The DRB Graduate Program is currently lead by a pair of Co-Directors, with organizational and educational support from the Associate Director of Education in the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department and a dedicated DRB Harvard Curriculum Fellow. An Executive Committee comprised of select faculty from across the various disciplines and institutions associated with the DRB Program offer additional guidance and support regarding programmatic objectives, structure and community building to further support trainee development.
DRB Co-Directors
Trista North, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Stem Cell Program, Department of Hematology/ Oncology, Boston Children's HospitalEmail: trista.north@childrens.harvard.eduPhone: 617-919-6410
DRB office hours: Friday 10am-12pm or email to schedule appointment
Dr. Trista E. North received her BA, with honors in Biology, from Bowdoin College in 1996, and PhD from Dartmouth College in 2002. Her graduate work with Dr. Nancy A. Speck identified the essential role of Runx1 in murine hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) development, which is conserved across all vertebrates. In her postdoctoral research with Dr. Leonard I. Zon at Harvard Medical School, Dr. North pioneered a bio-active chemical screening approach in zebrafish embryos to identify novel HSC modulators, leading to the first FDA approval for investigational clinical use of a compound derived from zebrafish research. Dr. North established her independent laboratory in 2008; currently located at Boston Children’s Hospital, her lab investigates mechanisms of vertebrate HSC formation and function to aid development of therapeutic strategies to alleviate blood disease. Dr. North is a faculty of the Biomedical and Biological Sciences Graduate Program and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Prior to assuming the role of Co-Director of the DRB Program and Course Director for DRB330, Dr. North was on the DRB Executive Committee, taught in CB207 and served on many DRB PQE and DAC committees.
Jeffrey D. Macklis, M.D., D.Sc.Tech.
Max and Anne Wien Professor of Life Sciences, Havard University
Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology,
Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Phone: 617-495-5413
Macklis is the Max and Anne Wien Professor of Life Sciences in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, and Professor of Neurology [Neuroscience] at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and was founding Program Head, Neuroscience, Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He is co-Director of the Developmental and Regenerative Biology Ph.D. Program at Harvard University. He is an M.I.T. faculty member in the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST). His lab is directed toward both: 1) understanding molecular controls and mechanisms over neuron sub-type specification, development, diversity, axon guidance-circuit formation, and degeneration in the cerebral cortex; and 2) applying developmental controls toward both brain and spinal cord regeneration and directed differentiation for in vitro therapeutic and mechanistic screening. The lab focuses on neocortical projection neuron development and sub-type specification; neural progenitor / “stem cell” biology; induction of adult cortical neurogenesis; subtype-specific axonal growth cone biology; and directed neuronal subtype differentiation via molecular manipulation of neural progenitors and pluripotent cells (ES/iPS). He attended M.I.T. (S.B. Bioelectrical Engineering; S.B. Literature), Harvard Medical School (Harvard-M.I.T. HST Program), and graduate school at M.I.T. within HST, a student of Richard L. Sidman. He was a postdoctoral fellow in developmental neuroscience at HMS, where he also trained clinically in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Neurology in the Harvard Neurological Training Program (no longer clinically active since 2002). He is the recipient of a number of awards, including a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award, a Director’s Innovation Award from the NIH Director’s Office, the CNS Foundation Award, a Senator Jacob Javits (MERIT) Award in the Neurosciences from NINDS/NIH, the Cajal-Krieg Cortical Discoverer Prize. He is an Allen Distinguished Investigator of the Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a Brain Research Foundation Fellow, and recipient of a 2017 NIH Pioneer Award from the Office of the NIH Director.
DRB Education Team
William J. Anderson, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer on Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
Associate Director of Education, Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
Phone: 617-495-0950
Bill provides comprehensive administrative leadership and support for the undergraduate, graduate, and medical teaching mission of the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. He serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology concentration at Harvard College. A native of New Jersey, Bill received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Rutgers University. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Harvard, where his research focused on endoderm development and the directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells to insulin-producing β cells of the pancreas. His current research interests focus on evaluating teaching initiatives and understanding how best to teach students.
DRB Curriculum Fellow
Kayla Nygaard, PhD
DRB Curriculum Fellow
Phone: 617-528-9875 (text is best!)
I am your resource for teaching, research, navigating graduate school, or general career guidance. Please drop by to see me at the times/places listed below or email to make an appointment at a different time!
Cambridge Campus: Sherman Fairchild Building Rm 100 at 7 Divinity Ave; drop-in hours: Tuesdays 10-11 am, Fridays 3-4 pm
Longwood Campus: Gordon Hall Rm 316 at 25 Shattuck St; drop-in hours: Wednesdays 12-1 pm, Thursdays 3-4 pm
Kayla received her BA in Biology from Carleton College in Minnesota where she studied the connection between lizard coloration and behavior (and even got to lasso a few lizards in Colorado). While Kayla thinks lizards and snakes are adorable, she is terrified of anything with more than four legs (with some exceptions for Drosophila, butterflies, banded wooly bears, and pink-spotted lady beetles). Kayla spent four years teaching science in a K-12 setting, has a preliminary Massachusetts teaching license, and won the Sontag Prize in Urban Education while teaching in Lawrence, MA. Research called her back and she received her PhD in Biology and Biomedical Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis where she studied neurodevelopmental disorders through mouse models of genetic syndromes. During graduate school, Kayla continued her interest in teaching, outreach, and mentorship and received her Teaching Citation and CIRTL Practitioner status through participation in the programs at the Center for Teaching and Learning at WashU. She now serves DRB as a Curriculum Fellow and is available to support students, postdocs, and faculty in DRB curricular needs, in addition to providing workshops for the broader BBS community. Beyond teaching and research, Kayla is always up to toss a disc (she captained an ultimate frisbee team in college), lend you a book (half her moving boxes were just beautifully bound paper), or talk about advocating for equity (in so many contexts) so don't be afraid to say hello!
DRB Executive Committee