FACULTY

Hank W. Bass Meiosis in higher plants; telomere dynamics; molecular cytology; maize genomics. Brian P. Chadwick   X chromosome inactivation; chromatin organization; epigenetic gene regulation. P. Bryant Chase   Biomechanics of cardiac and skeletal muscle. Wu-Min Deng   Cell-cell communication, cell-extracellular martix interaction, Cell Polarity, Drosophila genetics and development, Drosophila model for muscular dystrophy. Jonathan H. Dennis   The biology of chromatin involved in the innate immune response. W. Ross Ellington   Biochemical adaptation; enzyme structure, function, and evolution. Peter Fajer   Muscle contraction; structure-function of proteins; cellular physiology.

David Gilbert   Eukaryotic Chromosome Replication and Genome Plasticity. Laura R. Keller Molecular genetics; signal transduction and regulation of gene expression. Thomas C.S. Keller   Cell and molecular biology of the cytoskeleton; cytoskeleton regulation and energetics. Steven Lenhert   Lipid membranes; cell-surface interactions; bionanotechnology. Thomas M. Roberts   Cell motility and the cytoskeleton. Kenneth A. Taylor  Macromolecular structure determination by 3-D electron microscopy; muscle, cytoskeleton and cell adhesion structure. Hong-Guo Yu Chromosome structural formation, meiotic recombination and genomic integrity.

Research groups offering graduate training in the area of Cell Structure, Function, and Motility focus their research efforts on understanding the molecular morphology and dynamics of nuclei, flagella, muscle, and nonmuscle cell motility systems. These groups use a variety of experimental approaches (e.g., sophisticated light & electron microscopy, molecular biology, genetics, protein biochemistry, NMR) to gain greater understanding of the structural components, molecular organization, assembly, and movement of dynamic systems in vertebrate and invertebrate animal cells, plant cells, and unicellular algae. The individual labs are well equipped and focused on graduate training. Graduate students are encouraged to use state-of-the-art equipment in the departmental Biological Science Imaging Resource (BSIR), Molecular Cloning Facility, Hybridoma Facility, and at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory for their research projects.