Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Group Faculty
One of the unique features of the graduate program is the versatile collection of over two dozen faculty members formally associated with the Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Group. The faculty members are scientists from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, the Division of Biology, the Department of Chemistry and the College of Veterinary Medicine. Many other researchers with interests in biochemistry and molecular biology are collaborative investigators and participants on graduate student supervisory committees. The Graduate Group faculty members and their academic departments are noted for strong research programs in the basic and applied sciences. The research environment in biochemistry is exciting and vigorous because of these diverse yet interacting programs.
|
Name |
Research description |
|
Regulation of protein biosynthesis, Yeast genetics and biochemistry, Molecular and cell biology of insects and cancer |
|
|
Molecular interactions between plant and parasites, Host plant resistance, Effectors and effector-triggered signaling pathways, wheat breeding and gene editing. |
|
|
Biochemistry of triacylglycerol biosynthesis; structure and function of membrane bound acyltransferases; genetically modifying the physical properties of seed oils for industrial and biofuel applications. |
|
|
Regulation of sodium and chloride transport by epithelial cells, with a focus on the functional interactions between the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR). |
|
|
Lyme Disease Pathogenesis, Mechanisms of Bacterial Immune Evasion, Protein Structure-Function, Drug Discovery. |
|
|
Innate Immunity; Molecular Basis of Infectious Diseases and Host-Pathogen Interactions; Structural Biology and Molecular Recognition |
|
|
Mechanisms that underlie muscle structure and function. |
|
|
Pathogenic microbiology and bacterial genetics. |
|
|
Understanding the mechanisms of aging and developing clinically relevant drugs to delay aging and enhance human health and longevity. |
|
|
Insect biochemistry and molecular biology; structure and function of hemolymph serine proteinases, proteinase inhibitors, and antibacterial response proteins from insects; biochemistry of insect cuticle sclerotization. |
|
|
Iron acquisition by active transport through the cell envelopes of bacteria; Immunological approaches to bacterial pathogenesis; Biophysical analyses of bacterial membrane transport in living cells. |
|
|
Regulation of mosquito innate immunity; malaria parasite-mosquito interactions. |
|
|
Structural characterization and molecular recognition using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Computer Aided Molecular Design (CAMD). |
|
|
Synthetic organic chemistry; Drug discovery and selective delivery; Medicinal chemistry; Chemical biology. |
|
|
Biomolecule phase separation; Amyloid fibril formation; Drug formulations; Self-assembly. |
|
|
Plant molecular biology, developmental biology, plant sterols, START domains, sterols and cellulose; broadly focusing on deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying growth and development of flowering plants. |
|
|
Understanding the physiological regulation of epithelial ion transport and barrier functions. |
|
|
Computer simulation of the structure and dynamics of peptides, proteins and nucleic acids; cosolvent effects on peptides and proteins; modeling of opioid peptides and their receptors. |
|
|
Human Papillomavirus; Viral Oncogenesis; DNA Damage Repair |
|
|
Developing and implementing mass-spectrometry-based lipid profiling strategies to understand the roles of particular lipids, as well as genes and proteins involved in lipid metabolism and lipid signaling. |
|
|
Cell adhesion molecules and their role in cell growth and differentiation. |
|
|
Protein structure and function, protein folding and aggregation, molecular chaperones and cellular stress. |