MCB Faculty Research Areas
Learn about faculty research in the following departments and institutes that comprise the MCB program.
College of Arts & Sciences
- Biological Sciences Department
- Chemistry & Biochemistry Department
- Environmental & Plant Biology Department
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Russ College of Engineering & Technology
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department
- Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
College of Arts & Sciences
Biological Sciences Department
- Molecular mechanisms employed by bacteria that allow them to cause disease in humans with a focus in regulation of bacterial virulence gene expression
- Zinc and Calcium transport in neurons; mechanisms of neural degeneration in Alzheimer's disease and stroke; receptor-ligand interactions
- Use a simple model organism, the nematode C. elegans, to study the roles of dopamine and other neurotransmitters in behavior.
- Use genetics and molecular biology to examine protein and neurotransmitter trafficking at synapses.
- Integrate population genetics, phylogeography, and phylogenetics to study the evolution of biodiversity, including species formation, biogeography, natural selection, and taxonomy.
- Current studies focus with salamanders, turtles, and damselflies.
- Functional dissection of molecular elements mediating central synaptic transmission in Drosophila
- Molecular and cellular bases of neuromodulation and synaptic plasticity. Mechanisms of selective dopaminergic cell loss in Parkinson's disease
- Genetic regulation of mammalian neurovascular development, physiology and pathophysiology
- Biochemical study of DNA recombination: Meiotic recombination and DNA double-strand-break repair.
- Gene regulation and signal transduction during Drosophila development
- Drosophila hamatopoiesis
- Biological functions of pre-mRNA secondary structures
- Evolutionary genetics, fisheries genetics, conservation genetics, molecular systematics of fishes
- Bacterial pathogenesis, complement evasion, asymptomatic carriage, horizontal gene transfer of antimicrobial resistance, biofilm formation.
Chemistry & Biochemistry Department
- We broadly define medicinal chemistry as the study of drug design, drug synthesis, and drug action.
- Our research seeks to advance the areas of drug design as well as drug synthesis.
- The biochemistry of plant cell wall biosynthesis
- Vesicle trafficking of nascent plant cell wall cargo
- Plant cell walls as sources of lignocellulosic bioenergy feedstocks
- Structural biology and medicinal chemistry of nucleic acids
- RNA as a therapeutic target for the treatment of cancer as well as viral and bacterial infections.
- Research in the Holub Laboratory focuses on the development of chemical tools to investigate biological processes.
- Synthesis of bioactive natural products; development of novel synthetic methodology
- Biological and medical nanosensors
- Nitric oxide signaling in the vasculature. Ischemia/reperfusion injury
- The role of superoxide and peroxynitrite in Parkinson and Alzheimer disease, aging of cardiovascular system, arteriosclerosis and diabetes
- Regulation of eukaryotic protein synthesis initiation and endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress. Molecular mediators of UV-induced apoptosis. Natural biological therapeutics for infectious diseases and cancer therapy.
Environmental & Plant Biology Department
- Molecular phylogenetic relationships of populations, species and genera, especially in the Violet family; molecular data in conservation genetics, adaptive radiation and speciation processes
- Study of plant cell wall polysaccharides biosynthesis and metabolism using functional genomics approaches (Bioinformatics, Genomics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology)
- Molecular biology and biochemistry of hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins in plant cell walls; structure and function of arabinogalactan-proteins; molecular adaptations of halophytes to saline environments.
- Molecular systematics and population biology of freshwater algae.
- Plant growth and development with an emphasis on the use of molecular and genetic tools to study plant responses to environmental stimuli.
- Multidisciplinary molecular approaches, included but not limited to molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, omics, and evolutionary biology to tackle the roles of protein ubiquitylation in plant growth and development.
Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine
Including Biomedical Sciences Department and Diabetes Institute
- Biochemistry and molecular biology of signal transduction in platelets
- Role of methylation/demethylation and phosphorylation/ dephosphorylation of ras-related G proteins in cellular signaling
- My research explores the capability of antigen presenting cells (dendritic cells and macrophages) to act as inducers or suppressors of immunity responses in different diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis or infections. Investigating the factors governing the plasticity of these cells may unhide new targets for immune therapies.
- Roles of the actin cytoskeleton in epithelial cell morphogenesis; regulation of membrane-cytoskeletal interactions; characterization of a new family of human chloride channel proteins.
- In vitro and in vivo antidiabetic and anti-obesity activities and signaling pathways of novel compounds and their use in treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes; anti-cancer and apoptosis-inducing activities and mechanisms of natural and synthetic compounds.
- Identification of genes involved in the development of diabetes and its complication, especially in the kidney, using molecular tools and mouse models that mimic human disease.
Peter W. Coschigano
- Genetics and molecular biology of microorganisms that degrade toxic compounds, regulation of gene expression, elucidation of metabolic pathways.
Mario J. Grijalva
- Molecular diagnosis, immunology and epidemiology of Tropical diseases
Frank M. Horodyski
- Molecular biology of insect neuropeptides and their roles in development and metamorphosis
- Research involves understanding the mechanisms underlying the protective role of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors in renal transplantation and ischemia/reperfusion injury
- Molecular biology of adenoviruses: study of those aspects of signal transduction pathways relevant to both viral and cellular gene regulation.
- We are interested in the molecular and cellular events involved in growth, obesity, and diabetes. We use transgenic and gene disrupted mice as well as genomic and proteomic approaches to study these areas. Overall we would like to determine the mechanisms that result in mammalian growth. Additionally, we would like to determine the genetic defects that result in abnormal growth phenotypes or improper meabolic function.
- Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neural transmission, plasticity, and intracellular signaling
- My research interest focuses on control of energy intake and expenditure, gluscose homeostasis, and lipid transport / metabolism.
- Understanding how inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of chronic disease. Our goal is to elucidate the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, diabetes and cancer.
- Research topis: Diabetes, inflammation, autoimmune disease, tumor biology, innate immunity, small molecule therapeutics. Toll-Like receptors and their involvement in the pathogenesis and progression in cancers: thyroid, pancreatic, prostate, breast, colon and malignant melanoma.
- My research focuses on understanding the regulatory mechanisms governing the expression of genes encoding bacterial virulence determinants. In particular I am interested in gene expression controlled by non-coding RNA molecules in response to environmental signals.
Russ College of Engineering & Technology
Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
- Bioinformatics Computational regulatory genomics Machine learning Hih performance computing Bioinformatics Laboratory
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Department
- Glycoconjugate mediators of cell trafficking in cancer metastasis.
- Biochemical and biophysical regulation of cancer stem cell phenotype.
- Adhesion of tumor cells to endothelium and vascular cells under hydrodynamic shear stress.
- Biomedical Engineering
- Nanoparticle-mediated Drug Delivery
- Biological Membranes and Interfaces
- Fungal Infections.
- Research in biomedical engineering, with expertise in cell to cell adhesion with an emphasis on adhesion events that occur in the circulation
- Preparative and large-scale purification of recombinant proteins; dynamics of liquid chromatography; fermentation