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Primary Faculty
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The Department of Cell Biology is pleased to introduce to you their outstanding Faculty. Our Primary Faculty participates in the CB Graduate Program, with individual faculty members accepting graduate students into their laboratories. Students must be admitted to the graduate school through the Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, the Neuroscience Graduate Training Program, the M.D./Ph.D. Program, or directly through the Cell Biology Graduate Program. Please Note: For more information about our Faculty, please click on the links below. Etty (Tika) Benveniste, Ph.D., Professor and Chairman; Alma B. Maxwell UAHSF Endowed Chair We are studying the occurrence of shared cytokines/chemokines between cells of the immune and nervous systems. Astrocytes and microglia, the major glial cells of the CNS, have been shown to act as antigen-presenting cells in the CNS. Zsuzsanna Bebok, M.D., Assistant Professor Membrane protein biogenesis in epithelial cells using the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) as model. Proteasomal degradation. Bakhrom K. Berdiev, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor Our interests revolve around two membrane proteins: the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and the epithelial Na channel (ENaC). To study CFTR, ENaC, and their relationship we use an integrative approach which includes the combination of electrophysiology, molecular biology, biochemistry with special emphasis on variations of fluorescence microscopy based on Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Pam Bounelis, Ph.D., Assistant Professor SOM Affiliation - Associate Dean of Biomedical Research Chenbei Chang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Growth factor signals in early Xenopus development and in human diseases James F. Collawn, Ph.D., Professor; Graduate Program Director Our laboratory studies the protein sorting in eukaryotic cells. Membrane proteins must traffic from their site of synthesis to their site of biological function. To accomplish this they must contain sorting signals for proper delivery. Laura Fraser-Cotlin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor My research interests include the cellular basis of interactions on a variety of levels, such as receptor to ligand, parasite to host, and cell to body. I currently study African trypanosomes, protozoan parasites of the subgroup Trypanosoma brucei. Laurie E. Harrington, Ph.D., Assistant Professor In my laboratory the focus will be on two main areas of research: (1) the roles of and lineage relationships between effector CD4 T cell subsets during chronic inflammatory disorders, and (2) the factors critical for the development and maintenance of CD4 T cell memory. Jeong S. Hong, Ph.D., Assistant Professor The primary interest of my laboratory is studying the process of adenovirus attachment to cells. Inga Kadish, Ph.D., Instructor The role of white matter changes in aging and Alzheimer's disease. Fang-Tsyr (Fannie) Lin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Our laboratory is interested to understand how G protein-coupled receptor signaling regulates cell growth and development. Currently, we are focused on two systems to understand the mechanisms by which G protein-coupled receptors mediate growth and development. Richard Marchase, Ph.D., Professor; Vice President of Research Dr. Marchase's research program has three interrelated long-term aims. The first of these involves studies of the basic mechanism by which cytoplasmic calcium levels are able to remain elevated in the presence of continuous receptor-mediated stimulation. The initial phase of calcium elevation involves the generation of IP3 and its interaction with its receptors on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to release calcium into the cytoplasm. Guillermo Marques, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Dr. Marques' research focuses on evelopmental and adult synaptic plasticity, regulation of gene expression during nervous system development, cell signaling and signal transduction by the TGF-B/BMP pathway in neurons. Michael Miller, Ph.D., Assistant Professor My lab is interested in the function and evolution of animal cell communication mechanisms. We use the nematode C. elegans as our primary model for discovery. Casey Morrow, Ph.D., Professor The research in my laboratory is directed towards understanding, at the molecular level, virus-host cell interactions. We have focused our studies on a key step in the replication of retroviruses. During replication, retroviruses undergo a process in which the plus strand RNA genome is converted to a DNA intermediate; this process is called reverse transcription and is catalyzed by a viral encoded enzyme, reverse transcriptase. Susan Nozell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Hongwei Qin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor My research is mainly focused on understanding the cellular and molecular basis of immune and inflammatory responses in the immune system, especially in the central nervous system (CNS). George Salter, Jr., Ph.D., Professor Dr. Salter's main focus is the advancement of the teaching of clinically applied gross anatomy to medical students and to physicians in continuing education. Rosa Serra, Ph.D., Associate Professor Understanding the role and mechanism of TGF-B signaling in embryonic and post-natal development and to apply this knowledge to the understanding and treatment of human degenerative and neoplastic disease. Bingdong (Ben) Sha, Ph.D., Professor Using X-ray protein crystallography and other biophysical and biochemical tools, my laboratory is studying the structures and functions of the proteins that are involved in protein folding and protein translocation. Molecular chaperones Hsp40 and Hsp70, Mitochondria protein translocon complexes are currently being investigated. Elizabeth S. Sztul, Ph.D., Professor My research interests focus on two related areas. The first of these is involved in trying to understand how intracellular membrane traffic is controlled and more specifically, how cells regulate the movement of intracellular vesicles to the correct position within the cell, and how they control fusion of these vesicles with specific membranes. Thomas van Groen, Ph.D., Associate Professor Amyloid angiopathy in cognitive dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease; hypertension in cognitive dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease. Jianbo Wang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Morphogenesis is the process through which tissues and organs gain their final shapes. In humans, defects during morphogenetic processes may lead to congenital birth defects. Currently, we are focused on a novel signaling pathway termed planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway and how this pathway regulates morphogenesis in mammals. Anne C. Woods, Ph.D., Professor My research is aimed at understanding in molecular terms how cells adhere to extracellular matrix, and how they organize the matrix. Reciprocal cell-matrix interactions control cell growth, migration, differentiation, and matrix metabolism. These interactions are pivotal in cell development, and in many disease states including fibrosis, arthritis and cancer metastasis. J. Michael Wyss, Ph.D., Professor The current studies in our laboratory center in two major research areas. The first focus is on neuronal plasticity and grows out of our studies that demonstrate that a specific group of pyramidal neurons in the rat retrosplenial cortex display a dramatic alteration in their structure as the animal ages. Bradley K. Yoder, Ph.D., Professor The primary interests in my lab relate to the pathogenesis of polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a common genetic disorder affecting up to 1 in 1000 individuals. The focus of my work is on the Oak Ridge Polycystic Kidney (orpk) mouse mutant which exhibits lesions in the kidney and liver resembling many aspects of human PKD. We have identified a gene (Tg737) whose expression is altered in mutant animals and confirmed a direct role for this gene in the orpk mutant phenotype. Steven J. Zehren, Ph.D., Associate Professor My teaching interests are in the fields of ichthyology and systematics. Currently I am studying the osteology and evolutionary relationships of the boarfishes, a group of marine teleosts of world-wide distribution. |
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