Faculty | Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences

James Adair

Professor of Material Science and Engineering
Nanoscale materials and phenomena for biological, optical and structural applications, property manipulation via novel chemical pathways for designer particles and materials, colloid and interfacial chemistry, powder characterization, powder…

Sarah Ades

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Associate Dean of The Graduate School

Signal transduction and antibiotic-induced stress responses in bacteria.

Etya Amsalem

Associate Professor of Entomology

The evolutionary development and the mechanistic basis of social behavior in insects using an integrative approach encompassing chemical, genetic and physiological tools

Charles Anderson

Co-Director, Center for Biorenewables; Associate Professor of Biology

In vivo imaging of plant cell wall dynamics. Molecular genetic analysis of genes involved in cell growth. Cell wall biosynthesis in dividing cells. Cell wall engineering for sustainable bioenergy production.

Marco Archetti

Associate Professor of Biology

Evolutionary Genetics. Cancer dynamics. Defective interfering viruses. Evolutionary game theory.

Jean-Paul Armache

Assistant Professor of of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The mechanisms and functions of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes and their place in gene regulation.

Sally Assmann

Waller Professor of Biology

Molecular biology of plant G-proteins and kinases. Phytohormone regulation of signal transduction and RNA processing. Second messenger regulation of ion channels in plant cells.

Michael Axtell

Distinguished Professor of Biology

Discovery and characterization of plant microRNAs and siRNAs. Functions of microRNAs and siRNAs in the evolution of plant development. Genomics and bioinformatics of microRNAs, siRNAs, and their targets

Lu Bai

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Associate Professor of Physics

Single cell / single molecule study of chromatin and gene regulation.

Philip Bevilacqua

Co-Director, Center for RNA Molecular Biology; Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

RNA folding in vivo and genome-wide; RNA regulation of gene expression; Ribozyme Mechanism; roles RNA may have played in the emergence of life on early earth

Jordan Bisanz

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The interface of microbiology and bioinformatics, with approaches including genomics and metabolomics to investigate the interplay of diet, drugs, and the gut microbiome.

jpb6325@psu.edu

Ottar Bjornstad

Huck Chair of Epidemiology; Distinguished Professor of Entomology and Biology; Adjunct Professor in Statistics

Population ecology and population dynamics with particular emphasis on mathematical and computational aspects

Amie Boal

Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The structural differences between members of large metalloenzyme superfamilies that share common features but promote different reactions or use distinct cofactors.

J. Martin Bollinger

Professor of Chemistry; Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Mechanisms of metalloenzymes and metallofactor assembly

Maciej Boni

Associate Professor of Biology
Human influenza epidemiology and evolution, evaluating population-level malaria treatment strategies with individual-based microsimulation models, phylogenetic analysis of avian influenza evolution in southern Vietnam, economic epidemiology of avian…

Seth Bordenstein

Director of the Microbiome Center; Huck Chair in Microbiome Sciences; Professor of Biology and Entomology

The evolutionary and genetic principles that shape symbiotic interactions between animals, microbes, and viruses and the major applications of these interactions to human health.

srb6251@psu.edu

Justin Brown

Associate Professor of Bioengineering
Understanding the fundamental mechanisms by which biomaterial interfaces alter the proliferation, migration and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells, and application of these principles in the intelligent design of biomaterial scaffolds that…

Margherita Cantorna

Director of the Center for Molecular Immunology and Infectious Disease; Distinguished Professor of Molecular Immunology
Understanding the working of the immune system. Utilizing animal models of several human diseases including enteric infections and inflammatory bowel disease to determine the cellular targets and molecular signals by which dietary components regulate…

Stefan Canzar

Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering

Algorithmic bioinformatics, computational genomics. We develop algorithms and software for single-cell genomics and spatial transcriptomics data. We use techniques from combinatorial optimization, linear programming, and machine learning.

John Carlson

Professor of Molecular Genetics; Director, Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics

Genome mapping, including genetic linkage mapping, molecular cytogenetics; studies of genetic diversity in forests.

Isabella Cattadori

Professor of Biology

Immuno-epidemiology of co-infection, how host immunity modulates parasite interactions and transmission and how host molecular processes explain the dynamics of infection at the population level.

