Biotechnology
About
Research in Biotechnology at UVA brings together researchers from all biomedical, engineering, and chemical sciences at UVA to promote state-of-the-art collaborative science. From this innovative science comes conceptual breakthroughs and new products.In 2000, we established a Biotechnology Training Program (BTP) at UVA with the goal of providing fertile ground for the development of future leaders in science and technology. It is one of only 19 BTPs nationwide. Our graduates are scientific leaders at major biotechnology companies, federal agencies, and foundations, and lead independent research labs at universities, or are postdoctoral scientists at institutions nationwide.
The BTP offers many enhancements. The 2 – 3 month company externship training is transformative. Some students alter career plans towards academia or industrial research. Others affirm prior career directions or receive unexpected offers of employment. All make important contributions, some publish articles, and invariably the collaboration enhances thesis projects. Venues are worldwide, from Boston to San Francisco to Australia, England, Holland, Finland, Germany, Spain and Sweden.
We also offer company tours – including Merck, Pfizer, BD; panel discussions with industrial leaders – including BTP alumni; as well as seminars and biannual symposia that gather recognized innovators under the umbrella of a broad scientific theme.
Our outstanding mentors from across the sciences at UVA are award-winning leaders in their fields, with success in nurturing the best from our students. Many hold patents, and several have started companies. This is an exciting time for our students to be at the frontlines of science and technology.
Faculty
Abbott, Stephen
Neurobiology of the autonomic nervous system and the homeostatic control of breathing
Ai, Huiwang
Molecular Biosensors; Spatiotemporal Regulation of Biological Signaling; Protein Engineering for Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics
Bao, Huan
Biophysics of membrane pore formation; research and therapeutic applications of lipid nanoparticles.
Caliari, Steven
Engineering biomaterials as cellular microenvironments
Derewenda, Zygmunt S.
Structure-function relationships in proteins
Engel, Daniel A.
Drug Discovery and Molecular Biology of Pathogenic RNA viruses: Ebola, SARS-CoV-2, Influenza and Zika
Farber, Charles R.
Systems Genetics of Skeletal Development and Maintenance
Felder, Robin A.
Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology. Medical Automation Research. Neurotransmitters, cell surface receptors and intracellular second messengers.
Ford, Roseanne M.
Bacterial attachment and biofilms, microbial transport in porous media
Fox, Jay W.
Basement Membrane Structure and Metalloproteinases
Gelfand, Bradley
Blinding disease age-related macular degeneration, utilizing the tools of immunology, molecular biology, and engineering.
Guler, Ali D.
Circadian entrainment for the treatment of metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases
Hammarskjöld, Marie-Louise
Post Transcriptional Gene Regulation and the Molecular Biology of Human Retroviruses
Harris, Thurl E
Molecular mechanisms controlling insulin signaling and fat synthesis.
Hunt, Donald F.
Analytical Biochemistry
Kedes, Dean H.
Human Herpes virus associated with malignancy, including Kaposi's Sarcoma
Kelly, Kimberly
Advancement in the design of imaging agents; molecular imaging and radiological sciences.
Kozminski, Keith G.
Regulation of Polarized Morphogenesis
Lampe, Kyle
Neural tissue engineering, biomaterials, drug delivery, redox regulation of stem cell fate, engineering cell-interactive microenvironments
Landers, James P.
Bioanalytical Chemistry on Microchips
Laurie, Gordon W.
Restoration of Homeostasis in Disease
Lynch, Kevin R.
Chemical biology of sphingosine 1-phosphate
Martens, Jeffrey
Pharmacology
Moskaluk, Christopher A.
Molecular pathogenesis and genomic analysis of human cancers
Naegle, Kristen
Regulation and function of tyrosine phosphorylation in complex networks
Nieh, Edward Horng-An
Understanding the neural code underlying motivated behaviors like feeding, drinking, and social interaction, with a focus on how malfunction in associated brain areas are involved in diseases like addiction and eating disorders
Peirce-Cottler, Shayn M.
Tissue Engineering and Regeneration, Computational Systems Biology, Vascular Growth and Remodeling, Stem Cell Therapies
Pompano, Rebecca
Bioanalytical tools for inflammatory disease
Purow, Benjamin W.
Novel therapeutic approaches to brain cancers and to other neurologic diseases
Rekosh, David M.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Gene Expression; Human Endogenous Viruses; SARS-CoV-2 Protein Trafficking; Post-transcriptional Gene Regulation
Sheybani, Natasha
Biomedical Engineering
Sheynkman, Gloria M.
Proteoform Systems Biology: proteogenomic approaches to uncover the role of proteomic variation in human disease
Swami, Nathan
Molecular and bioelectric devices; tissue regeneration.
Taylor, Justin J
B cell Analysis and Engineering
Venton, B. Jill
Analytical Neurochemistry; Dopamine and Serotonin Neurotransmission in Drosophila; Mechanisms of rapid adenosine signaling in rodents
Wang, Bowen
Toward better understanding of and innovative therapies for peripheral vascular diseases
Xie, Jinghang
Molecular Imaging; Cancer Immunology; Vaccines; Antibiotic Resistance.
Yates, Paul A.
Development and regulation of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and blood vessels as they relate to retinal diseases.
Zang, Chongzhi
Bioinformatics methodology development; Epigenetics and chromatin biology; Transcriptional regulation; Cancer genomics and epigenomics; Statistical methods for biomedical data integration; Advanced machine learning; Theoretical and computational biophysic
Zeichner, Steven L.
Pathogenesis of infectious diseases and the development of new therapies and vaccines for infectious diseases and cancers.
Zhang, Tian
Integrating high-throughput proteomic, chemical, genetic and computational tools for target identification and drug discovery in cancer biology
Zunder, Eli
Single Cell Analysis