The Maternal-to-Zygotic Transition

Howard Lipshitz is Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto and Senior Scientist in the Program in Developmental & Stem Cell Biology at the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto. He received B.Sc. (1976) and B.Sc.(Hons) cum laude (1977) degrees from the University of Natal, South Africa; M.Phil. (1980) and Ph.D. (1983) in Biology from Yale University; and then carried out postdoctoral work in the Biochemistry Department at Stanford University (1983-1986), where he elucidated the first long non-coding RNAs produced by the bithorax complex in Drosophila. He was Assistant (1986-1992) and then Associate (1992-1995) Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California before moving to Toronto in 1995 as Professor and Senior Scientist. He served as Associate Director of the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute (1997-2001) and as Head of what is now its Program in Developmental & Stem Cell Biology (2001-2005) before becoming Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University. Awards and honours include the Damant Science Prize from the University of Natal (1975), a South African National Scholarship (1978-1980), an Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (1983-1986), appointment as a Searle Foundation Scholar (1988-1991), as Canada Research Chair in Developmental Biology (2001-2008), election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1990), receipt of the Elliot Osserman Award of the Israel Cancer Research Fund (New York) for his distinguished service in support of cancer research (2008), the Circle of Valour Award for Academics, Science and Technology, Durban, South Africa (2013), and appointment as an Honorary Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Hong Kong (2012-2014). Dr. Lipshitz is an internationally recognized leader in the field of posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. He has served as chair or a member of the organizing committee of multiple international conferences and workshops; has edited/authored three books; has served on the board of directors of several scientific societies; serves on the advisory board of several funding agencies; serves on the editorial boards of several journals; and has served on peer review committees in the USA and Canada. His current research on post-transcriptional regulation during the maternal-to-zygotic transition in Drosophila embryos is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.