Overview
Edgar is an Assistant Professor in The Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and The Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. His laboratory leverages new model systems in deep lineages of fungi, together with genetics, microscopy, and evolutionary cell biology to uncover the mechanisms that shaped the origins of fungal cell biology, organization, and development.
Awards and Honors
2020-2031, Hanna H. Gray Fellowship, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
2024, Dr. Eddie Méndez Scholar Award, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
2019, DeLill Nasser Award for Professional Development in Genetics, Genetics Society of America
Publications
Selected Publications
Medina, E. M., Elting, M. W., Fritz-Laylin, L. K. (2026). Cellularization in chytrid fungi uses distinct mechanisms from conventional cytokinesis and cellularization in animals and yeast. Current Biology, Volume 36, Issue 2, 338 - 354.e5
Medina, E. M., Robinson, K. A., Bellingham-Johnstun, K., Ianiri, G., Laplante, C., Fritz-Laylin, L. K., & Buchler, N. E. (2020). Genetic transformation of Spizellomyces punctatus, a resource for studying chytrid biology and evolutionary cell biology. eLife, 2020;9:e52741s.
Medina, E. M., & Buchler, N. E. (2020). Primer--Chytrid Fungi. Current biology, Vol. 30, Issue 10, PR516-R520.
Medina, E. M., Walsh, E., & Buchler, N. E. (2019). Evolutionary innovation, fungal cell biology, and the lateral gene transfer of a viral KilA-N domain. Current opinion in genetics & development, 58, 103-110.
Medina, E. M., Turner, J. J., Gordan, R., Skotheim, J. M., & Buchler, N. E. (2016). Punctuated evolution and transitional hybrid network in an ancestral cell cycle of fungi. eLife, 5, e09492.
Medina, E. M., Jones, G. W., & Fitzpatrick, D. A. (2011). Reconstructing the fungal tree of life using phylogenomics and a preliminary investigation of the distribution of yeast prion-like proteins in the fungal kingdom. Journal of molecular evolution, 73(3-4), 116-133.
