Chris Amemiya is a Full Member at the Benaroya Research Institute and a Full Professor of Biology at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington USA.  Before moving to Seattle he was on the faculty of the Center for Human Genetics in the Boston University School of Medicine, where he studied the genetics of inherited pediatric diseases.  He has been the recipient of numerous research grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and has published > 120 scientific papers.  Dr. Amemiya has long been interested in understanding how changes in genome architecture and regulation can lead to evolutionary changes.  His research seeks to meld comparative genomics, evolution and development, and he has come full circle from his graduate school days of working with fishes to once again working with fishes.  In particular, his laboratory investigates the role of Hox genes in vertebrate evo-devo and also studies evo-devo and diversification of the vertebrate adaptive immune system.  His laboratory works on everything from sharks to lampreys to coelacanths to zebrafish.  Most recently (2007-2008), Dr. Amemiya has been an interim Program Director at the National Science Foundation in Washington D.C., where he evaluated and managed federal grants in developmental biology and evo-devo.