Eric Erkenbrack, Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, is one of eight outstanding scientists to receive a Charles H. Revson Senior Fellowship in Biomedical Science. The competitive two-year awards are made each year to researchers in their third or fourth years of postdoctoral study.
Erkenbrack’s research focuses on the evolution of novelty, and how molecular alterations lead to physical novelties in evolutionary time. A member of the Gunter Wagner Lab, his current work investigates the appearance of a novel cell type—the decidual stromal cell—in the reproductive cycle of mammals. Understanding how gene regulatory networks change during evolution is critical to understanding fundamental aspects of human biology.
“I’m delighted to receive the support of the Revson Foundation to continue to decipher the genetic architecture and molecular mechanisms driving the evolution of pregnancy,” said Erkenbrack, who is a member of the Systems Biology Institute at Yale’s West Campus.
The Charles H. Revson Foundation established its flagship fellowship program in 1981 to help address the need for funding for the third and fourth years of training when postdoctoral fellows are finishing their initial projects and establishing themselves as independent researchers.
The Charles H. Revson Senior Fellows attend an annual meeting and dinner in New York City, featuring a distinguished keynote speaker, during which they have the opportunity to meet and present their work to one another and to Revson staff and board members.
Enquires: jon.atherton@yale.edu