Presenter

Lance Davidson, PhD
Bioengineer and Developmental Biologist, University of Pittsburgh

Café Sci – Gears of Life: The Mechanics of How We Are Formed

Look around at the plants, animals, and people in your life; They all started as a single cell and grew into their varied shapes and abilities. How this happens has been a major mystery in biology, but those secrets are now being revealed to interdisciplinary teams of geneticists, physicists, bioengineers, and clinicians. In this talk, Lance will introduce you to the beauty of developing embryos, their collective cell movements, and the choreography of protein dynamics that make it all possible. Through his own work and the work of others, he will highlight how biophysics and bioengineering are contributing to this golden era of biological discovery.

About Lance Davidson

Lance A. Davidson is an American bioengineer and developmental biologist at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is a William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Bioengineering. Davidson is the director of the MechMorpho Laboratory. He received his bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Illinois, a master's degree in Space Science from York University in Toronto, and a PhD in Biophysics from the University of California at Berkeley titled: "The Biomechanics of Sea Urchin Primary Invagination." His postdoctoral training was in Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of Virginia where he transitioned to working on frog development. Davidson established his lab at the University of Pittsburgh in 2006. From his PhD thesis work through the present, his research interests include the physics of embryonic development, the genetic and mechanical origins of birth defects, and the role of the environment in embryonic robustness.

Register for Café Sci

The event is FREE to attend onsite and virtually, but preregistration is required! Carnegie Science Center would like to continue to offer programs like Café Sci, Women in STEM, and others. Please consider making a donation when you register. Once you sign up, you’ll get an email confirmation. Have a question for Lance? You’ll be able to type your questions in the Q&A section during the presentation!