The Bio-X Interdisciplinary Biosciences Program at Stanford

Bio-X is Stanford’s new program focused on interdisciplinary biosciences research. Bio-X creates fertile ground for discovery, invention, and education by accelerating the formation of partnerships between biologists, clinicians, engineers, chemists, physicists, and computer scientists.

Presenter(s)

Dr. Scott is a Professor of Developmental Biology and Genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He received his BS and PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and did his postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1990 after spending seven years on the faculty of the University of Colorado at Boulder. He was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in 1993. Dr. Scott served as chair of the Department of Developmental Biology from January 1996 to January 1999 and then for three years as associate chair. In 2002 he was appointed Chair of the Bio-X Leadership Council. Bio-X is Stanford's newest life sciences initiative and is designed to bring together researchers from biology, the physical sciences, engineering, and the social sciences as they relate to biology.

Dr. Scott uses an integrative approach to research that merges embryology, cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, and medicine to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of cell growth and development. He is well known for his 1984 discovery of the homeobox, a signature structure of a large number of genes that regulate development. He is also known for his 1996 discovery of the genetic basis of basal cell carcinoma, the most common human cancer, and cerebellar medulloblastoma, a common childhood brain tumor. These discoveries may lead to better treatments for the diseases and may hold important clues about the origins of other types of cancer. His current research is on neural and muscle development, cancer, cell-cell signaling systems, and neurodegenerative disease.

Dr. Scott has received numerous honors and awards, including the American Cancer Society Junior Faculty Research Award, the Passano Foundation Young Investigator Award, and the National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award. He was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1999. In 2001 he was appointed to the Searle Scholar Advisory Board.

Dr. Scott is a member of many other professional organizations, including the Genetics Society of America and the American Society for Cell Biology, and he has served as President of the Society for Developmental Biology. He has published many research articles and has served as editor and sat on the editorial boards of many publications, including Genes and Development; Molecular and Cellular Biology; Developmental Biology; Public Library of Science Biology, Current Opinions in Genetics and Development; and Development.