Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

04/29/2026

TODAY!

MCDB's Josien van Wolfswinkel is today's special seminar speaker!

Join us in BASS 305 at 3:30 PM to hear her talk, “Forever young: the molecular basis of biological resilience”

https://yale.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1e64361f-a71f-41b1-a107-b3b6015820f2

04/15/2026

Usmaan Siddiqi, MCDB junior, has been named a Goldwater Scholar! This award is given to 454 of the nation's top scholars to pursue research careers in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. Usmaan is an active participant in MCDB, lending his knowledge as a peer mentor to MCDB students.

Congratulations, Usmaan!

Two Yale juniors have received the prestigious Goldwater scholarship, which supports students interested in research careers in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics.

04/14/2026

Congratulations to Siggy Nachtergaele for receiving the Poorvu Family Fund for Academic Innovation Award!

Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis recognized four recipients of the college’s annual teaching prizes during a campus reception.

03/23/2026

This year’s Great MCDB Bake Off has come to an end!🍰🧁🎂

Congrats to our winners:

🥇Benoit Mermaz (Irish Lab)
🥈Lam Vo (Emonet Lab)
🥉Taylor Peterson (Carlson Lab)

A MASSIVE shoutout to our Community Committee for organizing this fun and delicious event! If you’re interested in joining, email Michael O’Donnell for more information!

03/11/2026

Next up in our Seminar Series: Geraldine Seydoux, Ph.D. from John Hopkins School of Medicine!

Dr. Seydoux’s research focuses on the development of the germline. 🦠 Recently, her lab described a family of intrinsically-disordered proteins that stabilize RNA granules in germ cells by functioning as surface-tension reducing agents (Pickering agents), the first demonstration of this type of activity in cells.

03/03/2026

There have been many important discoveries along the path to what we know today about RNA, or ribonucleic acid—a molecule found in every living cell that helps carry and interpret genetic instructions.

Sidney Altman, professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, made one of the most groundbreaking discoveries in molecular science - RNA can function as an enzyme.

Yale School of Medicine explores the impact of Altman's research on today's advancements.

Yale scientist Sidney Altman’s discovery of catalytic RNA earned a Nobel Prize and helped shape modern gene editing and RNA medicine.

02/27/2026

🌟 Check this out! 🌟

Major shoutout to Yiting Xu, Abigail Benvie, and Nicole Castano for their amazing research featured in Cell Reports! 🦠✨

This research shows that glutamine is key in calming down inflammation and helping us heal skin wounds by suppressing neutrophil‑recruitment genes. 🔬💥

Xu et al. uncover how metabolites regulate cellular communication during inflammatory resolution and tissue repair in vivo. They find that glutamine metabolism alters chromatin accessibility and suppresses neutrophil chemotaxis gene transcription to resolve inflammation and drive tissue repair.

02/03/2026

✨️ This Friday come hear about the current research in MCDB from our Graduate Students!
February 6 | 1 - 4:30pm | OC Marsh 🔬 🧬

01/22/2026

✨ Looking for new ways to get involved in the new year?✨

Check out our community events! From socializing 👫 to building presentation skills🗣️ , there's something for everyone!

Links in bio

01/12/2026

MCDB in the News!📰

The Mogessie lab's 2025 paper published in Nov. 2025 is one of several studies highlight by The Washington Post in their article on recent research in female reproduction.

New studies are shedding light on one of the biggest mysteries of human reproduction and what can be done to combat it.