Faculty

Huiwang Ai, PhD
Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor
"Molecular Biosensors; Spatiotemporal Regulation of Biological Signaling; Protein Engineering for Imaging, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics"

Huan Bao, PhD
Associate Professor
"Biophysics of membrane pore formation; research and therapeutic applications of lipid nanoparticles."

John H. Bushweller, PhD
Professor
"Drug Development Targeting Transcription Drivers in Cancer; Structure/Function Studies of Transcription Factor Drivers in Cancer"

Seham Ebrahim, PhD
Assistant Professor
"Cytoskeletal architecture, dynamics and roles in cellular physiology and disease; High-resolution live cell and tissue imaging"

Lu Gan, PhD
Associate Professor
"Chromosome organization; Nucleosome structure; Histone marks; Structural cell biology"

Brant Isakson, PhD
Professor
"Cell-cell communication in the blood vessel wall."

Ahmad Jomaa, PhD
Assistant Professor
"Localisation of nascent proteins to sub-cellular compartments"

Anne Kenworthy, PhD
Professor
"Architecture and function of biological membranes"

Muge Kuyumcu-Martinez, PhD
Professor
"RNA regulatory networks and RNA binding proteins during cardiovascular development and in cardiovascular disease"

Ilya Levental, PhD
Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor
"Composition, Biophysics and Physiology of Cellular Membranes"

Wladek Minor, PhD
Harrison Distinguished Professor
"Structure-Function Relationships in Macromolecules; Infectious Diseases and Drug Discovery; Bioinformatics and Big Data; Scientific Reproducibility"

Gary Owens, PhD
Robert M. Berne Professor of Cardiovascular Research
"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"

Ling Qi, PhD
Andrew P. Somlyo Distinguished Professor and Chair
"Delineate the physiological importance and structure-function relationship of ER-associated degradation in humans."

Stefanie Redemann, PhD
Associate Professor
"Chromosome segregation and aneuploidy in meiosis and mitosis"

Gloria Sheynkman, PhD
Associate Professor
"Proteoform Systems Biology: proteogenomic approaches to uncover the role of proteomic variation in human disease"

Swapnil Sonkusare, PhD
Professor
"Identify the calcium signaling abnormalities that lead to vascular dysfunction and blood pressure elevation in cardiovascular disorders"

Lukas Tamm, PhD
Harrison Distinguished Professor
"Biomembrane Structure and Function; Cell Entry of Enveloped Viruses; Neurosecretion by Exocytosis; Structure of Bacterial Pathogen Membrane Proteins; Lipid-Protein Interactions"

Ming-Feng Tsai, PhD
Associate Professor
"Molecular mechanisms and physiological functions of transporters and ion-channels, particularly Ca2+ transport proteins in mitochondria.”"

Jarred Whitlock, PhD
Assistant Professor
"The formation, function, and signaling of multinucleated cells that maintain musculoskeletal system and underpin its pathological dysfunction.”"

Jinghang Xie, PhD
Assistant Professor
"Molecular Imaging; Cancer Immunology; Vaccines; Antibiotic Resistance."

Jochen Zimmer, PhD
Professor and HHMI Investigator
"Transport of biopolymers across biological membranes with a particular interest in polysaccharide and protein translocation"

David Cafiso, PhD
Professor, Chemistry
"Molecular Mechanisms for Membrane Transport and Cell Signaling"

Linda Columbus, PhD
Professor, Chemistry
"Biophysical Chemistry: Membrane protein structure, function, and dynamics"

Jessica Connelly, PhD
Professor, Psychology
"Epigenetic mechanisms involved in complex human disease"

Edward Egelman, PhD
Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics
"Structure and Function of Macromolecular Complexes Using Electron Microscopy"

Andreas Gahlman, PhD
Associate Professor, Chemistry
"Super-resolution fluorescence imaging of bacterial cells"

Lian-Wang Guo, PhD
Professor, Surgery
"Pathophysiological mechanisms and impact of cell state transitions."

Coleen McNamara, MD
Professor of Medicine/Cardiovascular Division, Beirne B. Carter Professor of Immunology and Director of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research
"Immune System Regulation of Cardiometabolic Disease."

Matthew Wolf, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Medicine: Cardiovascular Medicine
"Identification of genes and pathways that cause or modify cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure."

David Cooper, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"Data management and analysis for scientific endeavors, particularly X-ray crystallography."

Rebecca Deaton, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"Identification of factors that regulate atherosclerotic plaque stability."

Luke Dunaway, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"How iron levels influence endothelial cells, which line the vasculature and play a key role in maintaining cardiovascular health."

Bing Han, PhD
Research Associate Professor
"Structure and functions of caveolin proteins"

Volker Kiessling, PhD
Research Associate Professor
"Fusion of secretory vesicles with the plasma membrane. Fusion of viral particles with target membranes during viral infection."

Maniselvan Kuppusamy, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"Understanding the molecular basis of vascular inflammation in disease conditions."

Teri Lansdell, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"Determine how cardiovascular disease influences hormonal and metabolic contributions to the development of dementia."

Kandice Levental, PhD
Research Professor
"Fundamental mechanisms by which membranes and dietary lipids regulate cell physiology."

Liangguang Lin, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"My research focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms and physiological functions of the SEL1L-HRD1 ER-associated degradation."

Michael Purdy, PhD
Research Associate Professor
"Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins."

Sohel Shamsuzzaman, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
" Interested in understanding the molecular basis of atherosclerotic plaque development and calcification, with the long-term goal of identifying targeted strategies to improve plaque stability by preventing or reversing vascular calcification without affecting bone health."

Ajit Tiwari, PhD
Research Associate Professor
"Membrane trafficking, bacterial toxin endocytosis, angiogenesis and Alzheimer's disease."

Mauricio Torres, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"Endoplasmic reticulum"

Sunil Verma, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"RNA Biology: RNA binding protein and pre-mRNA processing in Cardiovascular Disease."

Vitaly Zimyanin, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"Looking to uncover and understand the underlying principles of spindle assembly on a nano-scale level."

Hong-Yin Wang, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
"My research focuses on understanding how membrane homeostasis regulates cellular physiology and how its disruption contributes to disease, including osteoclast cell-cell fusion in bone disorders and neuronal degeneration in Alzheimer’s disease."

Zygmunt Derewenda, PhD
Emeritus Professor
"Structure-function relationships in proteins"

Howard Kutchai, PhD
Emeritus Professor
"Quaternary Structure of Calcium-ATPases of sarcoplasmic reticulum and Na, K-ATPase and Its Regulatory Significance."

Joel Linden, PhD
Emeritus Professor
"Adenosine receptor signaling"

Robert Nakamoto, PhD
Emeritus Professor
"Structure-Function of Active Transporters."

Zhifeng Shao, PhD
Emeritus Professor
"Molecular Imaging and Single Molecule Biophysics"

Avril Somlyo, PhD
Emeritus Professor
"Novel signal transduction pathways in smooth muscles that regulate contractility and impact diseases of the vasculature, airway and gastrointestinal tract."

Mark Yeager, MD, PhD
Harrison Distinguished Emeritus Professor
"Cardiac Gap Junction Membrane Channels / IntegrinsWater Channels / Rotavirus / Reovirus / Retrovirus."