Dr. Michael Skinner is a professor in the School of
Molecular Biosciences at Washington State
University. He did his B.S. in chemistry at Reed
College in Portland Oregon, his Ph.D, in biochemistry at
Washington State University and his Postdoctoral
Fellowship at the C.H. Best Institute at the University
of Toronto. He has been on the faculty of
Vanderbilt University and the University of California at
San Francisco. Dr. Skinner’s research is
focused on the investigation of how different cell types
in a tissue interact and communicate to regulate gonadal
growth and differentiation, with emphasis in the area of
reproductive biology. Recent studies have elucidated
several critical events in the initiation of male sex
differentiation, testis development and ovarian
primordial follicle development. His current research has
demonstrated the ability of endocrine disruptors to
promote transgenerational epigenetic disease phenotypes
due to abnormal germ line programming in gonadal
development. Dr. Skinner has over 200 peer reviewed
publications and has given over 180 invited
symposia, plenary lectures and university seminars.
Dr. Skinner established and was the Director of the
Washington State University and University of Idaho
Center for Reproductive Biology (CRB) since its inception
in 1996. The CRB has over 90 faculty and is one of
the largest reproductive sciences research Centers in the
world. Dr. Skinner also established and was the
Director of the Center for Integrated Biotechnology
(CIB). The CIB was established in 2002 and has over
170 active research faculty members. In 2008 he
stepped down at Director of the Centers to focus his
efforts on his research. His research has been
highlighted in BBC and PBS documentaries and selected as
top 100 discoveries in 2005 and 2007 by
Discover. Dr. Skinner has served on
numerous journal editorial boards including, Epigenetics,
the Journal of Andrology, Biology of Reproduction and
Endocrinology, and as officer for several scientific
societies. In addition, Dr Skinner has been
actively involved with the start-up of several
biotechnology companies.