Alan Rawls

Alan Rawls is a Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU) and Executive Director of Clinical Partnerships in the Office of the University Provost. His roles include promoting academic collaborations between ASU and healthcare systems, leading the Genomics, Evolution, and Bioinformatics faculty group, and previously serving as Co-Chair of the Basic Medical Sciences Department at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

Education: Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Saint Louis University (1993); B.S. in Microbiology and Immunology (honors) from the University of Western Ontario (1986). Postdoctoral work at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Research focuses on skeletal muscle development and repair, particularly mechanisms involving myogenic progenitor cells and inflammation. Key projects include studying Numb and Mohawk proteins in muscle regeneration, tail regeneration in reptiles, and genetic basis of muscular dystrophy using C. elegans. His work bridges developmental genetics and translational therapies.

Grants include funding from the Muscular Dystrophy Association, NIH, and NSF for studies on muscle repair pathways and comparative genomics of regenerative systems. He teaches courses in developmental biology and mentors students in undergraduate research and honors theses.

Labs/Teams: Collaborates on musculoskeletal regeneration projects using anole lizards as models. Active in interdisciplinary initiatives linking genomics, evolution, and clinical applications.