Marissa Gredler

Marissa Gredler is a Lecturer in the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology at Harvard University. Her research focuses on the cellular mechanisms of epithelial formation in live mammalian embryos, investigating how cells behave during development and how global tissue patterns emerge from local cell interactions. Using live imaging and multi-scale approaches, her work explores the molecular and cellular mechanisms of morphogenesis. Gredler's lab examines the coordination of cell behaviors in complex environments and its implications for structural birth defects and tumorigenesis. Her research bridges subcellular to organismal levels to address fundamental questions in developmental biology.

Marissa Gredler's research focuses on developmental biology, particularly the development and evolution of external genitalia across vertebrates. Her work explores the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation of structures such as the phallus, cloaca, and hemipenes in species like the green anole and American alligator. Gredler investigates how genes like Fgfr2, Foxa1, Foxa2, and Shh regulate tissue-specific development and morphogenesis. Her studies also examine multicellular processes such as radial intercalation and mesenchymal-epithelial transition in the axial mesoderm. By integrating developmental and evolutionary approaches, she seeks to resolve vertebrate phallus evolution through comparative developmental biology.