Mariana Wolfner

Mariana Federica Wolfner is the Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow. Her research focuses on understanding, at the molecular/gene level, the important reproductive processes that occur around the time when a sperm fertilizes an egg. Using the Drosophila model, the Wolfner laboratory studies the molecular signals that "activate" an oocyte to begin embryo development and also studies how seminal proteins modulate the reproductive physiology and behavior of female insects. Mariana’s primary teaching areas are in Development & Evolution, and in Advanced Genetics. Mariana has a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Cornell, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford, and she did postdoctoral work at UC San Diego. Mariana has been honored to receive awards and recognition for her research from the Genetics Society of America, the Entomological Society of America, the International Congress of Entomology Council, and awards from Cornell for her teaching and advising. Mariana is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was recently elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences. She serves on several Editorial and Biology-organizations’ Boards, and on various grants panels. For further information about the Wolfner lab’s research, please see: http://wolfnerlab.wixsite.com/wolfnerlab