MCB Faculty

Professor Albertson specializes in the genetics and evolution of fish

Professor Alfandari specializes in the study of ADAMs, which are cell-surface-Metalloproteases that contain a Disintegrin domain.

Professor Andrews specializes in synthetic biology and genome engineering

Professor Arcaro specializes in the study of breast cancer and in veterinary science

Professor Babbitt specializes in evolutionary genomics

Professor Barresi (Smith College) specializes in the cellular makeup of the embryonic zebrafish brain

Professor Baskin specializes in the regulation of plant morphogenesis during growth and development

Professor Bergan specializes in the ways in which social and defensive stimuli are encoded in the activity of neurons

Professor Emeritus Bittman specializes in Circadian Rhythms, reproduction, and seasonal changes in brain function

Professor Blanchard specializes in microbial cellular and community networks

Professor Chen specializes in computational biochemistry and biophysics

Professor Min Chen specializes in the application of proteins in Biotechnology

Professor Cheung specializes in molecular and cell biology of male-female interaction and polarized cell growth in plant reproduction

Professor Chien specializes in regulated protein degradation in bacterial cell-cycle progression

Professor Chung specializes in studying obesity, brown adipocytes, adipose inflammation, dietary polyphenols, and epigenetics

Professor Clerico specializes in molecular and cellular biology

Professor Cousin specializes in Cranial Neural Crest Migration during Embryonic Development

Faculty

Professor Debold specializes in understanding muscle Myosin's role in Cardiovascular Disease and Muscular Fatigue

Professor Derr (Smith College) specializes in Biophysical and cell biological mechanisms of the cytoskeletal molecular motors dynein and kinesin

Professor Downes specializes in the development and function of spinal cord networks

Professor Eyles specializes in biological mass spectrometry, protein folding and dynamics

Professor Facette specializes in cell polarization and asymmetric cell division; cytoskeletal regulation; cellular physiology

Professor Farkas specializes in Development and Application of Chemical Biology Methods for the Study of Cancer Progression and Metastasis

Professor Fissore specializes in Ca2+ Release Mechanisms in Mammalian Oocytes during Maturation and Fertilization

Professor Flaherty specializes in statistical machine-learning methods for genomic and biomedical data analysis

Professor Forbes specializes in engineering tumor-targeting therapies

Professor Fritz-Laylin specializes in Quantitative Evolutionary Cell Biology

Our lab focuses on the development of gene therapies for neurological disorders and biomaterials innovation to provide long-acting or pulsatile release of biopharmaceutics

Professor Garman specializes in structural biology of glycoproteins in human disease

Professor Gibbons specializes in Genomics, Evolution, and Bioinformatics

Professor Gierasch specializes in protein folding in cells

Professor Goldner specializes in single molecule biophysics

Professor Hardy specializes in designing allosteric pathways in caspases and phosphatases, and in x-ray crystallography

Professor He specializes in the analysis of chemical, physical and biological targets in complex systems

Professor Hebert specializes in Protein Folding, Quality Control and Degradation of Membrane Glycoproteins
In his memory, we are establishing the Daniel N. Hebert Scholarship to honor his legacy. This scholarship will be awarded to an MCB student who exemplifies Daniel’s passion for science, demonstrates strong rigor, and dedication to scientific excellence. He will be profoundly missed by his colleagues, students, and all who had the privilege of knowing him.

*Our objective is to establish an endowed scholarship and therefore gifts will be directed to a pre-endowment fund. If we do not

Professor Heuck specializes in Bacterial Pathogenesis

Professor Karatsoreos specializes in neural and physiological systems that the brain and body use to protect us from harm and adapt to changes in the environment

Professor Jerry specializes in Tumor Suppressor Genes and the Cellular Basis for Susceptibility to Breast Cancer

Professor Jimenez specializes in fluid flow characteristics and fluid flow-dependent biomolecular pathways relevant to diseases and processes in the body.

Professor Kaltashov specializes in Architecture and Dynamics of Transport Proteins

Professor Karlstrom specializes in developmental neurobiology, namely axon guidance and forebrain patterning

Professor Katz (Smith College) specializes in genome evolution and biodiversity studies of microbial eukaryotes

Professor Katz specializes in the structure, function, development, and evolution of molluscan nervous systems.

Professor Kim specializes in studying the impact of nutrients and dietary bioactive components on chronic diseases

Professor Klingbeil specializes in studying the impact of Nutrients and Dietary Bioactive Components on Chronic Diseases

Professor Knapp specializes in Biological and Inorganic Chemistry

Professor Kulkarni specializes in Immunoengineering, Nano-immunotheraputics, Immunotheranostics, Bio-inspired Materials, and Drug Delivery

Professor Lee specializes in studying translational biomaterials and tissue engineering

Professor Liu specializes in Nutrition and Cancer Prevention

Professor Ma specializes in fungal comparative genomics, eukaryotic genome evolution, and organism adaptation

Professor Mafu specializes in the biological chemistry of plant natural products

Professor Mager specializes in Developmental Biology

Professor Maresca specializes in ensuring genomic integrity through cell division

Professor Martin specializes in transcription and Protein-DNA interactions

Professor McLandsborough specializes in the involvement of Bacterial Surface Molecules in attachment to food and Food Processing Surfaces

Professor Miller specializes in Aging, Exercise, Skeletal Muscle, Muscle Mechanics, Sex Differences

Professor Minter specializes in notch signaling in autoimmune diseases

Professor Moore specializes in food microbiology, food and environmental virology, and eukaryotic virus-bacteria interactions

Sarah Moore (Smith College)

