Eric Siggia

Eric is a Professor of Physics and the Head of the Physics Laboratory at Rockefeller University. He received his A.B., A.M. and Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard University, and began his career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Siggia subsequently moved to Cornell University, where he remains a Professor of Physics. He has been recognized by many institutions and awards, including as a National Science Predoctoral Fellow, a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard University, an Alfred Sloan Research Fellow, a member of the Guggenheim Fellowship and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 2009.

Eric has mentored some 30 postdoctoral researchers and students in pure physics and quantitative biology. He has ongoing projects with the Rockefeller based groups of Ali Brivanlou (Molecular Vertebrate Embryology) and Shai Shaham (Developmental Genetics) as well as Kat Hadjantonakis at MSKCC. In the recent past he, together with trainees from the physical sciences, completed projects with Mike Young (Genetics), Fred Cross (Cell Cycle Genetics), and Alex Tomasz (Microbiology) all at Rockefeller. His contribution to these areas involved the fusion of biophysical techniques, microfluidics, and modeling with the genetic tools of the host labs. His trademark models use geometric methods to concisely parameterize complex dynamical transitions which can then be fit with quantitative time-lapse data. These technologies are all utilized at RUMI to extract meaning from the patterns of differentiation observed in stem cell colonies.