Background
Bier was born on December 5, 1955 in Missoula, Montana, United States; the son of Jesse and Laura (Darsa) Bier.
From left, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla with researchers Valentino Gantz and Ethan Bier.
Ethan Bier, left, and Valentino Gantz.
From left, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla with researchers Valentino Gantz and Ethan Bier.
Ethan Bier, left, and Valentino Gantz.
(Bier offers lay readers and general science students an a...)
Bier offers lay readers and general science students an accessible account of developmental biology, focusing on the principles underlying embryonic development in animals and plants. He discusses such aspects as the central dogma of biology, establishing the primary axes of vertebrate embryos, and patterning plant appendages. He also includes biographical sketches of people who have contributed signally to the field.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879695633/?tag=2022091-20
2000
Bier was born on December 5, 1955 in Missoula, Montana, United States; the son of Jesse and Laura (Darsa) Bier.
Bier graduated from the University of California in San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Biology in 1978.
Ethan received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Cell and Developmental Biology from Harvard Medical School, where Bier studied regulation of immune genes in Dr. Allan Maxam’s laboratory from 1978-1985.
Ethan did his postdoctoral studies on development of the nervous system at the University of California in San Diego with Drs. Lily and Yuh Nung Jan in 1985-1990.
Bier began his career as a Postdoctoral researcher on development of the nervous system with Drs. Lily and Yuh Nung at the University of California in San Diego and held the position from 1985 to 1990. Since 1990, he has been a professor in the department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California in San Diego.
Ethan has studied how secreted proteins known as morphogens subdivide the dorsal-ventral axis of the fruit fly embryo into neural versus epidermal regions and how such processes result in the formation of sharp boundaries.
Bier has also used the common fruit fly to study mechanisms of human disease. His work in this area has focused recently on understanding the mechanisms by which bacterial toxins contribute to breaching host barriers. Thus, two toxins produced by anthrax bacteria trigger potentially fatal vascular leakage while cholera toxin leads to breakdown of the intestinal barrier leading to acute life-threatening diarrhea.
Bier’s group, whom he heads, developed a new CRISPR/Cas9 based method referred to as "active genetics" that greatly biases transmission of genetic traits, thereby bypassing traditional constraints of Mendelian inheritance. One application of this new technology is to create gene-drive systems for disseminating anti-malarial effector genes into mosquito populations.
(Bier offers lay readers and general science students an a...)
2000Bier is a member of the Society for Neuroscience and Genetics Society of America.
On August 30, 1987 Ethan Bier married Kathryn Burton. They have a child.
