9553176 Saha This Presidential Faculty Fellow award is to a young neurobiologist. Her research is on basic issues concerning the mechanism by which the brain develops from a simple sheet of cells into a highly complex structure. The role of several genes in mediating tissue interactions are studied, using the frog Xenopus as a model system, with the major focus on reciprocal interactions between the nerve tissue and the blood vascular system during early embryonic development. Her teaching includes neurobiology courses and courses to non-majors on the history of biology, an active outreach program to elementary and middle schools, and summer courses to high school teachers and gifted high school teachers. The impact of both the research and education will be high and extend beyond neurobiology to science education in general.
