BBS Faculty Considering Graduate Students

Listed below are faculty who are interested in accepting rotating graduate students during the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters. Please know that this is not an exhaustive list of graduate faculty and that there are additional faculty looking for students not recorded on the list below.  Applicants to the BBS program are strongly encouraged to contact faculty members prior to applying to the program, however, it is not required.  You can learn about the work of all the BBS faculty on the Research Areas page. Individuals admitted to the BBS PhD program are admitted to the 1^st year cohort and not a specific faculty member’s lab. Admitted students are required to complete three lab rotations during their first year before officially joining a lab.

Adler, Carrie (Molecular Medicine) - Stem cell biology in planarian flatworms; organ regeneration; transcriptional and cell biological responses to tissue injuries; animal behavior 

Aguilar-Carreno, Hector (Microbiology & Immunology) - Entry, egress, and interactions of enveloped viruses with host cells, with emphasis on emerging paramyxoviruses, vaccine and antiviral strategies

Brito, Ilana (Biomedical Engineering) - Pioneering experimental and computational methods to explore host-microbiome interactions as it pertains to autoimmune disease and cancer, specifically with respect to direct protein-mediated interactions; Probing host-microbiome systems to understand the triggers of horizontal gene transfer and antibiotic resistance.

Butcher, Jonathan (Biomedical Engineering) - Mechanobiology of development; developmental signaling reactivation in adult cardiovascular diseases; tissue engineering and regeneration

Caddy, Sarah (Microbiology & Immunology) - I am particularly interested in maternal antibodies, which are transferred from mother to infant in all mammalian species. It is amazing that these antibodies can be both protective against infection and yet inhibitory for vaccines at the same time. 

Cazer, Casey (Clinical Sciences) - Epidemiology of zoonotic diseases, evidence-based medicine, and One-Health; developing methods to improve antimicrobial resistance surveillance and track multidrug resistance

Cerione, Richard (Molecular Medicine) - Signal transduction growth factor receptors; protein structure; drug design and chemical biology; signaling cues that direct cell proliferation, differentiation and development

Crane, Brian (Chemistry & Chemical Biology) - Metalloenzyme structure and catalysis; protein electron transfer; nitric oxide enzymology; bacterial chemotaxis; circadian clock photo sensors

Das, Arunika (Biomedical Sciences) - Our research explores the epigenetic mechanisms of chromosome inheritance that preserve genome integrity in the female germline and embryo. We are investigating mechanisms by which specialized histones that direct chromosome segregation, evade age related decay in oocytes, and undergo epigenetic resetting in embryos to prevent errors. We combine cell biology techniques like fixed and live quantitative imaging with genetics, and biochemistry to interrogate how these special histones tackle various challenges in early development.

De Mestre, Mandi (Biomedical Sciences) - processes for a healthy pregnancy and delivery of a neonate, pathologies that compromise pregnancy. Improve diagnostics and treatments for pregnancy conditions, primarily in the mare

Diel, Diego (Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences) - Molecular and applied Virology - from virus-host interactions to rational vaccine development. 

Doerr, Tobias - (Microbiology) - We study how bacteria build and maintain a healthy cell envelope and resist killing by antibiotics

Dongre, Anushka (Biomedical Sciences)- Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition as a driver of resistance to anti-tumor immunity

Evans, Jacquelyn (Biomedical Sciences)- hereditary diseases in dogs to identify genetic variants contributing to disease development 

Finkelstein, Julia (Nutritional Sciences) - To 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

Fiorella, Kathryn (Public & Ecosystem Health) - Planetary Health/One Health, fisheries, livelihoods, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, environmental change

Flyak, Andrew (Microbiology & Immunology) - Human antibody response to viral pathogens

Fowell, Deborah (Microbiology & Immunology) - Spatiotemporal regulation of T cell immunity at tissues sites of infection and inflammation.

Han, Chun (Microbiology &  Genetics)- neurobiology of sensory systems- studies the mechanisms of dendrite morphogenesis and neurodegeneration using Drosophila sensory neurons as a model system

Hollopeter, Gunther (Molecular Medicine) - Endocytic mechanisms in multicellular systems. We use C. Elegans to study cellular machines 

Hu, Fenghua (Molecular Biology & Genetics) - Molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegeneration; Protein homeostasis; Lysosome biology

Ivanek, Renata (Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences) - Epidemiology and ecology of infectious and foodborne diseases; mathematical modeling; spatial epidemiology; risk assessment; public health

Kawate, Toshi (Molecular Medicine) - Structures and mechanisms of membrane proteins that regulate extracellular signaling

Kim, Jongmin (Biomedical Sciences) - Gene silencing in germ cells. How is chromatin modified to block inappropriate transcription? We use fly and mouse genetics to understand evolutionarily conserved epigenetic mechanisms in spermatogenesis. 

