Fern Tsien, PhD

Dr. Tsien received her BS in Biology and BA in Studio Art from Newcomb College at Tulane University in New Orleans. She received her PhD degree from the Hayward Genetics Center, Human Genetics Program at the Tulane University School of Medicine.

At Tulane University School of Medicine she was the Supervisor of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory in the Hayward Genetics Center, Human Genetics Program. During her post-doctoral training she was the recipient of a fellowship grant from the Fascioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD) Society.

Dr. Tsien is board certified by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners and by the National Certification Agency for Laboratory Personnel as a specialist in the field of Cytogenetics. At Tulane she was the Coordinator of the Cytogenetics Internship Program for laboratory specialists, a joint project between Tulane and the University of Connecticut Diagnostic Genetics Sciences Program.

Dr. Tsien accepted a position as Instructor in the Department of Genetics at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in January of 2003.

She is currently studying chromosome and centrosome instability in ostaeosarcomas and thymic lymphomas. In addition, she is currently evaluating long-tern in vitro differences between adult mesenchymal stem cell chromosomes derived from bone marrow stem cells and adipose tissue adult stem cells of humans and rhesus macaques in collaboration with the Tulane Regional Primate Center.

She is involved in genetics education at a variety of levels, teaching high school students, teachers, medical students, and graduate students. Dr. Tsien is the director of the graduate level Cytogenetics and Epigenetics courses in the Department of Genetics. She is also the Genetics course director for the Department of Communication Disorders in the School of Allied Health Professions. She is the co-director of the Summer Research Internship Program which supports medical students, undergraduates, and high school students to work in research labs during the summer.

Dr. Tsien is a member of the Stanley Scott Cancer Center at LSU Health Sciences Center and a member of the Louisiana Vaccine Center. She is an editor and member of the Center for Acadiana Genetics and Hereditary Health Care.