We are interested in the basic processes underlying the biogenesis of the mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) and how they bear on human neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders.

 

Research in the lab is focused on axon growth and guidance during development and regeneration

 

"Transcription factors in normal and cancerous stem cell development with focus on cardiogenesis, mammogenesis and breast cancer."

 

Enzymology and Regulation of RNA Processing, Supramolecular Organization of the Protein-Synthesizing System

 

"Our lab is investigating methods to better detect and treat head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. We are using molecular biology techniques to develop a simple and inexpensive early detection test and are investigating how the stem cell marker, CD44, is involved in HNSCC progression."

 

Dr. Gilbert's research focuses on applications of genome technology to human genetics and the molecular genetics of autism, Alzheimer disease, Essential Tremor, and infectious disease such as tuberculosis. As a molecular biologist, his expertise is in gene analysis and characterization, positional cloning, mutation analysis, and animal models of human disorders.

 

Dr. Hackam's research interests include cellular mechanisms of photoreceptor degeneration and survival; Signaling pathways regulating ocular tumorigenesis and tumor stem cell proliferation.

 

"The research in the laboratory focuses on the study of: (1) molecular pathways that regulate self-renewal, activation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells and progenitors, (2) molecular pathways supporting self-renewal and differentiation of cancer stem cells, and (3) stem cell transformation and leukemogenesis."

 

Membrane Traffic: Sorting and regulation of protein transport in the endocytic and secretory pathways.

 

My research interests focus on two areas of eye diseases: autoimmune uveitis and retinal degeneration. For autoimmune uveitis, we investigate the mechanism of autoimmune uveitis by identifying and characterizing autoantigens directly from patients with non-invasive molecular biology approaches. For retinal degeneration, we investigate the role of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell phagocytosis in retinal degeneration.

 

"Human Neuroanatomy, Addiction and Neurodegenerative diseases. Gene expression profiling and mapping in the human brain postmortem."

 

My research is elucidating the regulatory networks that coordinate the expression of toxins and other virulence factors of enteric bacterial pathogens such as enterotoxigenic E. coli and Shigella flexneri.

 

"Our laboratory primarily investigates virulence mechanisms employed by Yersinia pestis, the etiologic agent of plague."

 

"The research in the Riley laboratory focuses upon the molecular and cellular regulation of B lymphocyte development. In particular, the processes that down-regulate immune functions in old age and other conditions of immunodeficiency are under study."

 

Replication machinery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Biochemistry of HIV reverse transcriptase.

 

Dr. Silva is interested in studying the central and peripheral mechanisms that control energy and glucose balance, the role of non-protein coding RNAs in metabolic gene regulation and strategies to target non-protein coding RNAs as drug therapies for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

 

The Tosney lab studies axon guidance and growth cone motility.

 

Dr. Vance's primary areas of expertise are in Neurogenetics, especially in Parkinson disease and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease, and also in cardiovascular genetics, human genotyping and banking of DNA samples, and the molecular aspects of the positional cloning of human disease. His research has focused on the application of clinical, molecular, and mathematical genetic techniques to identify genes leading to human disease.

 

The goal of this laboratory is to increase our knowledge in the molecular mechanisms used by normal and cancer cells to keep the integrity of their telomeres and genomic DNA. Maintenance of genome stability depends on appropriate responses to DNA damage. This involves the mobilization of DNA damage factors to the site of damage and the activation of checkpoint pathways that consequently delay cell cycle progression. Lack of these controls results in an accumulation of chromosomes aberrations, genome instability and finally transformation. The natural ends of the linear chromosomes, the telomeres, represent a problem in the control of genome stability.

Dr. Walz's research focuses on understanding the molecular bases of human genetic conditions affecting behavior utilizing mouse models.

 

Dr. Wang's research focuses on using genomic approaches to map susceptibility genes and discover novel pathways for complex diseases such as coronary artery disease and Parkinson disease.

 

 

Dr. Züchner is identifying and characterizing the function of genomic variation that is involved in human disease phenotypes, specifically for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders.