Rate My Professor Alicia Ebert

Alicia Ebert is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Vermont, a position she has held since 2018 after serving as Assistant Professor from 2012 to 2018. She currently serves as Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs in the Graduate College, appointed in May 2023, and previously directed the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program starting in 2019. Ebert earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wyoming in 2002, with minors in Chemistry and Psychology. She obtained her Ph.D. in Zoology from Colorado State University in 2008 through the Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neurosciences program, where her dissertation, supervised by Dr. Deborah Garrity, examined new roles for calcium channel beta subunits in zebrafish development. Her postdoctoral training occurred at the University of Calgary in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy from 2008 to 2012 under Dr. Sarah McFarlane. Earlier, she worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of Molecular Biology at the University of Wyoming (2001-2002) and in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (2002-2003).

Ebert's research employs zebrafish to study cell signaling pathways that govern nervous system development, with a focus on eye morphogenesis. Her lab examines mechanisms ensuring eye tissue cohesion during migration, revealing novel functions for semaphorins and plexins in this process. She also investigates fibroblast growth factor signaling in retinal vasculature patterning and the maintenance and survival of retinal ganglion cells, where its disruption results in fewer retinal ganglion cells and smaller optic nerves. Key publications include Shootin-1 is required for nervous system development in zebrafish (Developmental Dynamics, 2020), FYN and ABL regulate the interaction networks of the DCBLD receptor family (Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 2020), Sema6a and Plxna2 mediate spatially regulated repulsion within the developing eye to promote eye vesicle cohesion (Development, 2014), and Voltage-gated calcium channel CACNB2 (β2.1) protein is required in the heart for control of cell proliferation and heart tube integrity (Developmental Dynamics, 2012). Ebert received the 2025 College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Service Award.