Dr. Rebecca Wingert

Dr. Rebecca A. Wingert is an associate professor of biological sciences and a recipient of the Gallagher Family Chair of Stem Cell Research at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Wingert received dual undergraduate degrees in biology and English from Muhlenberg College in 1999 and subsequently earned her Ph.D. in cellular and developmental biology from Harvard University in 2005. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow and instructor at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School until 2010, where she accrued further training in genetics and stem cell biology. Dr. Wingert came to Notre Dame in 2010 to start her independent research laboratory, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in stem cell biology and stem cell aging, development and organ regeneration. The Wingert lab uses an animal model, the zebrafish, to identify how kidney cells are made during development and after adult organ damage. They have identified a suite of genes that are vital for nephron formation and are applying this knowledge to find out how regeneration works. The ultimate goals of their work are to create new therapies to treat kidney birth defects and adult disorders with regenerative medicine.