Moroz Lab Awarded Human Frontier Science Program Grant

Moroz Lab Awarded Human Frontier Science Program Grant

Published: Sunday, December 3, 2017

Congratulations to the Moroz Lab at Whitney Lab for being awarded a grant from the Human Frontier Science Program. This highly prestigious four-year international program will study genomic bases of morphological innovations in Cephalopod mollusks. These “primates of the sea” include octopuses, squids, nautilus and their kins. In particular, Dr. Moroz and his team will use state-of-the-art approaches in single-cell genomics and transcriptomics as well as molecular engineering to understand how cephalopods developed such complex brains and behaviors, three hearts and other traits allowing them to successfully compete with fishes in oceanic ecosystems. As a result, this multidisciplinary research will provide fundamental insights into synthetic biology and reveal alternative ways to design novel neural circuits and other integrative systems for regenerative biomedicine.

Photo caption:
Leonid Moroz in New Caledonia working on cephalopods and other marine creatures (photo credit: L. Moroz). Nov, 2017, Noumea.