Campus News

Human skin expert to give Ritter Lecture

Elaine Fuchs, one of the world’s top experts on the science of human skin, will be the featured speaker in the Ritter Lecture Series on Sept. 23. Fuchs will speak at 4 p.m. in room 404E of the biological sciences building. The event is open free to the public.

Fuchs is the Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor and head of the Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development at Rockefeller University. Her research on skin demonstrates how the focus on a single tissue can provide insight into general problems in cell and developmental biology and ranges from identifying and working out the mechanisms of action of transcription factors to learning the causes of tumors and other diseases of the skin.

She is the winner of numerous awards for her work. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served as president of the American Society of Cell Biology.

The Ritter Lecture Series was established in 1999 in honor of the late Hope T.M. Ritter Jr., a UGA professor and later a professor emeritus of cellular biology. The series focuses on bringing a distinguished lecturer to UGA. The series is supported by the Ritter Lecture Series Fund created with contributions from family and friends of Ritter on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Ritter died in 2007.