Faculty

Training is offered in a variety of disciplines. All of the participating faculty trainers are nationally competitive research scientists with current active external funding. All of the trainers are accomplished mentors. The research interests of each faculty member can be obtained by accessing their websites.

Prospective DVM seeking PhD students who wish to be considered for appointment should rotate through three laboratories of the participating faculty prior to settling on a home laboratory. Because of the nature of their scientific projects or their funding, not all faculty members within the BBS program are eligible to be trainers on this NIH-funded program. Faculty wishing to be considered as Trainers should contact the Program Director, Dr. John S. Parker (jsp7@cornell.edu).

Participating Faculty

List of our faculty and their research areas
	Faculty Member Department Affiliation	Research Interests
	Hector Aguilar-Carreno Microbiology & Immunology	Entry, egress, and interactions of enveloped viruses with host cells, with emphasis on emerging paramyxoviruses, vaccine and antiviral strategies
	Craig Altier Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Regulation of Salmonella virulence within the intestinal environment
	Adam Boyko Biomedical Sciences	Genomic studies of the evolutionary forces that determine traits and disease in dogs
	Ilana Brito Biomedical Engineering	The Brito lab develops experimental and computational methods to understand how organisms in the gut microbiome elicit their effects on host health. In addition, they develop new technologies to understand gene flow within the gut microbiome to inform efforts to combat antibiotic resistance
	Jonathan Butcher Biomedical Engineering	Mechanobiology of development; developmental signaling reactivation in adult cardiovascular diseases; tissue engineering and regeneration
	Margaret Bynoe Microbiology & Immunology	The role of the immune system in inflammatory and degenerative disease
	Rick Cerione Molecular Medicine	Characterizing signaling systems involved in cell growth, neurogenesis, and cancer
	Pamela Chang Microbiology & Immunology	The Chang lab seeks to understand how the host immune system is regulated by the gut microbiota through their secretion of small molecule metabolites. The lab has two primary areas of interest: (1) the identification of metabolites produced by the gut microbiota that regulate the host immune system and, building on these discoveries, (2) the development of chemical tools to (a) modulate the immune response and (b) probe metabolic reactions catalyzed by the gut microbiome
	Josh Chappie Molecular Medicine	The Chappie lab utilizes a combination of structural biology, biochemistry, and cell biology to dissect the mechanisms of nucleotide-powered molecular machines involved in bacterial and viral defense
	Ted Clark Microbiology & Immunology	Host-pathogen interactions; evolution of the adaptive immune response in vertebrates; mechanisms of membrane fusion during fertilization; and the use of Tetrahymena thermophila
	Paula Cohen Biomedical Sciences	The Cohen lab studies mammalian meiosis and gametogenesis, with a focus on regulation of meiotic recombination by DNA repair protein complexes. They use mouse, human, and other mammalian systems to study the evolutionary control of these processes and the impact of genetic and environmental alterations on the genesis of meiotic errors across the animal kingdom. In addition, they are leveraging their unique insight into meiotic events to identify novel entry points for contraceptive targeting for men
	Bethany Cummings Biomedical Sciences	Identifying the mechanisms by which gastrointestinal surgery produces metabolic benefits
	Michelle Delco Clinical Sciences	The Delco lab studies how injury leads to arthritis and related orthopedic diseases. Our focus is understanding the role of mitochondrial dysfunction in the initiation and early pathogenesis of disease in order to develop new strategies to improve healing after injury.
	Matt DeLisa Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering	The DeLisa lab engineers the protein machinery of simple bacteria to solve complex problems in biology and medicine. The lab reprograms the physiology of bacteria to harness the protein biosynthetic machinery for the design and synthesis of complex biopharmaceuticals.
	Iwijn De Vlaminck Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering	Genomic medicine tools to monitor infectious and immune-related disease
	Diego Diel Population Medicine & Diagnostic Science	Molecular and basic aspects of virus-host interactions and viral vector and vaccine development
	Julia Felippe Clinical Sciences	The study of developmental immunology, response to vaccines, and immunodeficiencies
	Cedric Feschotte Molecular Biology & Genetics	Impact of transposons and endogenous viruses on host biology, disease, and evolution
	Julia Finkelstein Division of Nutritional Sciences	Elucidate the role of iron, vitamin B₁₂, and folate in the etiology of anemia and adverse pregnancy outcomes, and inform the development of interventions to improve the health of mothers and young children
	Claudia Fischbach-Teschl Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering	Engineering approaches to study tumor stroma interactions in cancer
	Lisa Fortier Clinical Sciences	The Fortier laboratory investigates the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the development of arthritis with the ultimate goal of identifying novel molecular targets for the treatment or prevention of arthritis
	Jesse Goldberg Neurobiology & Behavior	The Goldberg lab studies neural mechanisms of motor learning in songbirds, parrots and mice
	Yrjo Grohn Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Mathematical modeling of zoonotic infectious diseases and optimization of health and management decisions
	Laura Harrington Entomology	The Harrington lab studies the biology, ecology and behavior of mosquitoes that transmit human diseases. Topics include the feeding and mating behavior of mosquito vectors of human disease, human and animal-mosquito interactions and the role of climate change and globalization on emerging vector borne diseases
