Department:	Science and Mathematics (Biology)
Office:	Science Center 210
Office hours:	Mon-Fri 9am - 5pm (excluding classes)
Phone number:	(914) 395-2434
Email:	dcressma@slc.edu
Address:	Sarah Lawrence College 1 Mead Way Bronxville, NY 10708

For each of us, life begins as a single cell. This cell contains instructions in the guise of some 20,000 genes that guide our development and form the basis of who we are, what we look like, and how we interact with each other and the environment. But humans are not unique in this regard; indeed, the same process guides every living organism on Earth. How this little bit of simple genetic material is translated into such a wealth of information falls into the realm of molecular biology and genetics. Asking such questions as “How does life work?”, “What does a cell look like and how does it function?”, “Why do I look like my parents?”, “What do genes do?”, and “How are genes controlled?” is, in essence, asking about the very basic cellular processes that are at work in every one of us. In my lab and others around the world, research into the molecular biology of cellular mechanisms allows us to begin to formulate answers to these and other questions. These answers reflect the marvelous complexity of the inner workings of the cell and the intricate wonder of the natural world.

B.A., Swarthmore College, 1988

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1996

Post-Doctoral Research:

Duke University, 1996-1997

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1997-2000

Sarah Lawrence College, 2000 – present