Margaret Tatnall Fuller

Reed Hodgson Professor of Human Biology/Professor of Developmental Biology and Genetics. Made discoveries in the field of regulation of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. Working on spermatogenesis in Drosophila, found that the neighboring micro-environment, or niche, plays critical role in maintaining germ line stem cells by activating the JAK-STAT signal transduction pathway to specify stem cell self-renewal. Elucidated critical role of spindle orientation in stem cell fate and underlying mechanisms through which stem cells orient toward the niche to ensure a normally asymmetric outcome of stem cell divisions.