Douglas Cavener

Huck Distinguished Chair in Evolutionary Genetics; Professor of Biology; Former Dean, Eberly College of Science

Regulation of protein synthesis and control of translation initiation of mRNAs in higher eukaryotes and the evolution of tissue specific transcriptional regulation.

Surinder Chopra

Professor of Maize Genetics

Regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis during plant development and plant-pathogen interaction. Epigenetic regulation and allele specific patterns.

Daniel Cosgrove

Eberly Chair and Professor of Biology

Mechanism of plant growth. Function and evolution of expansins. Biochemistry and rheology of plant cell walls. Growth responses to light, hormones, and water stress and other stimuli.

Nikki Crowley

Huck Early Career Chair in Neurobiology & Neural Engineering; Assistant Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering; Associate Director for Postdoctoral Training and Leadership, Center for Neural Engineering

Investigation of peptidergic transmission throughout the brain, using cell-specific and pathway-specific manipulations to understand how peptides alter neuronal signaling and behavior, particularly in the context of stress and drug use.

nzc27@psu.edu

Emily Davenport

Assistant Professor of Biology

Understanding the complex relationship humans have with our microbiomes, using high-throughput sequencing technologies and novel computational and statistical techniques.

exd44@psu.edu

Claude dePamphilis

Director of the Center for Parasitic and Carnivorous Plants; Huck Distinguished Chair in Plant Biology and Evolutionary Genomics; Professor of Biology
Genomics, bioinformatics, and molecular evolution. Origin and diversification of flowers and developmental pathways. Comparative genomics of plants, organelles, and plant gene families. Genomics, evolution, and functional biology of parasitic…

Francisco Diaz

Director of the Center for Reproductive Health and Biology; Associate Professor of Reproductive Biology

Ovarian physiology. Role of SMAD-mediated signaling in follicular and female germ cell (oocyte) development.

Francisco Dini-Andreote

Assistant Professor of Plant Science

Microbiome, plant-microbe interactions, and community ecology. Harnessing the plant microbiome to enhance protection against biotic and abiotic stresses.

fjd5141@psu.edu

Patrick Drew

Associate Director of the Neuroscience Institute; Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, of Neurosurgery, of Biology, and of Biomedical Engineering

Optical imaging of brain dynamics during sleep and behavior; Role of blood flow and cerebrospinal fluid movement in neurodegenerative disease

Edward Dudley

Professor of Food Science; Director of E. coli Reference Center

Mechanisms driving toxin production in Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli; use of genome sequencing to track pathogen transmission during foodborne outbreaks

Robert Eckhardt

Professor

Genetic and environmental influences on growth and development in human populations.

Marina Feric

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Biomolecular engineering of cellular organization. Biophysical mechanisms underlying biomolecular condensates in health and disease.

mjf6624@psu.edu

Lindsay Fernandez-Rhodes

Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health

The genetic epidemiology of complex diseases in diverse human populations and contexts.

Majid Foolad

Professor of Plant Genetics
Genetic characterization of resistance/tolerance to biotic/abiotic stresses, and genes/QTLs contributing to tomato fruit quality. Investigation of genes/QTLs for directed crop improvement and germplasm enhancement. Tomato cultivar development &…

Sagan Friant

Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Evolutionary anthropology of human health, disease ecology, nutrition, socio-ecological systems, bushmeat hunting, Nigeria.

Erika Ganda

Assistant Professor of Food Animal Microbiomes

Developing practical ways to leverage the microbiome to improve food safety and improve food production animals' production efficiency.

David Geiser

Professor of Mycology

Molecular evolutionary genetics of pathogenic and toxigenic fungi.

Pamela Giblin

Professor of Immunology

The role of receptor tyrosine kinases in normal physiology and disease progression; the downstream signals that mediate these responses in vivo and in vitro.

David Gilmour

Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology

Transcriptional regulation of the hsp70 heat shock gene in Drosophila.

Santhosh Girirajan

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Associate Professor of Anthropology

Understanding the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Adam Glick

Emphasis Area Representative, Cancer Biology; Professor of Molecular Toxicology and Carcinogenesis;
The role of Transforming Growth Factor-beta in cutaneous inflammation and cancer development, and how the immune system responds to epithelial cells with activated oncogenes such as Ras. Signaling pathways that regulate senescence of premalignant…

Esther Gomez

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering

How the interplay of chemical and mechanical signals acts to control cell behavior and function and the progression of disease.

