People: 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
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.
Camilla Hughes
Assistant Professor of Reproductive Biology
Reproductive biology, ovarian function, and reproductive-immune interaction
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.
Xiangming Ji
Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences
Metabolic studies in the airway epithelium, spanning from normal cells to at-risk epithelial cells, and ultimately to cancer cells.
Wen Jiang
Faculty Director of the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Core Facility; Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joyce Jose
Associate 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 microscopy. Viral determinants of neurotropism, encephalitis, transmission and persistence in BSL-3 pathogens.
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.
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. Bioanalytical techniques to probe the mechanism of action and basic biology of these target organisms. Ethnobotany and indigenous knowledge surrounding plant-based medicine.
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; Associate Professor of Food Science
Integrating epidemiological, microbiological, molecular and omics methods to better understand microbial pathogenic potential, antimicrobial resistance, and epidemiology of foodborne pathogens.
Janine Kwapis
Director of the Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders; Assistant Professor of Biology
Molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying learning and memory and age-related memory impairments.
Zhi-Chun Lai
Emphasis Area Representative, Cell and Developmental Biology; Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Signal Transduction, Growth Control, and Cancer Genetics
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 phytochemicals
Impact of food and medicinal plants and phytochemicals on human health. Role of plant genetics, environmental factors, agronomic practices, and post-harvest processing in moderating the relationship between medicinal and food plants and human health
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
Co-Director, Center for Malaria Research; Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
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.