Talcott Mountain AcademyMarc Lalande received his Ph.D in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto in 1981. After a 4 year post doctoral fellowship with Dr. Samiel A. Latt in the Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, he joined the faculty at McGill University in Montreal. In 1998, he moved to the University of Connecticut School of Medicine to become the founding chair of the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology. He became the director of the University’s Stem Cell Institute in 2007 and its Institute of Systems Genomics in 2012.
Lalande has received multiple awards including, the Dr. Claudia Benton Award for Scientific Research from the Angelman Sydrome Foundation. The Health Care Hero Award for Advancements in Healthcare innovation has been presented to Lalande by the Hartford Business Journal.
Dr. Lalande’s research is on the role of epigentics in disease and development. Epigentics refers to the study of heritable changes in gene function that occur without alteration in DNA Sequence.
His research also focuses on using stem cell technology to study human neuro developmental disorders caused by specific chromosome imprinting abnormalities.
Angelman Syndrome is one such neurogenetic disorder characterized by severe mental retardation, “puppet like actions with jerky arm movement, seizures, EEG abnormalities, hyperactivity and bouts of inappropriate laughter.
Dr. Lalande is currently the excutive director of Geonomics and Personalized Medicine programs at Univeristy of Connecticut. He will help lead the development of innovative research and training programs for the Institute for Systems Genomics, collaborations with the Jackson Laboratory for Geonomic Medicine, as well as industry and goverment partnerships for the planned CT Insitute for Medical Innovation and Applied Health Care Economics. These important intiatives will help drive cutting-edge research across UCONN campuses and its partners and will position the university as a global leader in geonomics and personalized medicine.