A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.
Anna Edlund, an SAIC faculty member and adult white woman, smiling outdoors.

Anna Edlund

Assistant Professor

Contact

Bio

Dr. Anna Edlund (she/her) is a developmental biologist who has studied both plant and animal fertilization and morphogenesis. She is currently working on the structure and function of pollen grains during pollination, especially how the delicate pollen tube cell escapes the pollen wall.

Anna was faculty at Spelman College (six years), Lafayette College (nine years), and Bethany College (seven years).  For the past 12 summers, she has taught Biology to Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns in India. In 2018, Anna was Scientist-in-Residence at SAIC, and in 2012, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Stockholm, Sweden, where she studied historic pollen illustrations at the Royal Natural History Museum.

Education: Postdoc, University of Chicago (2001—2003); Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology, UC Berkeley (2000); Nobel Institute, Karolinska, Stockholm, Sweden (1991—1993); BA in Biology, with Distinction, Swarthmore College (1991)

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This course in an introduction to the structures and functions of eukaryotic cells. Cells are the un-splittable, elemental ¿atoms¿ of life, and all of them share DNA, RNA, proteins and membranes in common. In this class, lecture and laboratory exercises will be mixed to explore molecular compositions, energy transformations, cell division, and replication and expression of genetic material within cells.
Readings will be from the text Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections, 9th ed. Reece, Taylor et al. (students will not need to buy this textbook). To explore the interplay between personal, societal, historical and scientific perspectives on Cell Biology, several movies will also be viewed and discussed, including 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and 'Three Identical Strangers.'
Students will submit journal entries, laboratory notes, as well as answers to frequent review questions. There will be two mid-terms. Students will select a subject of personal meaning related to Cell Biology and will design a public-facing artwork, photomicrograph, infographic, zine, or public service announcent that shares the structures, functions and/or stories of their subject.

Class Number

2374

Credits

3

Description

This course in an introduction to the structures and functions of eukaryotic cells. Cells are the un-splittable, elemental ¿atoms¿ of life, and all of them share DNA, RNA, proteins and membranes in common. In this class, lecture and laboratory exercises will be mixed to explore molecular compositions, energy transformations, cell division, and replication and expression of genetic material within cells.
Readings will be from the text Campbell Biology: Concepts and Connections, 9th ed. Reece, Taylor et al. (students will not need to buy this textbook). To explore the interplay between personal, societal, historical and scientific perspectives on Cell Biology, several movies will also be viewed and discussed, including 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' and 'Three Identical Strangers.'
Students will submit journal entries, laboratory notes, as well as answers to frequent review questions. There will be two mid-terms. Students will select a subject of personal meaning related to Cell Biology and will design a public-facing artwork, photomicrograph, infographic, zine, or public service announcent that shares the structures, functions and/or stories of their subject.

Class Number

2375

Credits

3

Description

Patterns found in living organisms--including spirals, stripes, branches, concentric circles, and spots of all sorts--self-organize in space and time. Developmental biologists, modelers and designers have long explored these patterns. In this seminar, we will read experimental and review articles about how biological patterns form. Students will keep journals, and groups will present and lead class discussions on examples of different patterns. The scientific findings we discuss will often help to inform sustainable design and biomimicry in engineering. Readings are published experimental and review articles in the field of Biological Pattern Formation, chosen by the presenting student groups, with guidance from the professor. Each seminar will focus on one pattern, for example spirals, with several articles presented, perhaps on shells, inner ear cochlea, or ram's horns. Student groups will present clusters of articles and guide class discussion; those students not presenting participate in the discussion and keep journals. A written, final paper will be completed by each student on their choice of pattern.

Class Number

2409

Credits

3

Description

Patterns found in living organisms--including spirals, stripes, branches, concentric circles, and spots of all sorts--self-organize in space and time. Developmental biologists, modelers and designers have long explored these patterns. In this seminar, we will read experimental and review articles about how biological patterns form. Students will keep journals, and groups will present and lead class discussions on examples of different patterns. The scientific findings we discuss will often help to inform sustainable design and biomimicry in engineering. Readings are published experimental and review articles in the field of Biological Pattern Formation, chosen by the presenting student groups, with guidance from the professor. Each seminar will focus on one pattern, for example spirals, with several articles presented, perhaps on shells, inner ear cochlea, or ram's horns. Student groups will present clusters of articles and guide class discussion; those students not presenting participate in the discussion and keep journals. A written, final paper will be completed by each student on their choice of pattern.

Class Number

2399

Credits

3

Description

A newly fertilized egg has none of its later adult features; these emerge through interplay between external and internal forces. We will explore how embryos take shape, generate patterns, and also evolve novelty. Our discussions of creation in the context of evolution and embryology, will be enriched by laboratory exercises and several projects on fate, chance, and necessity during deep time and in a single lifetime.

Class Number

2404

Credits

3

Description

A newly fertilized egg has none of its later adult features; these emerge through interplay between external and internal forces. We will explore how embryos take shape, generate patterns, and also evolve novelty. Our discussions of creation in the context of evolution and embryology, will be enriched by laboratory exercises and several projects on fate, chance, and necessity during deep time and in a single lifetime.

Class Number

2383

Credits

3