People: Faculty
Patrick Drew
Associate Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; 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.
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 & release.
Sagan Friant
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Evolutionary anthropology of human health, disease ecology, nutrition, socio-ecological systems, bushmeat hunting, Nigeria.
Erika Ganda
Emphasis Area Representative, Microbiome Sciences; 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
Genomics of fungi, applied to the evolution of plant and animal disease, toxin production, and beneficial roles. Fungal phylogenetics and population genetics, especially in Fusarium, and sequence-based identification tools. Identification of unique pathogen-specific genomic regions in pathogens, and diagnostic markers.
Santhosh Girirajan
Professor of Genomics; Professor of Anthropology; Department Head of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
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 epithelial cells and how cells escape from oncogene-induced senescence.
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.
Jessica Grembi
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
The biological mechanisms underlying persistent childhood undernutrition
Joshua Gross
Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Biobehavioral Health
Cellular- and transgenic mouse model-based approaches to investigate the molecular mechanisms of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling and trafficking in the pathophysiological contexts of obesity, eating disorders, and metabolic disease.
Christina Grozinger
Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; 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
Director, Plant Institute; J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany; Professor of Plant Molecular Biology
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.
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
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 modulated drug delivery systems, quasi 3D cell sheet culture systems, cell encapsulation and delivery materials and hybrid in situ polymerizing grafts/augments.
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 targets, developing better chemotherapeutic treatments for human cancers caused by genomic instability.
Heather Hines
Interim Director, Center for Pollinator Research; Interim Director, Insect Biodiversity Center; 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, speciation, and social evolution.
Kevin Hockett
Huck Early Career Chair; Associate Professor of Microbial Ecology
Biological Control, Biology and Ecology of Plant-Microbe and Plant-Environment Interactions, Microbial Ecology and Population Biology Faculty