Thomas Gould

Jean Phillips Shibley Professor and Department Head of Biobehavioral Health

Using genetic, pharmacological, behavioral, and molecular biological techniques to study the neurobiology of learning and memory and the effects of addiction on it.

Christina Grozinger

Director of the Center for Pollinator Research; Director of the Insect Biodiversity Center; Publius Vergilius Maro Professor and Huck Scholar of Entomology

Genomics of social behavior and health in bees

Ying Gu

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Mechanism of cellulose biosynthesis in higher plants. Genetic modification of plant cell wall to scale-up biofuel production.

Mark Guiltinan

J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany; Professor of Plant Molecular Biology; Director, Endowed Program in the Molecular Biology of Cocoa

Plant functional genomics, metabolomics and biotechnology. Identification of key genes for disease resistance and important traits in the tree crop Theoboma cacao, the Chocolate tree.

Susan Hafenstein

Director of the Center for Structural Biology; Huck Chair of Structural Virology; Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Using a structural approach to learn more about viral infectivity, tropism, evolution and pathogenicity. Developing approaches to visualize critical events that cause a break from the regular symmetry of the virus, including packaging of the genome,…

Molly Hall

Dr. Frances Keesler Graham Early Career Professor; Assistant Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Building tools to elucidate the complex genetic and environmental underpinnings of human disease. Integrating genetic (genotype, sequence, structural variation) and exposure (derived from surveys and metabolomics methods) big data to predict disease…

William Hancock

Professor of Bioengineering

The detailed workings of motor proteins and their role in intracellular transport and cell motility.

Wendy Hanna-Rose

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Head of BMB

Molecular Genetics of Metabolism and Development in C. elegans

Ross Hardison

Associate Director of the Genome Sciences Institute; T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Regulation of gene expression during development.

Urara Hasegawa

Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

The development of polymeric nanomaterials for controlled delivery of drug and bioactive signaling molecules

Daniel Hayes

Director, Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology; Huck Chair in Nanotherapeutics and Regenerative Medicine; Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Biomaterials engineering for applications ranging from regenerative medicine to lab-on-a-chip technologies. An emphasis on nanomaterials, macromolecules and composite structures. Ongoing efforts include development of optically and magnetically…

Mark Hedglin

Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Deciphering how efficient and faithful replication of the human genome is achieved within the highly-complex, dynamic, and reactive environment of the nucleus. Identifying pathways for genomic instability in humans, identifying novel oncogenic drug…

Heather Hines

Associate Professor of Biology and Entomology
Applies genomic, transcriptomic, phylogenomic, and bioinformatic approaches to study the evolution and genetics of diverse traits in bees and wasps. This includes study of mimetic color diversification, plant gall induction, novel morphologies,…

Kevin Hockett

Huck Early Career Chair; Assistant Professor of Microbial Ecology

Biological Control, Biology and Ecology of Plant-Microbe and Plant-Environment Interactions, Microbial Ecology and Population Biology Faculty

Kelli Hoover

Professor of Entomology

Invasive species of forest insects; plant-insect-entomopathogen interactions; impacts of plants on pathogenesis; biological control of hemlock woolly adelgid

Yifei Huang

Assistant Professor of Biology

Developing novel bioinformatic methods and using them to address fundamental questions in evolutionary genomics and medical genomics.

yuh371@psu.edu

Peter Hudson

Former Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Willaman Professor of Biology

Population dynamics of infectious diseases in wildlife and the dynamics of parasite community structure.

David Huff

Professor of Turfgrass Breeding and Genetics

Population genetics. Plant evolution and ecology. Crop improvement. Physiological tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress.

Timothy Jegla

Emphasis Area Representative, Molecular and Evolutionary Genetics; Associate Professor of Biology

Functional evolution of eukaryotic ion channels and evolution of neuronal signaling and cell structure.

Joyce Jose

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Virus-host interactions involved in the pathogenesis of alphaviruses and flaviviruses. Analysis of virus induced structures and cytoskeletal modifications in mammalian host and insect vector using high-resolution live cell imaging and electron…

Parisa Kalantari

Assistant Professor of Immunology

Host-parasite interactions using Schistosoma mansoni-induced liver inflammation in mouse models. Modulation of immune responses by the parasite as well as the role of inflammasomes in inducing schistosomiasis.

Helen Kamens

Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health

Identification of genetic mechanisms that contribute to complex behaviors with a special emphasis on alcohol and tobacco use.