Professor Morita specializes in Glycobiology, Biochemistry, and Cell Biology (Mycobacterial Pathogenesis)

Faculty

Professor Muller specializes in using viruses as a tool to understand cell biology

Professor Muthukumar specializes in statistical mechanics of polymers

Coming September 2025

Professor Osborne specializes in Immunoglobulin Gene Diversification

Professor Padilla specializes in sex hormones, feeding behavior and body weight homeostasis, circadian rhythms, and women’s health

Professor Pal specializes in studying synaptic adhesion molecules

Professor Pallas specializes in brain evolution, developmental neurobiology, sensory neurophysiology, synaptic plasticity

The Park Lab is dedicated to advancing our fundamental understanding of cognitive decline associated with aging and age-related neurological conditions, with a specific focus on body-to-brain communication. Our research places a keen emphasis on exploring the roles of platelets and platelet factors in brain/cognitive aging.

Professor Parkash specializes in plant genetic engineering and biotechnology, phytoremediation of soil contaminants

Professor Pobezinsky specializes in working with Non-coding RNAs in the immune system

Professor Rauch specializes in the neurodegenerative protein Tau and its role in disease progression

Professor Remage-Healey specializes in the neural basis of behavior

Professor Richardson specializes in determining the neurobiological mechanisms underlying stress-related disorders using rodent models.

Professor Rotello specializes in making synthetic models of biomolecular activity

Professor Rothchild specializes in examining alveolar macrophages and innate immunity, immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and host-pathogen interactions

Professor Salicioni specializes in working with the molecular mechanisms responsible for sperm function

Professor Sandler specializes in the molecular mechanisms of DNA replication and homologous recombination

Professor Santore specializes in Interfacial Polymer Physics, Dynamics, and Colloidal Phenomena

Professor Schnarr specializes in Polyketide Synthase Engineering

Professor Schwartz specializes in studying molecular mechanisms that mediate programmed cell death

Scordilis’ research interests are in molecular physiology, myogenesis and sexual dimorphism of skeletal muscle. Ordered, regulated movement is one of the distinguishing characteristics of life. In Scordilis’ lab, students attempt to discover how contractility is maintained following repairable muscle damage. Muscle cells are remarkably adaptable; they can atrophy, hypertrophy, remodel depending on environmental stimuli and repair following a damaging event. All of these adaptations involve stress proteins, enzyme signaling cascades and steroid receptors.

Professor Sela specializes in translational research concerning nutrition

Professor Siegrist specializes in studying the adaptation of intracellular pathogens to their host environments

Professor Smith-Schneider specializes in signaling during Mammary Gland Development and Carcinogenesis

Research and develop technology for the delivery of non-ionizing energy that enables ablation or drug delivery to both tumors and healthy living tissue. Mathematical models guide the design of novel medical devices to deliver energy to different locations in the body.

The Staros laboratory focused on mechanisms by which the binding of polypeptide hormones to their cell surface receptors are transduced into signals in the cell and mechanisms by which those signals are regulated. The primary biological systems studied were the ErbB receptor family and their ligands, the archetypes of which are epidermal growth factor (EGF) and its receptor. The Staros group applied methods from protein chemistry, spectroscopy, and molecular biology in these investigations, often employing new chemical and spectroscopic reagents developed in Staros’ laboratory.

Professor Stephens specializes in nuclear mechanics

Professor Stratton specializes in establishing molecular level understanding of proteins that are involved in long-term memory formation

Professor Strieter specializes in working with Protein Post-Translational Modifications

Professor Sun specializes in working with microengineered stem cells and neural organoids models to study human brain development and diseases

Professor Suvorov specializes in studying the effects on behavior by environmental xenobiotics with endocrine disruptive properties

Professor Tew specializes in Supramolecular Polymer Science

Professor Thayumanavan specializes in biomimetic organic molecules and polymers

Professor Thompson specializes in examining the structure and mechanism of Membrane Proteins

Professor Timme-Laragy specializes in developmental toxicology of environmental contaminants, transcription-factor-mediated antioxidant defenses, pancreatic B-cell development

Professor Tremblay specializes in Stem Cells and Developmental Biology

Professor Tyler specializes in using the model grass Brachypodium distachyon to understand development and bioenergy traits.

Professor Vachet specializes in Bioanalytical Chemistry

Professor Visconti specializes in examining Signal Transduction Pathways during Sperm Capacitation

Professor Walker specializes in molecular genetic approaches to studying mechanisms of metal ion homeostasis in plants

Professor Wang specializes in designing mechanisms of symbiosis between plant hosts and beneficial microbes

Professor White-Ziegler specializes in the Environmental Regulation of Gene Expression in Escherichia coli

Professor Williams (Smith College) specializes in Molecular Biology, namely that of Human Parasitic Diseases/Genome Projects

Professor Witkowski specializes in Molecular Mechanisms Contributing to Deleterious changes in Myocardial and Vascular Tissue

Professor Wu specializes in Molecular Biology of Plant Development

Our research lab is interested in exploring the fascinating world of RNA and leveraging our understanding to advance therapeutics. While over 75% of the human genome is actively transcribed into RNAs, less than 5% of these RNAs are used for coding proteins. Therefore, a major question arises: What are the functions of the RNAs that are not coding proteins? To answer this question, we invent cutting-edge molecular tools to track when RNAs are being transcribed, how they are trafficked within cells, and what other biomolecules they encounter during their life cycle. Our goal is to decipher the

Professor Xiao specializes in Cancer Preventative Dietary Components, and Diet-based strategies for cancer prevention

Professor You specializes in DNA/RNA nanotechnology, bioimaging and biosensing