Marc Lalande, Ph.D., founding chair of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, is this year’s recipient of the Board of Directors Faculty Recognition Award, honoring outstanding contributions to research, teaching, and mentoring.

The Health Net, Inc., Endowed Chair in Genetics and Developmental Biology, Lalande has been at the forefront of studying human developmental disorders caused by chromosome abnormalities, such as Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes. His lab has made significant contributions to the field of chromosome imprinting and is using gene-editing technology and RNA sequencing to better understand these disorders.

As director of the UConn Stem Cell Institute, he spearheaded the University’s research in the area of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and he and his colleagues were the first to generate iPSCs for Angelman and Prader-Willi syndromes.

A faculty member since 1998, Lalande was instrumental in attracting The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine to the UConn Health campus in Farmington and, as director of the University’s Institute for Systems Genomics, now leads UConn’s collaborative research endeavors with JAX scientists.

Lalande graduated from Laurentian University in Ontario, Canada, with a bachelor’s in physics and earned both a master’s and a Ph.D. in medical biophysics from the University of Toronto. He’s an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences and Engineering and has received numerous honors including the Dr. Claudia Benton Award for Scientific Research from the Angelman Syndrome Foundation and the Health Care Hero Award for Advancements in Healthcare Innovation by the Hartford Business Journal. He has current and numerous past graduate student and postdoctoral trainees and teaches genetics to UConn medical students.