Seogchan Kang

Professor of Plant Pathology & Environmental Microbiology

Genetic and cellular mechanisms underpinning plant-fungal interactions with Arabidopsis thaliana and Fusarium oxysporum as a model system. Molecular genetics and comparative genomics of fungal plant pathogens. Bioinformatics.

Vivek Kapur

Associate Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Huck Distinguished Chair in Global Health; Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

The basic mechanisms by which pathogenic microbes successfully infect, colonize, and cause disease in their hosts.

Kenneth Keiler

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Small RNAs and protein localization in bacterial development and antimicrobial drug discovery.

Joshua Kellogg

Emphasis Area Representative, Molecular Toxicology; Assistant Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Development of new metabolomics tools for chemical and biological characterization of complex systems. Discovery of new natural products from plants and microorganisms with novel bioactivity against pathogenic fungi and neglected tropical diseases.…

Deb Kelly

Director of the Center for Structural Oncology; Huck Chair in Molecular Biophysics; Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Engineering new molecular paradigms to create a world without cancer.

David Kennedy

Assistant Professor of Biology

Ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, with particular interest in how disease dynamics influence pathogen emergence, virulence evolution, and drug or vaccine resistance.

Tae Hyun Kim

Huck Early Career Chair; Assistant Professor of Avian Biology

Improving poultry health by applying modern genetic approaches including gene editing. Particular focus on identifying key genes and regulatory elements associated with improved economic traits.

Girish Kirimanjeswara

Emphasis Area Representative, Immunology and Infectious Disease; Associate Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Science

Establishing the Virulence Factors

Jasna Kovac

Lester Earl and Veronica Casida Career Development Professor of Food Safety; Assistant Professor of Food Science

Integrating epidemiological, microbiological, molecular and omics methods to better understand microbial pathogenic potential, antimicrobial resistance, and epidemiology of foodborne pathogens.

Suresh Kuchipudi

Huck Chair in Emerging Infectious Diseases; Clinical Associate Professor; Section Head Mammalian Virology & Immunology

Diagnostic Virology & Serology -Zoonotic and Emerging Viruses -Negative strand RNA viruses -Avian and Mammalian influenza -Immune responses to viruses -Viral pathogenesis Quantitative-omics approach to virus-host interactions

Janine Kwapis

Assistant Professor of Biology

Molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying learning and memory and age-related memory impairments.

jlk855@psu.edu

Zhi-Chun Lai

Emphasis Area Representative, Cell and Developmental Biology; Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Signal Transduction, Growth Control, and Cancer Genetics

Todd Lajeunesse

Professor of Biology

Microbial Ecology and Evolution

Joshua Lambert

Professor of Food Science
Dietary polyphenols in prevention of obesity and fatty liver disease; efficacy and mechanisms of action of food-derived phytochemicals in prevention of lung cancer; biotransformation, bioavailability and potential hepatotoxicity of dietary…

Tae-Hee Lee

Professor of Chemistry

Single-molecule biophysics of the nucleosome and chromatin

Xiaojun (Lance) Lian

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Human Stem Cell Engineering; Genome Editing via CRISPR-Cas9; Epigenome Editing and Epigenetics.

Scott Lindner

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Co-Director, Center for Malaria Research

Our laboratory couples molecular parasitology and structural biology to study the malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.).

Aimin Liu

Associate Professor of Biology

Biogenesis and function of cilia in mammalian embryonic development.

Wansheng Liu

Professor of Genomics

Functional annotation of farm animal genomes, structure and function of mammalian sex (X and Y) chromosome, spermatogenesis and male fertility.

Manuel Llinas

Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Understanding the molecular mechanisms of gene regulation and metabolism in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum using functional genomics and metabolomics.

Bernhard Luscher

Emphasis Area Representative, Neurobiology; Director of the Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders; Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Function of GABAergic synaptic transmission in health and disease, with emphasis of stress based psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorders and mechanisms of antidepressant drug action

Sally Mackenzie

Director of the Plant Institute; Huck Chair of Functional Genomics; Professor of Biology and of Plant Science

Organelle biology and cellular specializations. Plant epigenetics, memory and phenotypic plasticity. Crop epigenetic breeding.

Shaun Mahony

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

We apply neural networks and other machine learning approaches to understand how transcription factors control cellular identity

Kateryna Makova

Director of the Center for Medical Genomics; Professor of Biology

Molecular evolution, population genetics, evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, and human genetics.

Yingwei Mao

Associate Professor of Biology
Regulation of neurogenesis using cellular and mouse models; analysis of abnormal neural progenitor cell (NPC) proliferation and its relationship to mental illnesses; identification of drugs that can reverse mouse models of psychiatric…

Costas Maranas

Donald B. Broughton Professor of Chemical Engineering

Computational studies of metabolism and gene regulation.

Elizabeth McGraw

Professor and Huck Scholar in Entomology

The genetics of vector, pathogen and symbiont interactions.

Melanie McReynolds

Huck Early Career Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The biochemistry behind aging and its intersection with stress, with the long-term goal of identifying strategies that promote healthier aging.

Scott Medina

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Design of bio-inspired functional materials that serve as new tools in precision medicine. Understanding how peptides and proteins assemble at natural and non-natural interfaces to form organized structures with unique biochemical functions. The…

Timothy Meredith

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Understanding how bacterial cell surface complex lipids are synthesized, to characterize structural modifications in response to varying growth environments, and to uncover how these changes are regulated.

Tim Miyashiro

Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

How bacteria adapt to a host environment. The mutualistic symbiosis established between the Hawaiian bobtail squid (Euprymna scolopes) and a bioluminescent bacterium (Vibrio fischeri).

Katsuhiko Murakami

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Structural and Mechanistic Enzymology of Prokaryotic RNA Polymerases

Gustavo Nader

Associate Professor of Kinesiology

Skeletal muscle growth control and adaptations to exercise. Ribosome biogenesis, transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of RNA Polymerase I.

Anton Nekrutenko

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Evolution of overlapping reading frames in eukaryotic genomes.

B. Tracy Nixon

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structural and functional basis of cellulose synthesis. Using Physcomitrella patens and other organisms as model systems, we are learning how plants make cellulose for building new cell wall. The studies use methods of molecular biology and cryoEM to…

Edward O’Brien

Professor of Chemistry

Developing and applying Physical Bioinformatic techniques to measure rates of translation transcriptome-wide and their molecular origins as relates to fundamental biology and disease.

Denise Okafor

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Structural mechanisms of signaling and regulation in protein complexes.

Richard Ordway

Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and Genetics

Genetic analysis of neural function.

Troy Ott

Associate Director for Graduate Education, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Professor of Reproductive Physiology

Reproductive immunology and the physiology of early pregnancy.

Andrew Patterson

Professor and Huck Chair of Molecular Toxicology; Faculty Oversight, Metabolomics Core Facility

The Patterson lab is focused on understanding the host-metabolite-microbiome axis

Robert Paulson

Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences

The Paulson lab studies the mechanisms that regulate tissue regeneration with a focus on understanding the response to anemic and hypoxic stress

Gary Perdew

Director of the Center for Molecular Toxicology and Carcinogenesis; H. Thomas and Dorothy Willits Hallowell Chair in Agricultural Sciences

Mechanisms of receptor-mediated carcinogenesis.

Jeffrey Peters

Distinguished Professor of Molecular Toxicology and Carcinogenesis

Roles of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in the regulation of homeostasis, toxicology, and carcinogenesis.

Kumble Sandeep Prabhu

Professor of Immunology and Molecular Toxicology

Molecular mechanisms by which bioactives such as selenium, omega-3 fatty acids, and other products of natural origin alter the host response and immune function in inflammation and cancer

Justin Pritchard

Huck Early Career Entrepreneurial Professorship; Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering;

Using systems and synthetic biology approaches to understand and control drug resistance.

Jason Rasgon

Professor of Entomology and Disease Epidemiology

Integrating population biology, ecology, molecular tools and theory to address fundamental and applied questions related to vector arthropods and the pathogens they transmit.

Andrew Read

Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Entomology; Eberly Professor of Biotechnology

The ecology and evolutionary genetics of infectious disease.

Joseph Reese

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Gene regulation in cell cycle and DNA damage control; regulation of DNA damage-induced transcription.

Tanya Renner

Assistant Professor of Entomology

Evolution of chemical and structural defense. Molecular evolution, evolutionary genomics, and transcriptomics. Origins and evolution of carnivorous plants.

