![](https://www.aiche.org/sites/default/files/styles/ache_portrait_no-up-scale_nocrop/public/images/bio/laralynne_przybyla_headshot.jpg?itok=QPjqrjIZ)
Laralynne Przybyla received her PhD from MIT where she studied the role of autocrine signaling in mammalian development using custom-engineered microfluidic platforms. Her subsequent postdoctoral work at UCSF expanded on this to investigate how mechanical signaling dictates developmental cell fate transitions. Since then, her research across academia and industry has involved generating model systems based on pluripotent stem cells, setting up custom functional genomics screening platforms for human developmental and disease biology, and developing next-generation high-throughput assays for small molecule and genetic screening applications.
Dr. Przybyla is currently Interim Director and Head of Biology at the Laboratory for Genomics Research and an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department at UCSF, where her research is focused on applying CRISPR-based functional genomics screening techniques to sophisticated human cell-based disease-relevant models and assays to uncover new biology and identify novel therapeutic targets.