	Renata Ivanek Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	Epidemiology and public health of infectious and foodborne diseases
	Toshi Kawate Molecular Medicine	Structure and function of membrane proteins mediating cell-cell communication in the nervous system
	Natasza Kurpios Molecular Medicine	Vertebrate embryogenesis and genetics and morphogenesis of organogenesis
	Siu Sylvia Lee Molecular Biology & Genetics	The Lee lab studies the molecular basis of aging and age-dependent pathologies. They use C. elegans to identify and functionally characterize the conserved molecular pathways important for longevity. Pathways identified in C. elegans are then explored in mammalian cells
	Cynthia Leifer Microbiology & Immunology	Initiation and regulation of immune responses, Toll-like receptors (TLRs), immunoengineering approaches to regulate immune responses and vaccines, and mechanoregulation of TLR signaling.
	Sabine Mann Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences	The Mann lab studies metabolism, physiology, and the interplay with nutritional immunology in transition phases. The lab aims to understand the beneficial as well as maladaptive mechanisms that operate during negative nutrient balance, with the goal of improving physiological and immune functions during stress
	Alexander Nikitin Biomedical Sciences	Stem cells and cancer; pathogenesis of ovarian and prostate cancers; modeling of human disease in genetically modified mice and human organoids
	Nozomi Nishimura Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering	The Nishimura lab studies the contribution of multiple physiological systems to complex dynamics during diseases with in vivo animal models using two- and three-photon imaging. On-going work includes innovation in methods to image disease in vivo, in the brain, the beating heart and the small intestine
	John Parker Baker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Microbiology & Immunology	Host-pathogen interactions of the mammalian orthoreoviruses and feline caliciviruses
	Colin Parrish Baker Institute for Animal Health & Dept. Microbiology & Immunology	Evolutionary, structural, and functional studies of the determinants of virus host range
	Heidi Reesink Clinical Sciences	Pathophysiology, epidemiology and treatment of orthopedic disease—osteoarthritis and fracture.
	Brian Rudd Microbiology & Immunology	Mechanisms limiting the development of immunity in early life
	David Russell Microbiology & Immunology	The host/pathogen interplay in tuberculosis and HIV
	Chris Schaffer Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering	In vivo optical imaging to elucidate the cellular interactions that underlie neurological disease
	Luis Schang Department of Microbiology & Immunology & Baker Institute for Animal Health	The Schang lab studies interactions between viruses and infected cells focused on uncovering commonalities among unrelated viruses by identifying or developing small molecules that inhibit the infectivity or replication of multiple viruses. The group has identified broad spectrum antiviral compounds active against multiple unrelated pathogenic viruses (including HSV-1 and 2, HCV, influenza A virus and emerging viruses such as Zika virus
	John Schimenti Biomedical Sciences	Functional genomics of mammalian reproduction, development and cancer
	Vimal Selvaraj Animal Sciences	Cholesterol-mediated regulation of lipid metabolism in mammalian model systems to understand the pathophysiology of fatty liver disease and adiposity. By investigating both cellular mechanisms and integration of systemic regulation we aim to understand the basis of lipid/steroid homeostasis in animals and humans.
	Praveen Sethupathy Biomedical Sciences	The Sethupathy lab is focused on understanding the role of non-coding RNAs (in particular microRNAs) in genetic, microbial, dietary, and environmental control of metabolic health and disease. The disease areas of focus are diabetes, dyslipidemia, Crohn's disease, and liver/gastrointestinal cancers
	Carolyn Sevier Molecular Medicine	Studies of the cellular pathways that alleviate oxidative stress
	Kenny Simpson Clinical Sciences	Interplay between enteric bacteria and the host that leads to inflammatory bowel disease
	Paul Soloway Biomedical Sciences	Epigenetic phenomena in mammals; understanding how it is that epigenetic states are controlled
	Holger Sondermann Molecular Medicine	Molecular mechanisms of bacterial biofilm formation
	Jeongmin Song Microbiology & Immunology	Salmonella A₂B₅ Toxins: Biology, Pathogenesis, and Neutralization
	Alex Travis Department of Biomedical Sciences Baker Institute for Animal Health	Fundamental cell biology of fertilization
	Brian VanderVen Department of Microbiology and Immunology	Physiology of the intracellular pathogen M. tuberculosis
	Gerlinde Van de Walle Department of Microbiology and Immunology Baker Institute for Animal Health	Seeking ways to treat cancer, fight viruses and to improve wound healing
	Lorin Warnick Clinical Sciences	Emergence and dissemination of antimicrobial resistant enteric pathogens
	Robert Weiss Biomedical Sciences	Genome maintenance mechanisms and metabolic pathways in cancer and other diseases
	Gary Whittaker Microbiology & Immunology	Pathogenesis of influenza viruses, coronaviruses and arenaviruses; host range and receptors; activation of membrane fusion; macrophage- and neuro-tropism; anti-viral therapeutics; diagnostic tests; virus-bacteria co-infections
	Andrew White Biomedical Sciences	Understanding the role of adult stem cells in cancer initiation, cancer relapse, age-related decline in tissue homeostasis, and regenerative medicine
	Martin Wiedmann Food Sciences	Microbial food safety; microbial food spoilage; Listeria monocytogenes; genomics and transcriptomics of food associated microbes
	Mariana Wolfner Molecular Biology and Genetics	Genetic, molecular, developmental, and evolutionary studies of seminal proteins' functions in fertility, and of mechanisms of egg activation and initiation of embryogenesis; investigate conserved phenomena in reproductive biology, using primarily the Drosophila model system

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Participating Faculty