Joan Richtsmeier

Professsor of Anthropology

Analysis of craniofacial phenotypes.

jta10@psu.edu

Melissa Rolls

Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences; Director of the Center for Cellular Dynamics; Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Subcellular compartmentalization of neurons. The cellular basis of neuronal polarity and neuronal responses to injury including degeneration and regeneration.

Howard Salis

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering; Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Engineering microorganisms for applications in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering.

Lorraine Santy

Associate Chair, Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences Graduate Degree Program; Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The signals and processes that initiate migration in epithelial cells.

Anthony Schmitt

Professor of Molecular Immunology and Infectious Diseases

The process of paramyxovirus particle formation by budding: identifying and characterizing viral proteins used in budding, and learning how these manipulate host budding machinery to allow virus release.

Idan Shalev

Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health

Interdisciplinary approach to identify mechanisms underpinning the biological embedding of stress across the lifespan with a special focus on biological aging.

Amir Sheikhi

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
Micro- and nanoengineered soft materials for medicine and the environment; microfluidic-enabled biomaterials for tissue engineering and regeneration; living materials; next-generation bioadhesives, tissue sealants, and hemostatic agents; hydrogels…

Scott Showalter

Professor of Chemistry; Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biophysical Chemistry applied to solution NMR spectroscopy of partially disordered proteins. NMR studies of protein dynamics coupled with computational and theoretical studies of the coupling between nuclear spin relaxation and molecular…

Mark Shriver

Professor of Biological Anthropology

Human population genomics and complex disease mapping.

Vishal Singh

Assistant Professor of Nutritional Physiology and Microbiome

Grayson Sipe

Assistant Professor of Biology

Studying the molecular and cellular mechanisms that drive shifts in arousal, which are crucial for understanding maladaptive arousal in neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety and addiction.

gos5257@psu.edu

Karolina Skibicka

Huck Chair of Metabolic Physiology; Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences
Utilizing rodent models to discover novel neural substrates that control fundamental homeostatic and reward controls of food intake, and their failures in the case of obesity and infection-induced anorexia; How food and feeding behavior affect neural…

kps5783@psu.edu

Tom Stewart

Assistant Professor of Biology

Evolutionary and developmental approaches to ask: how does morphological novelty evolve, and what are the causes of major evolutionary transitions?

tomstewart@psu.edu

Troy Sutton

Assistant Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences

Animal models of influenza; Airborne transmission of influenza viruses; Evolution of pandemic influenza viruses; Highly pathogenic avian influenza; Development of live-attenuated influenza vaccine platforms; High containment BSL3+ research

Spencer Szczesny

Assistant Professor of Bioengineering

Mechanobiology focusing on how mechanical stimuli influence tendon cell behavior in their native microenvironment with the ultimate goal of understanding tendon pathology and identifying novel therapeutic options.

Moriah Szpara

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Biology
How genetic variation influences the outcomes of viral infection, particularly for neurotropic viruses such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2, using high-throughput sequencing, comparative genomics, neuronal cultures, and genetic…

Zachary Szpiech

Assistant Professor of Biology

Population and evolutionary genetics, with applications to medical genetics, anthropology, and conservation

zps5164@psu.edu

Song Tan

Director of the Center for Eukaryotic Gene Regulation; Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Structural biology of eukaryotic gene regulation.

Claire Thomas

Associate Professor of Biology and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Roles of the cytoskeleton at the cell membrane in epithelial cells, including issues of cell polarity and adhesion, cell signaling, and morphogenesis.

Jack Vanden Heuvel

Director of the Center for Excellence in Nutrigenomics; Professor of Molecular Toxicology

Mechanisms of action of hypolipidemic drugs and peroxisome proliferators; steroid hormone receptor-mediated signal transduction; signal transduction by lipids and fatty acids; receptor-mediated carcinogenesis.

David Vandenbergh

Professor of Biobehavioral Health

Genetics of addiction in human populations and its neurobiological basis in animal models.

Yogasudha Veturi

Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health and of Statistics
Developing novel statistical and machine learning methods to better understand shared genetics between complex human diseases across the “phenome” and their connections with cognitive decline as well as genetic underpinnings of sex and ancestral…

yzv101@psu.edu

rkz5110@psu.edu

Fang (Rose) Zhu

Assistant Professor of Entomology

Understanding the mechanisms and evolution of insects’ adaptation to chemical stresses in their environment.