Lilianna Solnica-Krezel

Lilianna Solnica-Krezel is the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Developmental Biology at Washington University. Her lab studies early zebrafish development, focusing on the roles of signal transduction pathways and epigenetic factors that regulate cell polarity and gastrulation. She also develops new methods for zebrafish genome engineering and uses zebrafish as a model for human development and to study genetically inherited disease. Solnica-Krezel has made major contributions to the zebrafish model, having established methods of efficient germline mutagenesis and coordinating a genome-wide screen for embryonic lethal mutations.

Her honors include the Edwin G. Conklin Medal in Developmental Biology and the Christiane Nusslein-Volhard Award from the European Society for Fish Models in Biology and Medicine. She has served as President of both the Society for Developmental Biology and the International Zebrafish Society. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin and did postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School with Wolfgang Driever.