Grant Yamashita
- Ph.D. 2006, Population Biology
University of California Davis
grant.yamashita@asu.edu
The Embryo Project
My interests are in the history and philosophy of biology, broadly construed. My research specifically focuses on the germ-soma distinction and its rich research history and my work investigates the evolution of the germ-line and assess its role in contemporary ideas about the evolution of multicellularity, the emergence of biological individuality, and evolutionary transitions. In addition, I am interested in the developmental genetics of germ-line development and how the mechanisms of germ-line specification are conserved across various “model” organisms. Other research interests include understanding the forces that lead to genetic change at the population level, systematics and phylogenetics, and assessing the role of time in biological research.
Selected publications and presentations:
Yamashita, Grant. “Germ, soma, and Richard Owen.” 2008. Biology Studies in East Asia Conference, University of Kobe, Japan.
Griesemer, J., M. H. Haber, G. Yamashita, and L. Gannett. 2005. “Critical Notice: Cycles of contingency - developmental systems and evolution” Biology and Philosophy. 20: 517-544.
Griesemer, J. and G. Yamashita. “Managing Time in Model Systems: Illustrations from Evolutionary Biology.” Science in Context.
Griesemer, J. and G. Yamashita. 2005. “Zeitmanagement bei Modellsystemen. Drei Beispiele aus der Evolutionsbiologie” in H. Schmidgen (ed.), Lebendige Zeit. Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos, p. 213-241.
Yamashita, Grant. 2002. “When is a germ? Or, germ, soma, and the construction of time in embryology” Experimental Arcades: The Materiality of Time Relations in Life Sciences, Art, and Technology (1830-1930). H. Schmidgen, ed. Berlin, Max Plank Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Preprint 226: 189-203.
Yamashita, Grant. 2007. “The germ is dead. Long live the germ!” International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology Biannual Meeting, Exeter, England.
Yamashita, Grant. 2005. “The Continuity of the Germ Plasm: From Weismann to Hegner.” International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology Biannual Meeting, Guelph, Ontario.