Post Doctoral Fellow

Department of Biology

University of Washington (Seattle, WA)

Graduate Student - Ph.D.

Biology

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

David Parichy

I am broadly interested in the development of post-embryonic phenotype and the roles endocrine signals play in determining life history patterns.

My research focuses on the growth and postembryonic development of vertebrates, and how environment modulates growth through endocrinological signals. Thyroid hormone and other endocrine signals serve as mediators between environmental conditions and developmental outcomes. My background is in ambystomatid salamanders, which represent an extreme example of environmentally and hormonally mediated developmental plasticity. My current research exploits the genetic tractability of zebrafish to probe the molecular pathways of growth and development. I am using the pigment pattern of zebrafish as a model of a trait that undergoes cellular changes as the fish transitions from a larva into an adult. I am using transgenic techniques to block different parts of the thyroid hormone signalling pathway during the metamorphic transition to determine the effects on pigment pattern development. In addition, I am characterizing novel mutations that disrupt normal growth to adult size by disrupting the ability of tissues to produce or respond appropriately to hormonal signals.

2002-2003 NASA Ames Research Associate

2002 HHMI Undergraduate Research Fellow

2010-present NRSA Fellow

2009 Frances Lou Kallman Award

2007-2008 Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society Grant-in-Aid of Research

2006 National Science Foundation Honorable Mention

2005 Stanford Center for Evolutionary Studies

2004 Mary Lyon Scholar Award