Prospective Students >
Incoming Students >
Current Students >

Major Research Areas

Developmental Biology

The control of developmental events is tightly linked to cell adhesion, cellular receptor signaling, and cytoskeletal organization. Investigators use various systems approaches to understand the contributions of signaling and structural proteins during development, including cultured cells and transgenic animals. Particular strengths include studies of vascular cells and angiogenesis, retinal development, cardiac and skeletal muscle cell differentiation, formation of left-right asymmetry during embryogenesis, and development of the nervous system.

Jeffrey Amack, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Genetics and cell biology of organ morphogenesis during embryonic development.	Sandra Mooney, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Cell death and survival in the developing brain; Mechanisms of ethanol toxicity; models of fetal alcohol syndrome and autism.
Robert Barlow, Ph.D. Professor Neural basis of visual behavior; computational models of neural coding; circadian and metabolic modulation of human visual sensitivity.	Eric Olson, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.
Scott Blystone, Ph.D. Associate Professor Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.	Andras Perl, M.D., Ph.D. Professor Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase
Dipak Dube, Ph.D. Professor Molecular mechanism of cardiac myofibrillogenesis in vertebrates.	Francesca Pignoni, Ph.D. Associate Professor Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Genetic Pathways in RPE Formation; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila
Sandra Hayes, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Determining the roles of γδ T cell receptor structure and signaling potential in γδ T cell development and function	Thomas Poole, Ph.D. Associate Professor Vascular development and the alignment of growing nerves and blood vessels in quail and zebrafish embryos.
Brian Howell, Ph.D. Assistant Professor The signal transduction events that regulate the functional organization of neurons in the brain, and the phenotypes caused by defects in the genes that encode these signaling molecules.	David Pruyne, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Biochemistry and cell biology of formins as actin cytoskeleton organizers, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system.
Huaiyu Hu, Ph.D. Associate Professor Molecular studies of brain malformations.	Joseph Sanger, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Cellular analysis of the formation of myofibrils, stress fibers, and cleavage furrows in living cells.
Barry Knox, Ph.D. Professor Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins	Allen Silverstone, Ph.D. Professor How dioxins and estrogens and estrogenic compounds affect the immune system.
Michael Lyon, Ph.D. Associate Professor Age-related changes in the laryngeal muscles and vocal folds.	Joseph Spadaro, Ph.D. Professor Electromagnetic and mechanical regulation of bone physiology, skeletal growth and bone density.
Paul Massa, Ph.D. Professor Regulation of cytokine-induced gene expression in oligodendrodcytes. Regulation of innate immune responses in glial cells. Unique control of NF-kappaB activation in neurons.	Christopher Turner, Ph.D. Professor Regulation of cell migration by focal adhesion adapter proteins and their role in cancer cell metastasis.
Russell Matthews, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Role of glycoproteins in oncogenesis and brain development	Richard Veenstra, Ph.D. Professor Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
James McCasland, Ph.D. Professor Cortical plasticity, development of somatotopic representations in cortex	Andrea Viczian, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.
Frank Middleton, Ph.D. Associate Professor Molecular basis of cortical-basal ganglia and cortical-cerebellar circuit formation and dysfunction in neurological and psychiatric disease.	Steven Youngentob, Ph.D. Professor In utero ethanol exposure and chemsensory systems plasticity, olfactory signal transduction, peripheral and central mechanisms of odorant quality coding.
Michael Miller, Ph.D. Professor and Chair Factors that regulate the proliferation, migration, and survival/death of neurons in the developing brain; models of fetal alcohol syndrome, autism, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.	Michael Zuber, Ph.D. Assistant Professor The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.

Back to Research Areas List

Research Highlight

Richard Wojcikiewicz (Bio) Interim Chair, Pharmacology Department

Richard Wojcikiewicz
Interim Chair, Pharmacology Department

Richard Wojcikiewicz, interim chair of the Pharmacology Department, was recently awarded a $260,589 RO1 grant from the National Institutes of Health for his study of intracellular calcium channels (IP3 receptors) and the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway. His work has relevance to clinical researchers studying cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.