Liza L. Cox

Liza joined the UMKC Dental School, Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences in 2018 as the Cox Lab Senior Scientist and Laboratory Manager.

Originally an Australian Registered Nurse ('90), Liza went on to earn her Bachelor of Nursing ('91) and a Bachelor of Science ('98) (majors: Genetics and Embryology), BSc (Honors) in Genetics ('99) with Dr. Patrick Tam (CMRI, Sydney) and later a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Adelaide, Australia as a recipient of a National Heart Foundation of Australia Award in 2001 and an NH&MRC Dora Lush Biomedical Scholarship in 2005.

Prior to pursuing formal science studies, Liza worked for Dr. Brunello Franco & Prof Andrea Ballabio at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston (Texas) at the beginning of the Molecular Genetics and Human Genome salvo, cloning and helping to characterize the arylsulfatase E gene whose mutations cause X-linked chondrodysplasia punctata (CDPX1). When the laboratory moved to Telethon Institute of Genetics in Medicine (TIGEM) in Milan (Italy), Liza worked with her husband Dr. Timothy Cox and together they cloned the holo cytochrome c-type synthase (HCCS) & MID1/2 genes responsible for X-linked microphthalmia with linear skin defects syndrome & Opitz G/BBB syndrome respectively. Later studies went on to prove that MID1 & 2 were clefting genes.

Before returning to her alma mater, to pursue her PhD, Liza stopped off at the University of Queensland (Australia) to pursue interests in Chick Development with Dr. Toshiya Yamada (RIP), who taught her dissection and transplantation of chick embryonic tissue and culture. Whilst at UQ, Liza cloned chick Sox14 for Dr Yamada and also provided her cDNA library construction and cloning services to Dr. George Muscat & Dr. Carol Wicking.

During her science studies, Liza pursued her nursing, often on the service of craniofacial surgeon Mr David David, it is then, Liza knew that the craniofacial form was