Christine Stabell Benn has formulated the hypothesis that vitamin A supplementation and routine child vaccinations interact with consequences for mortality. Both types of interventions seem to have non-specific effects on the immune system, affecting its ability to handle infectious diseases.
The Zimmer lab focuses on complex carbohydrates and how they are synthesized and deposited on the cell surface. Using the tools of structural and molecular biology, they study capsule and biofilm formation in bacteria, cell wall biosynthesis in plants, and extracellular matrix formation in vertebrates.
Work in the Green lab is centered on the ribosome, and can be roughly divided into four general project areas. The longest-standing research area concerns the interactions of eubacterial ribosomes and release factors. The goal of these projects is to understand the mechanism of action of release factors on the ribosome.
The François lab is interested in the theoretical aspects of evolution, real and simulated. They have developed tools to evolve models of "gene networks" in silico, performing predefined biological functions. They have applied and predicted structure of networks for systems ranging from genetic oscillators, biochemical adaptation to development and immune system.
The Horne-Badovinac lab uses genetic, cell biological and quantitative live imaging approaches to investigate how organs take on their unique shapes during development. Currently, they seek to understand how collective cell migration and basement membrane remodeling shape the fly egg.
The Di Talia laboratory develops live imaging and computational methods to probe the dynamics of the signaling pathways that control cell division during development and regeneration. They aim to uncover the dynamical principles that ensure that embryonic development and regeneration are regulated in a reliable manner.
Adam Deutschbauer has a background in Microbial systems biology. As part of the Virtual Institute of Microbial Stress and Survival, he develops next-generation tools for microbial functional genomics. As the Biotechnology Component Deputy Director, he helps drive the development of experimental and computational approaches to develop models of microbial metabolism, gene regulation, and signal transduction.
How developing organisms generate and maintain cells with specialized functions and fates is a fundamental problem in biology. The Cabernard lab is investigating asymmetric cell division (ACD), a process that generates cellular diversity. They are using Drosophila melanogaster neuroblasts, the neural stem cells in the fly as a model to study the molecular cell biology and mechanics of asymmetric stem cell division.
The Ünal lab studies the principles that control the nuclear and cytoplasmic integrity of gametes. They are interested in understanding the principles and regulation of meiotic differentiation.
The Gladfelter lab is interested in how cells are organized in time and space. They study how cytoplasm is spatially patterned and how cells sense their own shape. They also investigate how timing in the cell division cycle can be highly variable yet still accurate. For their work, we combine quantitative live cell microscopy and computational, genetic and biochemical approaches in fungal and mammalian cells.
Dr. Daria Mochly-Rosen founded the SPARK program to provide a cost-effective model to generate proof of concept using industry standards. Since 2006, SPARK has advanced scores of new diagnostics and drugs to the clinic and commercial sectors and educated hundreds of faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students on the translational process. Dr. Mochly-Rosen's research lab is a multi-disciplinary lab that includes chemists, biochemists, biologists and physician scientists. They develop pharmacological agents and apply them to understand molecular and cellular events under basal and disease conditions using in vitro, in culture and in vivo models.
Dr. Brooks's laboratory focuses on the study of somatic mutations that cause changes to the transcriptome, particularly through mRNA splicing. They aim to gain a better understanding of how alternative splicing is regulated and the functional consequences of splicing dysregulation through the study of these cancer genome alterations.
Dr. Harley's group develops biomaterials that replicate the dynamic, spatially-patterned, and heterogeneous microenvironment found in the tissues and organs of our body. They use this approach to generate new insight regarding how biomaterial cues can instruct cell responses in the context of development, disease, and regeneration.
