Molecular and Cellular Physiology
About
Research in Molecular and Cellular Physiology at UVA aims to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms of basic biological phenomena and to understand the pathological alterations of these processes that result in disease.
Our research seeks to integrate insights gained at the molecular and cellular levels into the broader framework of organ function, with the goal of understanding the function of living systems at all levels. This understanding is based on knowledge of atomic and molecular structure and function. Thus a modern molecular physiologist may investigate the function of the heart by cloning a membrane channel or transport protein, expressing it and studying its kinetics through patch clamping in a model cell system, while exploring the relationship between molecular structure and function through crystallography and spectroscopy.
We emphasize interdisciplinary systems approaches. Consequently, members of our program are associated with many departments in basic sciences, clinical medicine, and in particular the Robert Berne Cardiovascular Research Center and Biomedical Engineering.
Faculty
Ai, Huiwang
Molecular Biosensors; Spatiotemporal Regulation of Biological Signaling; Protein Engineering for Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics
Beenhakker, Mark P.
Circuit mechanisms of sleep and epilepsy
Bland, Michelle
Molecular mechanisms linking innate immune and insulin signaling to control cell growth and metabolism
Bushweller, John H.
Drug Development Targeting Transcription Drivers in Cancer; Structure/Function Studies of Transcription Factor Drivers in Cancer
Chalfant, Charles Edward
Hematology and Oncology, Cell Biology, Lipid Signaling, Cancer Cell Signaling, and RNA Biology
Derewenda, Zygmunt S.
Structure-function relationships in proteins
Ebrahim, Seham
Cytoskeletal architecture, dynamics and roles in cellular physiology and disease; High-resolution live cell and tissue imaging
Felder, Robin A.
Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology. Medical Automation Research. Neurotransmitters, cell surface receptors and intracellular second messengers.
French, Brent A.
Novel Therapies for Treating and Preventing Ischemic Heart Disease
Gelfand, Bradley
Blinding disease age-related macular degeneration, utilizing the tools of immunology, molecular biology, and engineering.
Guo, Lian-Wang
Pathophysiological mechanisms and impact of cell state transitions
Harris, Thurl E
Molecular mechanisms controlling insulin signaling and fat synthesis.
Holmes, Jeffrey W.
Healing after myocardial infarction, cardiac growth and remodeling, and image-based modeling and diagnosis.
Hsu, Ku-Lung
Chemical Biology, Lipid Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, and Mass Spectrometry
Isakson, Brant
Translating our discoveries in the microcirculation to tangible benefits in patients.
Kasson, Peter M.
Physical mechanisms of infectious disease; influenza infection; membrane fusion; antibiotic resistance; molecular dynamics simulation; machine learning.
Keller, Susanna R.
Insulin signaling, insulin-regulated membrane trafficking and associated changes in cellular function and whole body physiology
Kendall, Melissa M.
Bacterial cell signaling, host-pathogen interactions, intestinal pathogens
Kramer, Christopher M.
Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, myocardial disease, atherosclerotic plaque imaging, peripheral arterial disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Kuyumcu-Martinez, Muge N
RNA regulatory networks and RNA binding proteins during cardiovascular development and in cardiovascular disease
Laubach, Victor E.
Understanding mechanisms of ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury after lung transplantation to identifying therapeutic targets.
Levental, Ilya
Composition, Biophysics and Physiology of Cellular Membranes
McNamara, Coleen A.
Immune System Regulation of Cardiometabolic Disease
Miller, Clint L.
Genetic variation, Complex diseases, Coronary artery disease, Genomics, Epigenomics, Regulatory mechanisms, Vascular biology, Pharmacology and Physiology
Minor, Wladek
Structure-Function Relationships in Macromolecules; Infectious Diseases and Drug Discovery; Bioinformatics and Big Data; Scientific Reproducibility
Nakamoto, Robert K.
Structure-Function of Active Transporters
Owens, Gary K.
Identification of Factors and Mechanisms that Regulate the Stability of Late Stage Atherosclerotic Lesions and the Probability of Thromboembolic Events Including a Heart Attack or Stroke
Papin, Jason A.
Systems biology, infectious disease, cancer, toxicology, metabolic engineering
Peirce-Cottler, Shayn M.
Tissue Engineering and Regeneration, Computational Systems Biology, Vascular Growth and Remodeling, Stem Cell Therapies
Pornillos, Owen
Structure and assembly of HIV, virus/host interactions, structural biology of the innate immune system
Price, Richard J.
Image Guided Drug and Gene Delivery for Neurodegeneration and Cancer; Focused Ultrasound and Immunotherapy; Arteriogenesis and Angiogenesis
Redemann, Stefanie
Chromosome segregation and aneuploidy in meiosis and mitosis
Saucerman, Jeffrey J.
Roles of complex signaling networks involved in the regulation of cardiovascular function and disease
Sheynkman, Gloria M.
Proteoform Systems Biology: proteogenomic approaches to uncover the role of proteomic variation in human disease
Somlyo, Avril V.
Novel signal transduction pathways in smooth muscles that regulate contractility and impact diseases of the vasculature, airway and gastrointestinal tract.
Sonkusare, Swapnil
Identify the calcium signaling abnormalities that lead to vascular dysfunction and blood pressure elevation in cardiovascular disorders
Swiatecka-Urban, Agnieszka
Regulation of cell-surface stability and intracellular trafficking of membrane proteins in epithelial cells
Tamm, Lukas K.
Biomembrane Structure and Function; Cell Entry of Enveloped Viruses; Neurosecretion by Exocytosis; Structure of Bacterial Pathogen Membrane Proteins; Lipid-Protein Interactions
Tao, Jianguo
Pathology
Tsihlis, Nick
Vascular Biology, Nanotechnology, Biomaterials, Drug Delivery
Ukhanov, Kirill Y
Pharmacology
Wang, Bowen
Toward better understanding of and innovative therapies for peripheral vascular diseases
Wiener, Michael C.
Structure/function of integral membrane proteins; structural biophysics; enzymology and virology of ZMPSTE24; sparse-constraint structure determination; technology development
Wolf, Matthew J
Identification of genes and pathways that cause or modify cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.
Yeager, Mark
Cardiac Gap Junction Membrane Channels / Integrins Water Channels / Rotavirus / Reovirus / Retrovirus
Zimmer, Jochen
Transport of biopolymers across biological membranes with a particular interest in polysaccharide and protein translocation.