Biography

Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado received his Bachelor's Degree in Molecular Biology and Chemistry from Vanderbilt University in 1986. In 1992, he received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Cell Biophysics at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, where he studied mouse ES cells and their in vitro differentiation under the tutelage of Dr. Jeffrey Robbins.

In 1994, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Donald D. Brown at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Department of Embryology as a postdoctoral fellow and in 1995 was appointed Staff Associate. It was during this period that Dr. Sánchez Alvarado began to explore systems in which to molecularly dissect the problem of regeneration.

In 2002 he became an Associate Professor at the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and in 2005 he was promoted to Professor and was appointed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. His current efforts are aimed at elucidating the molecular basis of regeneration using the free-living flatworm Schmidtea mediterranea.

Back to main Lecture page >>