Meet the Minds Driving Discovery
- Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
Marianne Bronner
My lab studies a fascinating embryonic stem cell population called the neural crest. We are also studying how these cells, unique to vertebrate embryos, have changed over the course of evolution. Defects in neural crest development can cause many debilitating birth defects, including cleft lip and/or palate and outflow tract defects of the heart. When things go wrong in neural crest development, they can also give rise to tumors. So, understanding their normal development can help detect and possibly treat developmental abnormalities and some types of cancer.
- Professor of Planetary Science
Konstantin Batygin
Humanity has only discovered two true planets beyond those known to the ancients: Uranus and Neptune. If Planet Nine exists, it will expand our census of worlds in the solar system and, with its immense orbit, hold a fossil record of the solar system’s earliest days. Understanding it would not only reshape our map of the nearby cosmos but also reveal how planets form and migrate. The Vera Rubin Observatory comes online later this year. It may confirm or refute our predictions, uncover new patterns, or even detect Planet Nine directly. Either way, we stand at the threshold of discovery.
- Professor of Planetary Science
Heather Knutson
Our goal is to find and study exoplanets, which are planets orbiting nearby stars. As astronomers, we have come up with clever ways to study their properties. This allows us to explore nearby worlds from the comfort of our home planet! One of my group’s long-term goals is to characterize more small rocky planets like the Earth. This information will help us to determine whether or not a given planet might be able to support life, and (eventually) to look for evidence of life on those planets.
- Research Professor of Geophysics
Allen Husker
We are researching people’s responses to the phone alerts sent out during the 2025 LA wildfires to improve earthquake early warning alerts. We want to find out if people ignore alerts or want more as time passes. We hope to understand decision making and how people respond during emergencies. Millions of people have already been alerted during smaller "one-off" earthquakes, but a large earthquake will have many aftershocks over many days. This research will inform how earthquake alerting happens during aftershocks.