Assistant ProfessorDr. Godwin was born April 24, 1963 in Champaign, Illinois. He received his undergraduate training at Pomona College, Claremont, CA where he received a B.A. degree in Chemistry-Biology in 1985. In 1991, Dr. Godwin completed his Ph.D. degree in Genetics at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. R. Michael Liskay. He received a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship, while at Yale University. From 1992 to 1999, he received post-doctoral training in developmental biology at the University of Utah under the guidance of Dr. Mario R. Capecchi. A post-doctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society supported three years of Dr. Godwin’s post-doctoral training. In 1999, Professor Godwin was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Dr. Godwin began his research career studying mammalian recombination pathways using a cell culture assay system. As a post-doctoral fellow, he began his ongoing studies of vertebrate development concentrating on the Hox genes. He is recognized for generating the first Hox mutant to have an overt affect on hair morphogenesis as well as demonstrating a role for a Hox gene in post-natal development. In addition, he was one of the first researchers to demonstrate the utility of mice carrying single copy gene fusions with the green fluorescent protein (GFP). The Godwin laboratory is currently determining the genes, whose transcription is controlled by Hoxc13 as well as the proteins that interact with Hoxc13. The genes identified are being mapped to see if they correlate with any of the large number of classical mouse mutants with defects in hair development. Finally, Hoxc13 is being analyzed in several vertebrate species to examine whether the same roles or novel roles of the gene are needed in these species.
Dr. Godwin is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health as well as by a Hall Family Foundation grant.
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