Arnold M. Clark Memorial Lecture
Arnold M. Clark Memorial Lecture
The annual Arnold M. Clark Memorial Lecture brings high-level speakers in the field of biology to share the latest research and discoveries. Presented by the Department of Biological Sciences, the lecture is supported by a gift from Dr. and Mrs. Howard Hudson in honor of Arnold Clark.
About Arnold Clark
Arnold Clark served as a professor of biology at the University of Delaware from 1946 to 1981. He was instrumental in setting in motion the biology education program and was a driving force in the creation of the biology graduate program. His areas of research included developmental genetics, aging, human heredity and radiation biology. His passion was teaching genetics in the classroom, especially to non-majors, and to mentoring undergraduate students.
2025 Speaker
Mariana Federica Wolfner
Mariana Federica Wolfner is Cornell’s Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Molecular Biology & Genetics, a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, and is currently Associate Department Chair. Her research focuses on understanding the genetic and molecular bases for important reproductive processes that occur around the time when a sperm fertilizes an egg. Primarily using the Drosophila model, the Wolfner laboratory studies how seminal proteins modulate the physiology and behavior of female insects and (separately) the molecular signals that "activate" an oocyte to initiate embryo development. Mariana received a B.A. in Biology (Genetics concentration) and Chemistry from Cornell, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford, and did postdoctoral work at UC San Diego. She has mentored 46 graduate students, 31 postdoctoral scholars, and over 100 undergraduate or high school students in research. Her current teaching includes EvoDevo and (separately) Advanced Genetics.
Mariana has been honored to receive awards and recognition for her research from the Genetics Society of America, the Entomological Society of America, the International Congress of Entomology Council, a MERIT award from NICHD, and from Cornell for her teaching and advising, and for fostering diversity, inclusion, and equity in graduate education. Mariana is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to serving on editorial Boards and grants panels Mariana was President of the Genetics Society of America in 2024, Chaired the 2017 Gordon Research Conference on Fertilization & Activation of Development, and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for the Frontiers in Reproduction course at Woods Hole/MBL.
Mariana Federica Wolfner
Mariana Federica Wolfner is Cornell’s Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Molecular Biology & Genetics, a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, and is currently Associate Department Chair. Her research focuses on understanding the genetic and molecular bases for important reproductive processes that occur around the time when a sperm fertilizes an egg. Primarily using the Drosophila model, the Wolfner laboratory studies how seminal proteins modulate the physiology and behavior of female insects and (separately) the molecular signals that "activate" an oocyte to initiate embryo development. Mariana received a B.A. in Biology (Genetics concentration) and Chemistry from Cornell, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford, and did postdoctoral work at UC San Diego. She has mentored 46 graduate students, 31 postdoctoral scholars, and over 100 undergraduate or high school students in research. Her current teaching includes EvoDevo and (separately) Advanced Genetics.
Mariana has been honored to receive awards and recognition for her research from the Genetics Society of America, the Entomological Society of America, the International Congress of Entomology Council, a MERIT award from NICHD, and from Cornell for her teaching and advising, and for fostering diversity, inclusion, and equity in graduate education. Mariana is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to serving on editorial Boards and grants panels Mariana was President of the Genetics Society of America in 2024, Chaired the 2017 Gordon Research Conference on Fertilization & Activation of Development, and was a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for the Frontiers in Reproduction course at Woods Hole/MBL.
Previous events
Name: Dr. Susan B. Golden
Title: Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology, Center for Circadian Biology, University of California San Diego
Lecture topic: Circadian regulation of gene expression in vivo and in vitro
Name: Dr. Jeffrey Gordon
Title: Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished Professor, Washington University in St. Louis
Lecture topic: Developing microbiome-directed therapeutics for treating childhood undernutrition
Name: Dr. Van Bennett
Title: George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor, Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University
Lecture topic: New insights from human neurodevelopmental mutations
Name: Dr. Craig C. Mello
Title: Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine, Distinguished Professor of RNA Therapeutics Institute, 2006 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, University of Massachusetts
Lecture topic: RNA-guided inheritance in C. elegans
List of past speakers
2024 - Susan B. Golden- University of California San Diego
2023 - Jeffrey Gordon- Washington University in St. Louis
2022 - Vann Bennett- Duke Cancer Institute
2019 - Craig C. Mello - Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Massachusetts
2018 - Anne Carpenter - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University
2017 - Joshua R. Sanes - Harvard University
2016 - Joan A. Steitz - Yale University
2015 - Reed E. Pyeritz - University of Pennsylvania
2014 - Rudolf Jaenisch – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2013 - Elaine A. Ostrander - National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health
2012 - John D. Gearhart - University of Pennsylvania
2011 - Don C. Johanson - Arizona State University
2010 - Edwin H. Cook - University of Illinois at Chicago
2009 - Christine E. Seidman - Harvard University
2008 - Marcy E. MacDonald - Harvard University
2007 - Alfred Sommer - Johns Hopkins University
