Daniel C. Weinstein

Daniel Weinstein received his B.S. in Biology from Yale University and Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from The Rockefeller University. After a postdoctoral fellowship, also at The Rockefeller University, he began his independent research career as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He was promoted to Associate Professor at Mount Sinai before coming to Queens College as an Associate Professor in the fall of 2008.

Now a Professor of Biology and Dean of Faculty of the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (SMNS) at Queens College, Weinstein oversees a research laboratory focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying pattern formation during early vertebrate development. He and the undergraduate and graduate students in his lab perform studies on embryos of the frog Xenopus laevis.

Weinstein has authored two dozen research articles and several influential reviews, and has been principal investigator on extramural grants totaling over $3.9M. Since coming to Queens College, he has also been consistently involved in service to the college, including seven years as Director of the Master’s Program in Biology, two years as Deputy Chair of Biology, two years as Chair of Biology, and a year as Interim Dean of SMNS.

Awards and Grants

• Extramural: National Institutes of Health National Institute General Medical Sciences Academic Research Enhancement Award 1R15GM124577-01 (8/1/17-7/31/20): Transcriptional regulation of pluripotency in the early vertebrate embryo. Daniel C. Weinstein, Principal Investigator. Direct costs: $83,333/yr. Total costs: $385,000.
• Intramural: PSC-CUNY Research Award Program (7/1/19-6/30/20): Mab21 family proteins in vertebrate germ layer patterning.  Daniel C. Weinstein, Principal Investigator.  Originating institution: Queens College, CUNY.  Direct and total costs: $6,000.

Professional Affiliations and Memberships

• Society for Developmental Biology

Courses Taught

• Biol 750: Developmental Biology - 2008-2019

Publications
Recent Journal Articles

• Reich, S., Kayastha, P., Teegala, S., and Weinstein, D.C.  Tbx2 mediates dorsal patterning and germ layer suppression through inhibition of BMP/GDF and Activin/Nodal signaling. BMC Molecular and Cell Biology, (2020) 21:39. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12860-020-00282-1
• Teegala, S., Chauhan, R., Lei, E., and Weinstein, D.C. (2018).  Tbx2 is required for the suppression of mesendoderm during early Xenopus development. Dev Dyn 247, 903-913.
• Jin, Y. and Weinstein, D.C. (2018).  Pitx1 regulates cement gland development in Xenopus laevis through activation of transcriptional targets and inhibition of BMP signaling. Dev. Biol., 437, 41-49.
• Sridharan, J., Haremaki, T., and Weinstein, D.C. (2018).  Cloning and spatiotemporal expression of Xenopus laevis Apolipoprotein CI. PLoS ONE 13(1): e0191470. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191470

Recent Reviews

• Reich, S., and Weinstein, D.C. (2019).  Repression of inappropriate gene expression in the vertebrate embryonic ectoderm. Genes 10(11), 895; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes10110895