Ray Keller Awarded the 2020 SDB Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Raymond Keller, Alumni Council Thomas Jefferson Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia, has been awarded the 2020 Society of Developmental Biology Lifetime Achievement Award.

This prestigious award will be presented to him this coming July at the SDB annual meeting in Chicago. The SDB recognizes the remarkable impact that Dr. Keller's work has had on our understanding of developmental biology and morphogenesis, especially in the biomechanics of conversion extension in gastrulation of Xenopus. Dr. Keller's contributions continue to inspire scientists and engineers at multiple career stages. Please join us in congratulating Ray for this outstanding recognition!

Dr. Keller's Research Interests:

The Keller laboratory investigates the cellular, molecular and biomechanical basis of early amphibian morphogenesis, and in particular the convergent extension movements that function in gastrulation, neural tube formation, and shaping of the vertebrate body plan. The laboratory uses high resolution imaging of cell motility and biomechanical measurements of normal and experimentally manipulated embryonic tissues to address the question of how molecular and cellular events generate the patterned forces and tissue mechanical properties that shape the embryo. Major contributions of the lab include the characterization of the convergent extension tissue movements, development of the concept that active, patterned cell intercalation is a major mechanism of morphogenesis, direct measurement of embryonic forces and tissue material properties, and the development of specialized preparations to study morphogenesis. We collaborate widely and recently have begun a collaboration with Ann Sutherland (Cell Biology, UVA School of Medicine) on mouse early morphogenesis with the goal of using the strengths of the amphibian and mouse systems to complement one another.

Click here for Ray Keller's publications represented on Xenbase.

Click here for Ray Keller's Xenbase profile page.