Christopher Lowe
Associate Professor of Biology
Department:
Biology
BSc. Hons, University of Sussex, Biology with European Studies (1991)
PhD, Dept of Ecology and Evolution, SUNY Stony Brook, Ecology and Evolution (1998)

Professor Lowe trained as a biologist in the UK at Sussex University. He moved to The USA for graduate training with Greg Wray at SUNY Stonybrook in the Department of Ecology and Evolution, where he worked on the evolution of body plans and the origin of the echinoderms. Following his PhD. he worked as a Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley working on the origin of chordates focussing on the evolution of the vertebrate central nervous system, first in Mike Levine's lab, then with John Gerhart and Marc Kirschner from Harvard. His first academic position was as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago in 2005. He moved to Stanford in 2010 and his lab is based at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey.
His main research interests involve how major groups of animals evolved and is interested in adapting emerging techniques in biotechnology to apply to new species. His appointment at Hopkins Marine Station gives access to the incredible biodiversity of the marine environment in Monterey Bay.
His main research interests involve how major groups of animals evolved and is interested in adapting emerging techniques in biotechnology to apply to new species. His appointment at Hopkins Marine Station gives access to the incredible biodiversity of the marine environment in Monterey Bay.
Publications
Fritzenwanker, J. H., Uhlinger, K. R., Gerhart, J., Silva, E., & Lowe, C. J. (2019). Untangling posterior growth and segmentation by analyzing mechanisms of axis elongation in hemichordates. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 116(17), 8403–8.
2019
Fritzenwanker, J. H., Uhlinger, K. R., Gerhart, J., Silva, E., & Lowe, C. J. (2019). Untangling posterior growth and segmentation by analyzing mechanisms of axis elongation in hemichordates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
2019
Darras, S., Fritzenwanker, J. H., Uhlinger, K. R., Farrelly, E., Pani, A. M., Hurley, I. A., … Lowe, C. J. (2018). Anteroposterior axis patterning by early canonical Wnt signaling during hemichordate development. PLOS BIOLOGY, 16(1), e2003698.
2018
Minor, P. J., Clarke, D. N., Andrade Lopez, J. M., Fritzenwanker, J. H., Gray, J., & Lowe, C. J. (2018). I-SceI Meganuclease-mediated transgenesis in the acorn worm, Saccoglossus kowalevskii. Developmental Biology.
2018
Gonzalez, P., Uhlinger, K. R., & Lowe, C. J. (2017). The Adult Body Plan of Indirect Developing Hemichordates Develops by Adding a Hox-Patterned Trunk to an Anterior Larval Territory. CURRENT BIOLOGY, 27(1), 87–95.
2017
Yao, Y., Minor, P. J., Zhao, Y.-T., Jeong, Y., Pani, A. M., King, A. N., … Epstein, D. J. (2016). Cis-regulatory architecture of a brain signaling center predates the origin of chordates. NATURE GENETICS, 48(5), 575-?
2016
Lowe, C. J., Clarke, D. N., Medeiros, D. M., Rokhsar, D. S., & Gerhart, J. (2015). The deuterostome context of chordate origins. NATURE, 520(7548), 456–65.
2015
Pani, A. M., Mullarkey, E. E., Aronowicz, J., Assimacopoulos, S., Grove, E. A., & Lowe, C. J. (2012). Ancient deuterostome origins of vertebrate brain signalling centres. NATURE, 483(7389), 289–U79.
2012
Contact
Telephone
(831) 655-6226
Email
clowe [at] stanford.edu
Info Links
External Profile
Research Interests
Research Area(s)