Organ Development

Deneen Wellik, PhD, is a Professor at the University of Michigan Medical School. Dr. Wellik did her undergraduate work at Washington University in St. Louis, received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Dr. Hector DeLuca, PhD and performed postdoctoral research at the University of Utah with Dr. Mario Capecchi, PhD before starting her independent laboratory in 2003. For more than 20 years, Dr. Wellik and her laboratory has been investigating the role of Hox genes in various aspects of organogenesis. While initial work from her laboratory focused on embryonic roles, significant attention has now turned to postnatal and adult roles for these genes in regeneration and repair. She also serves as the director of the Center for Organogenesis at the University of Michigan. This interdisciplinary center has more than 140 members across four schools and 26 departments, highlighting the importance of organogenesis in many aspects of human health and disease. In this capacity, she directs an NIH supported Training Program in Organogenesis and directs a course, Organogenesis: Stem Cells in Development to Regenerative Biology. She has also served as an Lead Instructor at the Cold Spring Harbor summer course, Mouse Development, Stem Cells and Cancer.