Research Faculty in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

 

Barnoud, Tim, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

The role of p53 variants in cancer risk and response to therapy; targeting heat shock proteins for the treatment of cancer.

Dalton, Annamarie, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Molecular mechanisms of epithelial to mesenchymal transition effectors in cell-based and murine models of metastatic breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence in conjunction with Dr. Philip Howe. 

Dr. Dalton is the Theme Leader (course director) for the Molecules, Metabolism and Therapeutics (MMT) theme in the College of Medicine FLEX pre-clerkship curriculum.

Delaney, Joe, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Biogenesis and pathology of copy-number alterations in cancer, particularly serous ovarian cancer.
Delaney Lab

DuBois, Raymond, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Director, Hollings Cancer Center
The molecular, genetic, and cellular basis for colorectal cancer.

Gan, Wenjian, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Post-translational modifications in cell signaling pathways and cancer.

Gangaraju, Vamsi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Epigenetic regulation by Piwi-piRNA pathway; biogenesis and biological functions of piRNAs; environmental epigenetics; drosophila models of human diseases.

Han, Lu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Epithelial-mesenchymal tissue interactions during pancreatic homeostasis and tumorigenesis. 
Han Lab

Hartman, Jessica H., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Individual differences in metabolism arising from genetic factors (e.g. xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes) and lifestyle factors (exercise and diet) that impact response to environmental exposures, especially mitochondrial function/dysfunction and ER stress.
Hartman Lab

Hobbs, Aaron, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Howe, Philip H., Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman
Hans and Helen Koebig Chair in Clinical Oncology
Signaling pathways activated by transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) and Wnt and their potential cross-talk in cellular models of differentiation and cancer.

Jimenez-Sainz, Judit
Assistant Professor
DNA repair proteins and the alterations of their variants.
Jimenez-Sainz Lab

Lemasters, John, MD, Ph.D.
Professor
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and necrosis; organ preservation for transplantation surgery; mitochondrial physiology and pathophysiology, including mitochondrial permeability transition, mitophagy and calcium homeostasis; oxidative stress; ischemia/reperfusion; confocal and multiphoton microscopy of living cells.

Long, David T., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Graduate Program Director The mechanistic role of BRCA1 in DNA repair and cancer predisposition. 

Madan, Lalima K., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Protein-Phosphorylation based signaling
The Madan Laboratory

O'Bryan, John P., Ph.D.
Dr. O’Bryan and his lab are pursuing a long-running interest in the pathways regulating cell growth, development, differentiation and proliferation in response to growth factor receptor signaling.
O'Bryan Lab 

Ogretmen, Besim, Ph.D.
Professor and Eminent Scholar
Roles of sphingolipid metabolism in cancer pathogenesis, chemotherapy-induced cell death, and drug resistance.

Ostrowski, Michael C., Ph.D.
Professor
WH Folk Chair in Experimental Oncology
Interactions between signaling pathways in cancer cell progression and normal cellular differentiation.

Ouyang, Jian, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
RNA-mediated genome maintenance and the transcriptional stress-induced genomic instability in normal and cancer cells, and targeting the underlying molecular mechanisms to develop novel cancer therapies.

Sahin, Ozgur, Ph.D.
Professor and SmartState Endowed Chair
Mechanisms of cancer therapeutics, drug resistance and metastasis; drug discovery; systems biomedicine.
Sahin Lab

Saini, Natalie Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Determining the causes underlying genome instability in healthy humans, diseases with increased DNA damage and in cancers.
Saini Lab

Spencer-Smith, Russell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Uncovering new vulnerabilities in the RAS-MAPK pathway through the study of rare disease-associated mutations.
Spencer-Smith Lab

Sprague, Daniel, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
The drug discovery laboratory currently studying neglected tropical diseases, cancer, and pain and depression. Utilizing techniques from various disciplines including synthetic and medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and cell biology, we are interested in uncovering mechanisms of biased signaling in GPCRs and other receptors, studying epigenetic processes in both humans and parasites, and developing new ligands in un(der)drugged signaling pathways.
Sprague Lab

Stancill, Jennifer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Determining the mechanisms by which pancreatic beta-cells protect themselves from reactive oxygen species and inflammation and how these mechanisms can be leveraged to prevent or treat diabetes.
Stancill Lab 

(Voelkel-)Johnson, Christina, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Cell death, sphingolipids, oxidative stress, gene delivery.

Research Faculty

Bai, Aiping, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor
Medicinal chemistry; computer-aided molecular design; enzyme inhibitors R&D; bioactive sphingolipids synthesis.

Cen, Bo, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor 

Lee, Hyeong-Min
Research Assistant Professor 

Nasarre, Patrick
Research Assistant Professor

Oleinik, Natalia, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor 

Sudarshana Sharma, Ph.D.

Research Associate Professor

Szulc, Zdzislaw, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor
Chemical etiology of sphingolipids structure and functions.

Wang, Dingzhi, Ph.D.
Research Professor

Wei, Jie, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor

Emeritus Faculty

Büllesbach, Erika, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Emeritus
Hormones of insulin-like structure; chemical syntheses and structure-function relations.

Chao, Julie, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Serine proteinase structure-function relationship; purification, molecular cloning, expression, and function of proteinases and proteinase inhibitors; serpin regulation of gene expression

Fernandes, Daniel, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Molecular mechanisms of drug-induced gene amplification. Interactions of anticancer drugs with nuclear matrix proteins, especially DNA topoisomerase II. 

Traktman, Paula Ph.D.
Hirschmann Endowed Professor Emeritus
Vaccinia virus genome replication and virion morphogenesis. The role(s) of the cellular VRK1 protein kinase and BANF1 protein in normal cell function and cancer.

Warr, Gregory W., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Information Theory and its constraints on discrete systems in biology.