Kwan, Alex (Biomedical Engineering)- neuroscience, drug impact on neural circuits, systems neuroscience approaches to measure the impact of psychiatric drugs on neural circuits in mice

Lammerding, Jan (Biomedical Engineering) - Cellular biomechanics; mechanotransduction; cell migration; muscular dystrophy and cancer cell biology

Lau, Colleen (Microbiology & Immunology) - Our research aims to leverage the unique ability of NK cells to acquire adaptive features in order to explore immune memory in the context of classic antigen-dependent and more unconventional antigen-independent memory responses. We combine multi-omic approaches with genetic mouse model systems to interrogate in vivo, in vitro, and in silico how different signals integrate to generate an immune memory program.

Lee, Esak (Biomedical Engineering) - Organ-on-a-chip, Tissue engineering, Lymphatics, Cancer, Immunoengineering

Lewis, Karl (Biomedical Engineering) - we interrogate how the acute sensing mechanisms in musculoskeletal cells relate to tissue level changes in healthy and disease states

Lin, Hening (Chemistry & Chemical Biology) - Protein post-translational modifications with a focus on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) dependent modifications and diphthamide 

Lujan, Marla (Nutritional Sciences) - Nutritional regulation of fertility; endocrinology and metabolism; polycystic ovary syndrome; ultrasonography

Mann, Sabine (Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences) - Metabolic diseases and insulin signaling; nutrition; epidemiology; metabolic and nutritional immunology

Markenscoff- Papadimitriou, Eirene (Molecular Biology & Genetics) - gene-regulatory mechanisms that generate diversity during brain development; probe function of human genetic variants linked to autism

McArt, Jessica (Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences) - Epidemiology of periparturient diseases in dairy cattle; disease economics; on-farm methods for accurate disease diagnosis

McGeachy, Mandy (Microbiology & Immunology) - Th17 cell differentiation: unique signaling pathways and mechanisms, Th17 interactions with lymph node stromal cells, and consequences for adaptive immunity

Mitchell, Katharyn (Clinical Sciences) - Large Animal Internal Medicine

Nishimura, Nozomi (Biomedical Engineering) - vasculature, immune, inflammatory systems and cells native to a tissue interact in disease states 

Peters, Joseph (Microbiology) - We are generally interested in genomic stability and chromosome evolution, especially how these are impacted by mobile DNA elements.  We have a special interest in molecular mechanisms mobile elements capable of moving between positions in the genome called transposons use to limit damage to the host and maximize the process of horizontal transfer. 

Reesink, Heidi (Clinical Sciences) - Comparative and translational orthopedics; metabolism and musculoskeletal disease; osteoarthritis; regenerative medicine

Rudd, Brian (Microbiology & Immunology) - Towards a better understanding of the development and function of the adaptive immune system

Sardana, Richa (Molecular Medicine) - We study how membrane protein trafficking and quality control mechanisms surveil the membrane proteome, and how their dysregulation results in human disease.

Schang, Luis (Microbiology & Immunology) - Role of cellular protein, lipids, and glycans play in viral infection

Sethupathy, Praveen (Biomedical Sciences) - Functional genomics; gene regulation; molecular genetics; gastrointestinal physiology; stem cell biology; metabolic disease

Simmons Jr, Glenn (Biomedical Sciences) - We utilize molecular biology and high throughput screening approaches to investigate fundamental questions about the biology of cancer cells in the pursuit of lessening the overall cancer burden

Smolka, Marcus (Molecular Biology & Genetics) - Cell signaling and genome maintenance; DNA replication stress; Phosphoproteomics

Song, Jeongmin (Microbiology & Immunology) - Typhoid toxin, Salmonella Typhi, Bacterial AB toxins, Vaccines, Antibodies, Typhoid fever, Chronic/persistent infection

Tumbar, Tudorita (Molecular Biology & Genetics) - Elucidating the basic cellular and molecular mechanisms implicated in cell fate choice and stem cell activity within tissues.

VanderVen, Brian (Microbiology & Immunology) understanding the host and bacterial systems that Mtb (causative agent of Tuberculosis) relies on to maintain persistent infections in mammals

Weiss, Robert (Biomedical Sciences) - Molecular mechanisms for the maintenance of genomic stability; cellular responses to DNA damage; mouse models of human cancer

White, Andrew (Biomedical Sciences) - Cancer biology; stem cell biology; biochemistry and cell biology

Wiedmann, Martin (Food Science) - Infection/agent; molecular pathogenesis of food-borne and zoonotic bacterial diseases

Wolfner, Mariana (Molecular Biology & 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