Joanna Wysocka

Joanna Wysocka is a Lorry Lokey Professor in the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology and the Department of Developmental Biology at Stanford University, a Member of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and an HHMI Investigator.

Dr. Wysocka has done her Ph.D. work at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and, after graduating in 2003, postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University. She became a faculty member at Stanford in 2006. Dr. Wysocka’s research is focused on understanding gene regulatory mechanisms in human development, disease, and evolution. Her lab is employing a broad combination of genomic, genetic, biochemical, biophysical, single-cell, and embryological approaches in a number of cellular and organismal models to investigate functions of the non-coding parts of the genome, understand regulatory mechanisms underlying stem cell function, cellular plasticity, and differentiation, investigate how quantitative changes in gene expression dictate differences in human traits and study craniofacial development and variation. Dr. Wysocka is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Searle Scholar Award, W.M. Keck Foundation Distinguished Young Scholar Award, ISSCR Outstanding Young Investigator Award, and Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018 and as an EMBO international member in 2019.