Amy Ralston

Endowed Professors College of Natural Science

• James K. Billman, Jr., M.D. Endowed Professor
• Established through a gift from James K. Billman, Jr., M.D.

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Bio

Amy Ralston, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and James K. Billman, Jr., M.D. Endowed Professor, is conducting pioneering research to investigate how genes regulate stem cell behavior in the context of the mammalian embryo, with long-term goals of devising innovative stem cell therapies and improving pregnancy outcomes.

Ralston received her B.A. in biochemistry from Oberlin College and her Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before coming to MSU in 2014, she was an assistant professor of molecular, cell and developmental biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ont.

Ralston has already published more than 25 peer-reviewed research papers on her work. She is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from Barack Obama and currently serves as a co-instructor of the course, Mouse Development, Stem Cells, and Cancer, at the nationally renowned Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.