Two new faculty, Kazuki Nagashima and Marissa Gredler, will join MCB as Assistant Professors in the upcoming months.
Kazuki Nagashima studies interactions between immunology, the microbiome, and diet. He will join MCB on August 1 after completing his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. “Our lab aims to understand aim to understand how T cells recognize the microbiome and diet so that we can engineer this pathway to establish new therapeutic approaches of a gut bacteria community and dietary interventions,” he explains. “Although immune activation in the intestine has been known to be connected to systemic diseases such as cancer and obesity, the molecular mechanisms are unclear, representing a large opportunity to make novel therapeutics.”
Nagashima did his PhD in the Hiroshi Takayanagi Lab at the University of Tokyo followed by a postdoctoral work in Michael Fischbach’s lab at Stanford. His publication record is available here. Nagashima’s office will temporarily be located in the Northwest Building, NW 347.20. His lab will be temporarily located on the 3rd floor of the Northwest Building (adjacent to the Hensch Lab).
“Harvard’s MCB has made incredible discoveries in molecular and cellular biology. It’s an honor to join this diverse and diverse community of people,” adds Nagashima. “Since MCB does not have a faculty member who works in immunology, I hope to bring a new aspect to MCB and make the research inclusive of all the areas of molecular and cellular biology.”
Marissa Gredler will join MCB on January 1, 2025. Currently a Research Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the goals of her research are to understand how embryos are assembled from their component parts – molecules, cells, tissues – and how these components interact across time and space.
“I have always been fascinated by embryology. It is nearly incomprehensible that a single cell develops into the extraordinarily complex human body!” says Gredler. “Historically, developmental biologists have focused on genes as central to understanding the embryo; however, it has become increasingly evident that genetics alone cannot account for the diversity of patterns and tissues that exist in our world. Cell behaviors – especially interactions among cell groups – are key pieces of the puzzle that my research will uncover.”
She adds, “Developmental biology spans disciplines, linking biochemical and biophysical to organismal and evolutionary levels of organization, and MCB is home to leading experts in these fields. As a developmental biologist, I am thrilled to join MCB and to learn, teach, mentor, and collaborate in a scientific community passionately committed to rigorous academic excellence.”
Gredler conducted her PhD research in the lab of Martin Cohn at the University of Florida. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center before joining Terry Yamaguchi’s lab at the NCI. You can see Gredler’s publication list here.
