Marianne Bronner

Marianne Bronner is a developmental biologist who currently serves as Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and an executive officer for Neurobiology at the California Institute of Technology. Her most notable work includes her research on the neural crest. Bronner's research focuses on studying the cellular events behind the migration, differentiation, and formation of neural crest cells. She currently directs her own laboratory at the California Institute of Technology called the Bronner Laboratory, and she has authored over 400 articles in her field.

Early years
When Bronner was 4, her family fled Hungary. They moved to the United States after staying in Austria for six months. Both of her parents were survivors of the Holocaust.

Education and career
Bronner attended Brown University for her undergraduate studies. After she graduated from Brown University, she decided to apply to the biophysics graduate school program at Johns Hopkins University. Once there, she decided to take an undergraduate course in developmental biology. From there, she continued to specialise in the field.

Once Bronner graduated from Johns Hopkins University with her Ph.D., she began teaching at the University of California, Irvine. Bronner spent 16 years at the University of California, Irvine and eventually became the associate director of the Developmental Biology Center. In 1996, Bronner left the University of California, Irvine and moved her laboratory to the California Institute of Technology. In 2001, Bronner became Chair of the Faculty at Caltech, being the first woman to hold the position. She held that position for two years.

The Bronner Laboratory
Bronner has been directing a laboratory at Caltech since she first arrived at the university. The lab focuses most of its research on how neural crest cells arise and the factors involving their migration from the neural tube to different positions in the embryo in addition to the evolution of these cells. One project focuses on characterizing the structures involved with neural crest cell movements. Another project in the lab focuses on comparing the mechanisms behind neural crest invasive behavior and the mechanisms that allow for adult derivatives to become migratory and invasive.

Awards and honors

 * Elected member, National Academy of Sciences (2015)
 * American Academy of Arts & Science, Fellow (2009)
 * Edwin G. Conklin Medal from the Society for Developmental Biology (2013)
 * Women in Cell Biology Senior Leadership Award (2012)
 * BUSAC Award for Excellence in Teaching (2001 & 2005)
 * Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute Of Neurological Disorders And Stroke (2002–2009)
 * ASCIT Award for Excellence in Teaching (1997 & 1998)
 * Distinguished Research Award from the University of California, Irvine (1994)

Professional societies

 * International Society for Differentiation, president (2013–2014)
 * International Society for Developmental Biology, secretary (2010–2013)
 * Gordon Research Conferences, board of directors (2006–2013), chair (2012)
 * Society for Developmental Biology, president (2009)
 * Sontag Foundation, scientific advisory board member (2006–present)
 * American Society for Cell Biology, council member (1994–1997)

Selected publications

 * Rogers CD, Saxena A, Bronner ME. Sip1 mediates an E-cadherin-to-N-cadherin switch during cranial neural crest EMT. J. Cell Biol. 2013 Dec 9;203(5):835-47. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201305050. Epub 2013 Dec 2.
 * Barembaum, M. and Bronner, M. E. (2013) Identification and dissection of a key enhancer mediating cranial neural crest specific expression of transcription factor, Ets-1. Dev. Biol. (in press).
 * Hochgreb-Hägele, T. and Bronner, M.E. (2013) Zebrafish stem/progenitor factor msi2b exhibits two phases of activity mediated by different splice variants. Stem Cells (in press).
 * Simões-Costa M, Bronner ME. (2013) Insights into neural crest development and evolution from genommic analysis. Genome Res. 23, 1069-80
 * Saxena, A., Peng, B. and Bronner, M.E. (2013) Sox10-dependent neural crest origin for olfactory microvillous neurons. eLife e00336.
 * Smith, J., et al., (2013) Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution. Nat Genet. 45, 415–21.
 * Simões-Costa, M.*, McKeown, S.*, Tan-Cabugoa, J., Sauka-Spengler, T. and Bronner, M.E. (2012) Dynamic and differential regulation of stem cell factor FoxD3 in the neural crest is encrypted in the genome PLoS. Genetics e1003142.
 * Green SA, Bronner ME. (2012) Gene duplication and the early evolution of neural crest development. Semin Cell Dev Biol. S1084-9521(12)00230-3
 * Hu, N., Strobl-Mazzulla, P., Sauka-Spengler,T., Bronner,M.E. (2012) DNA methyltransferase3A as a molecular switch mediating the neural tube to neural crest fate transition. Genes and Development 26, 2380–5.