne McLaren British scientist

Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren, was a British scientist who was a leading figure in developmental biology. Her work helped lead to human in vitro fertilisation (IVF), and she received many honours for her contributions to science, including election as fellow of the Royal Society.

<i>Annual Review of Genetics</i> Academic journal

The Annual Review of Genetics is an annual peer-reviewed scientific review journal published by Annual Reviews. It was established in 1967 and covers all topics related to the genetics of viruses, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals, including humans. The current editor is Tatjana Piotrowski. As of 2021, Journal Citation Reports gives the journal a 2020 impact factor of 16.830, ranking it fourth out of 175 journals in the category "Genetics & Heredity".

Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent and cure hearing loss and tinnitus through groundbreaking research, and promote hearing health. In 2011, the Deafness Research Foundation changed its name to Hearing Health Foundation.

Maria Leptin German developmental biologist and immunologist

Maria Leptin is a German developmental biologist and immunologist, and the current President of the European Research Council. She was the Director of the European Molecular Biology Organization from 2010 to 2021.

Epimorphosis is defined as the regeneration of a specific part of an organism in a way that involves extensive cell proliferation of somatic stem cells, dedifferentiation, and reformation, as well as blastema formation. Epimorphosis can be considered a simple model for development, though it only occurs in tissues surrounding the site of injury rather than occurring system-wide. Epimorphosis restores the anatomy of the organism and the original polarity that existed before the destruction of the tissue and/or a structure of the organism. Epimorphosis regeneration can be observed in both vertebrates and invertebrates such as the common examples: salamanders, annelidas, and planarians.

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is a molecular biologist, an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research. The Sánchez Alvarado Laboratory focuses on understanding the regenerative capabilities of the planarian flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea. In 2015, Sánchez Alvarado was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2018 for his distinguished and continuing achievements in original scientific research.

Melissa Little Australian scientist and academic (born 1963)

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Kenneth Poss American biologist (born 1971)

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Robyn Leigh Tanguay

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Billie J. Swalla is a professor of biology at the University of Washington. She was the first female director of Friday Harbor Laboratories, where she served from 2012–2019. Her lab investigates the evolution of chordates by comparative genetic and phylogenetic analysis of animal taxa.

Neoblast Planarian regeneration proliferative cells

Neoblasts (ˈniːəʊˌblæst) are non-differentiated cells found in flatworms called planarians. Neoblasts make up about 30 percent of all cells in planaria. Neoblasts give planarians an extraordinary ability to regenerate lost body parts. A planarian split lengthwise or crosswise will regenerate into two separate individuals.

Andrew Oates Australian-British embryologist

Andrew 'Andy' Charles Oates is an Australian and British developmental biologist and embryologist specialized in biological pattern formation. He is professor at EPFL and head of the Segmentation Timing and Dynamics Laboratory at EPFL's School of Life Sciences. Since 2021, he has been dean of EPFL's School of Life Sciences.

Julia Anne Horsfield is a New Zealand biochemist and developmental geneticist. She is professor of pathology at the University of Otago and director of Genetics Otago and the Otago Zebrafish Facility.

Elizabeth Patton, Ph.D FRSE is professor of chemical genetics and group leader of Medical Research Council Institute for Genetics and Molecular Medicine (IGMM) Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Personal Chair of Melanoma Genetics and Drug Discovery for a disease which kills 20,000 Europeans a year, and accounts for 80% of all skin cancer deaths. Her research into the genetic models and drug interactions testing, sharing international findings, is mainly using zebrafish in conjunction with the Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre. She holds a number of academic leadership roles in UK, Europe and international scientific bodies.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Anderson Orr, Anissa (2017). "A DISCUSSION WITH TATJANA PIOTROWSKI, PHD". Stowers Institute for Medical Research. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  2. "STOWERS INSTITUTE RECRUITS TOP SCIENTISTS IN DEVELOPMENTAL AND REGENERATIVE BIOLOGY". 20 June 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  3. 1 2 "Investigator Tatjana Piotrowski appointed to prestigious editorial role". Stowers Institute for Medical Research. February 8, 2022. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  4. "TATJANA PIOTROWSKI, PH.D." Hearing Health Foundation. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  5. "Annual Review of Genetics, Current Editorial Committee". Annual Reviews. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  6. "A DISCUSSION WITH ALEJANDRO SÁNCHEZ ALVARADO". Stowers Institute for Medical Research. 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2021.