Faculty
Research Faculty—Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Program Director/Department Chair: Patricia Kane, PhD
- David Amberg, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
- Alaji Bah, PhD
Assistant ProfessorResearch Interests:Elucidate the structure, dynamics and functions of intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions (IDPs/IDRs) and their biological regulation by Post-translational modifications.
- Audrey Bernstein, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Fibrosis; Scarring; Protein degradation; ubiquitin; integrins; cytoskeleton; patient-derived model systems
- Dimitra Bourboulia, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:- Extracellular kinase signaling
- Extracellular chaperone function
- Targeting extracellular signaling networks in urological cancers
- Peter Calvert, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Molecular mechanisms of protein transport and localization in retinal neurons; mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases
- Xin Jie Chen, PhD
Distinguished ProfessorResearch Interests:Mitochondrial biology, stress signaling and aging-related degenerative diseases.
- Michael Cosgrove, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Epigenetic regulation of chromatin, Mixed Lineage Leukemia, Structural Biology, Enzymology, Biophysical Chemistry, Rational drug design
- Thomas Duncan, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:F-type ATP synthases; bioenergetics of pathogenic bacteria; enzymology; structural biology, membrane protein function.
- Wenyi Feng, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:Chromosomal DNA replication origins (location, timing and regulation), replication fork integrity and checkpoint regulation, genomic instability and chromosome fragility in both the yeast and human genome
- Diana Gilligan, MD/PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:My research includes studies of the role of microRNA in development of leukemia.
- Steven Hanes, PhD
EmeritusResearch Interests:Gene expression in development and disease, RNA pol II regulation, homeobox genes, prolyl isomerases
- Patricia Kane, PhD
Distinguished Teaching ProfessorResearch Interests:Vacuolar H+ATPases (structure, function, assembly and regulation), cellular pH homeostasis, cellular stress responses, protein sorting, genomics, yeast as a model system
- William Kerr, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:My research is primarily focused on defining the role of SHIP1 in immunity, obesity, stem cell biology and cancer. This research has revealed that SHIP1 is at the nexus of signaling pathways that regulate: (1) hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell homeostasis, (2) terminal differentiation of myeloid cells, (3) acute BM graft rejection, (4) survival of T cells in the small intestine and (5) survival of hematologic cancer cells. More recently we developed SHIP1 and pan-SHIP1/2 inhibitors and showed they can expand stem cells in vivo, reverse obesity, eradicate certain cancers and boost tumor immunity. We are also attempting to better understand what LRBA does in immune cells. LRBA is a scaffold protein that coordinates intracellular vesicle trafficking with receptor signaling.
- Barry Knox, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
- Bruce Knutson, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:RNA polymerase I transcription (structure, assembly, regulation), nucleolar biology, macromolecular architecture, crosslinking, proteomics, bioinformatics, modeling, molecular genetics, biochemistry, model systems
- Leszek Kotula, MD/PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:Cancer biology, cell signaling, the role of actin cytoskeleton in tumor progression, mouse models of cancer
- Vladimir Kuznetsov, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Cancer systems biology, bioinformatics, big data and survival prediction analyses, predictive and personalized medicine, computational genome and transcriptome biology, non-B DNA structures, RNA:DNA hybrids, R-loops, G-quadruplexes, ncRNAs, clinical biomarker discovery and validation
- Stewart Loh, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Protein engineering, design, and folding
- Frank Middleton, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:- Genetic, epigenetic, and neuroanatomical basis of neurological and psychiatric disorders
- Basal ganglia and cerebellar circuitry in normal and disease states
- Neural-immune and gut-brain interactions
- Machine learning approaches for biomarker discovery
- Next generation sequencing for multiomic data analysis (genome, transcriptome, microbiome, methylome)
- Mehdi Mollapour, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Role of molecular chaperone Hsp90 in cancers
Kidney Cancer, Bladder Cancer, Breast Cancer
Tuberous Sclerosis Complex syndrome (TSC)
Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD)
- Andras Perl, MD, PhD
Distinguished ProfessorResearch Interests:Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase
- Francesca Pignoni, PhD
Professor and ChairResearch Interests:Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila
- David Pruyne, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:Understanding how muscle cells organize their actin cytoskeleton into efficient contractile units, using a combination of in vitro biochemistry, and analysis of cultured muscle cells and genetic models C. elegans and zebrafish.
- Jessica Ridilla, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:- Regulation of actin filament polymerization
- Mechanisms of actin-microtubule crosstalk
- Role of actin and microtubules in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
- Single-molecule super-resolution microscopy techniques (i.e. TIRF, STED, STORM).
- Mark Schmitt, PhD
ProfessorResearch Interests:Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
- Andrea Viczian, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.
- Stephan Wilkens, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests:Structure and Mechanism of Membrane Bound Transport Proteins
- Michael Zuber, PhD
Associate ProfessorResearch Interests: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.