BMMB Graduate Program
Graduate Faculty
Graduate Faculty
- Mechanisms and functions of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes and their place in genome regulation.
- Regulation of gene expression by RNA structure and RNA-binding proteins.
- Chromatin structure and its role in gene regulation.
- Attaining a molecular level understanding of RNA in biology.
- The study of the structural differences between members of large metalloenzyme superfamilies that share common features but promote different reactions or use distinct cofactors.
- Genomics, structural and functional relationships, metabolism, physiology and ecology of chlorophototrophic bacteria.
- The understanding of the relationship between the structures and catalytic mechanisms of enzymes that employ such clusters, and to elucidate the biochemical mechanisms by which the proteins acquire their clusters.
- Elucidating the chemical mechanisms by which enzymes containing iron-sulfur clusters catalyze chemical reactions.
- The exploitation of linear and non-linear vibrational spectroscopies to follow the interactions of ions with peptides, proteins, and macromolecules.
- The study the enzymology and molecular biology of anaerobic microbes from the Archaea domain.
- Genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Biophysical studies of electron transfer mechanisms in photosynthetic prokaryotes.
- We use Drosophila as a model system for employing a multifaceted approach to study mechanisms of transcriptional regulation.
- The utilization of biochemical, molecular genetics, and spectroscopic approaches to decipher mechanisms of cellulose biosynthesis.
- We use genetic and metabolomics approaches in C. elegans to model inborn errors of metabolism and probe the molecular links between metabolic perturbations and animal behavior and physiology.
- Epigenetic and genomic approaches for the systematic study of eukaryotic gene regulation.
- A structural approach to learn more about viral infectivity, tropism, evolution and pathogenicity.
- The understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the replication and assembly of flaviviruses and alphaviruses.
- We use Petunia inflata as a model to study biochemical, molecular, and structural bases of a self/non-self recognition mechanism between pollen and pistil adopted by flowering plants to prevent in breeding and promote outcrossing.
- Protein quality control, ribosome rescue, and new antibiotics.
- Structural biology of catalytic ribonucleoprotein complexes.
- The elucidation of the reaction mechanisms by which mono- and dinuclear non-heme-iron enzymes activate dioxygen (O2) for a wide variety of oxidative transformations.
- Growth Control and Cancer Genetics
- Computational analysis of protein structure, function, genomics and evolution.
- The coupling of molecular parasitology and structural biology to study the malaria parasite.
- The combination of tools from functional genomics, molecular biology, computational biology, biochemistry, and metabolomics to understand the fundamental molecular mechanisms underlying the development of this parasite.
- Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric disorders as well as mechanisms of antidepressant drug therapies.
- We build machine learning applications to understand how transcription factors control cellular identity.
- Developing computer science techniques for analysis of biological data and on answering fundamental biological questions using such methods.
- Bacterial cell envelope biosynthesis.
- We use microbial genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology approaches to determine the molecular mechanisms that enable bacteria to establish symbiosis with a eukaryotic host. The model system is the symbiosis formed between the bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri and the Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes. Our primary interests in this system include quorum sensing, contact-dependent killing mechanisms, and sulfur metabolism.
- We apply cryo-EM and X-ray crystallography techniques to reveal three-dimensional structures of DNA and RNA polymerases for elucidating the mechanisms of DNA replication and RNA transcription.
- Visit my website to learn more about my research.
- The structural mechanisms of signaling and regulation in protein complexes.
- Understanding the host-metabolite-microbiota communication network‚ specifically how the manipulation of gut microbiota by diet and/or xenobiotics impacts host metabolites (e.g., bile acids, short chain fatty acids), their metabolism, and how these co-metabolites interact with host ligand-activated transcription factors.
- The mechanism of tissue regeneration using the response to anemia as a model system.
- The biochemical pathway of AHR activation and characterized species difference in AHR mediated transcriptional activation of target genes.
- The role of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in the regulation of homeostasis, toxicology and carcinogenesis.
- We use molecular biology approaches to study the intriguing TonB system in E. coli, a virulence factor for Gram-negative pathogens that uses energy from the inner membrane for active transport across the outer membrane.
- Stress-induced gene expression and UV resistance pathways, Regulation of mRNAs from birth to death during stress responses, Targeted protein degradation during transcriptional stress and How RNA Polymerase II contends with barriers throughout the genome.
- The Rolls lab aims to understand how neurons generate axons and dendrites with different microtubule organization, and how neurons respond to injury. Current projects focus on mechanisms that control microtubule polarity and dynamics and mechanisms that promote neuronal regeneration.
- We study the signal transduction and vesicular trafficking processes that promote migration in epithelial cells. We seek to understand the role of these processes in normal homeostasis and in pathological processes.
- Nervous system development and molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders.
- The use of solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, in combination with thermodynamic analysis, chemical biology, and cellular assays to advance understanding of protein function.
- Understanding the consequences of HSV latency for the neurons that harbor the HSV pathogen and the search for improved therapeutics using a combination of virology, neurobiology, next generation sequencing technologies, and bioinformatics.
- The understanding of how genes are regulated by combining genetic, biochemical and structural descriptions.
- The role of the cortical actin cytoskeleton in cell polarity and morphogenesis.
- The understanding of how the globin coupled sensor protein family senses oxygen and transmits the binding signal into downstream events.
- Elucidating molecular structures relevant to chemists, biochemists, material scientists etc. and educating graduate students embarking in these fields, the technique of X-ray diffraction (crystal growth, data collection and structure solution and refinement, and interpretation).
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