Rate My Professor Caryl Forristall

Forristall's research specializes in developmental biology and genetics, focusing on genes involved in vertebrate embryo development, particularly in amphibians Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis. She studies the role of X-Wnt3a in the development of the ear in Xenopus laevis using embryological and molecular techniques, collaborating with Dr. Andres Collazo at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. Her laboratory engages undergraduate students in projects analyzing the effects of agricultural pollutants on frog embryo development in collaboration with the Chemistry Department and examining developmental differences due to gene expression patterns between Xenopus species. Key publications include Forristall, C.A., Stellabotte, F., Castillo, A., and Collazo, A. (2014). Embryological Manipulations in the Developing Xenopus Inner Ear Reveal an Intrinsic Role for Wnt Signaling in Dorsal-Ventral Patterning, Developmental Dynamics, 243:1262-1274; Forristall, C., Pondel, M., Zhou, Y., Chen, L., and King, M.L. (1995). Patterns of localization and cytoskeletal association of two vegetally localized RNAs, Vg1 and Xcat-2, Development, 121:201–208; and earlier works such as Forristall, C., Castillo, A., and Collazo, A. (2009). Dorsal-ventral patterning of the developing inner ear (Developmental Biology abstract) and Forristall, C., Kil, S., Gregorius, J., and Collazo, A. (1998). Gene expression in the developing frog inner ear (Molecular Biology of the Cell abstract).