Biology professor April Hill invited to be keynote speaker at symposium in Germany

Associate professor of biology April Hill has been invited to be a keynote speaker at the Nonbilaterian Animal Model Organisms Symposium at Altes Schloss Dornburg near Jena, Germany, which will be held in October 2008.

The symposium, dedicated to selecting new animal models for research on the early evolution of metazoan organization as well as mechanisms to promote the use of these experimental models world-wide, brings together scientists from various disciplines, all of whom specialize in different nonbilaterian animal groups.

Hill, who is the Coston Family Fellow in the Molecular Biology Program at the University of Richmond, has spent significant time examining the genetic mechanisms that control developmental pathways in animals, using sponges as a model system. Her primary focus has been on the role of conserved transcription factors in animal body plans.

Posted March 3, 2008