Rate My Professor Caryl Forristall

Caryl Forristall is a Professor of Biology at the University of Redlands. She holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in Biology from Newton College. Her career includes prior appointments as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Mount Holyoke College, a postdoctoral associate in cell biology and anatomy, and a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry. Forristall has been recognized for her teaching excellence with the Mortar Board Professor of the Year award in 2001–02 and the Outstanding Faculty Award in Teaching in 1997, both from the University of Redlands. She is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Society for Developmental Biology.

Forristall's research specializes in developmental biology and genetics, focusing on genes involved in vertebrate embryo development, particularly in amphibians Xenopus laevis and Xenopus tropicalis. She studies the role of X-Wnt3a in the development of the ear in Xenopus laevis using embryological and molecular techniques, collaborating with Dr. Andres Collazo at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. Her laboratory engages undergraduate students in projects analyzing the effects of agricultural pollutants on frog embryo development in collaboration with the Chemistry Department and examining developmental differences due to gene expression patterns between Xenopus species. Key publications include Forristall, C.A., Stellabotte, F., Castillo, A., and Collazo, A. (2014). Embryological Manipulations in the Developing Xenopus Inner Ear Reveal an Intrinsic Role for Wnt Signaling in Dorsal-Ventral Patterning, Developmental Dynamics, 243:1262-1274; Forristall, C., Pondel, M., Zhou, Y., Chen, L., and King, M.L. (1995). Patterns of localization and cytoskeletal association of two vegetally localized RNAs, Vg1 and Xcat-2, Development, 121:201–208; and earlier works such as Forristall, C., Castillo, A., and Collazo, A. (2009). Dorsal-ventral patterning of the developing inner ear (Developmental Biology abstract) and Forristall, C., Kil, S., Gregorius, J., and Collazo, A. (1998). Gene expression in the developing frog inner ear (Molecular Biology of the Cell abstract).