About Dr. Lessman
Dr. Charles A. Lessman joined the Faculty in 1988 as an associate professor and in 1993 he was promoted to the rank of professor. Dr. Lessman received his Ph.D. from the Department of Genetics & Cell Biology at the 福利片国产 of Minnesota. He was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Population Dynamics, at the Johns Hopkins 福利片国产. He served as an assistant then associate Professor at St. Francis Xavier 福利片国产 in Nova Scotia, Canada and currently is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the 福利片国产 of Memphis. He has been a visiting professor at the 福利片国产 of Iowa, the Vanderbilt 福利片国产 and at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Dr. Lessman's research focus is on reproductive and developmental biology and he has employed a number of different model organisms but most recently has used zebrafish. He teaches Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Cell Physiology, Vertebrate Cell Culture and offers Undergraduate and Graduate research projects on zebrafish genetics, reproduction and development.
Education
B.A. Psychology, minor: chemistry, 福利片国产 of Minnesota; M.S. Zoology, 福利片国产 of Minnesota Dept. of Zoology; Ph.D. Genetics-Cell Biology, Minor: biochemistry, 福利片国产 of Minnesota; Post-Doctoral Fellow Johns Hopkins 福利片国产, Dept. of Population Dynamics, Division of Reproductive Biology, Baltimore, Md.
Research Interests
- Reproduction in vertebrates, especially time-course of gonad dynamics in individual transparent Casper zebrafish.
- Effect of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) on puberty and reproduction of zebrafish.
- Centrosome and microtubule dynamics in the oocyte-egg transition.
- Identification, screening and mapping of motility mutants in zebrafish.