Edgar Medina Tovar investigates how fungal cells evolved their unique organization and developmental processes, with the goal of understanding what makes fungi different from animals and informing the development of new antifungal treatments. He joins as an assistant research professor in the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology and the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the College of Arts & Sciences in September. He will begin as an assistant professor in January 2027.

“We are thrilled to welcome Medina Tovar to the Weill Institute,” said Brian Crane, director of the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. “His work brings an exciting evolutionary perspective to cell biology, and his development of novel fungal model systems uniquely positions him to address emerging areas of cell biology.” 

“At the cellular level, fungi are much closer to animals than many people realize and studying their underlying cellular processes can not only reveal fundamental principles of life but also uncover the means to combat the increasing threat of fungal pathogens,” Crane continued. “We look forward to the new questions and collaborations his research will inspire.”

Medina Tovar uses evolutionary biology and cell biology to investigate how fungal cells evolved. His lab focuses on chytrids, fungi found deep in the fungal tree of life that retain ancestral characteristics that have been lost in most studied fungi. By dissecting how chytrids make reproductive cells and grow filaments, his group seeks to uncover the genetic and cellular mechanisms that gave fungi their distinctive forms and functions. 

“I am incredibly excited about all the new biology we are discovering in chytrids and how they help us reframe what we know about animal and fungal biology,” Medina Tovar said. “This is urgent, antifungal resistance is spreading, and deadlier fungal pathogens will continue to show up, and we are not ready for them.”

At Cornell, Medina Tovar will use evolutionary cell biology and chytrid fungi to investigate how fungi diverged from their common ancestry with animals. His work could reveal fundamental principles of how cellular complexity evolves while identifying differences between fungal and animal cells that may point toward new approaches to treating fungal infections.

“I know my program will be completely transformed by the Weill Institute’s collaborative environment,” he said. “The diversity of expertise within the institute means that we will be able to increase the detail and breadth of questions my lab will answer and the impact of our findings. I cannot wait for the unexpected directions and synergy that will emerge from our collaborations.”

Medina Tovar is also a Hanna H. Gray Faculty Fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He said he looks forward to becoming part of Cornell’s fungal and evolutionary biology community and getting students excited about the connections among evolution, genetics, cell biology and fungi. 

“I do not know of any other place with this level of interdisciplinary and mechanistic focus on cellular biology,” he said. “It is thrilling to be surrounded by people at the leading edge that come together to tackle fundamental questions in cell biology from different perspectives.”  

Stephen D'Angelo is the communications manager for biological systems at Cornell Research and Innovation.