Department of Biological Science

Erdem Bangi
My laboratory takes a novel and innovative approach to studying colorectal cancer by leveraging sophisticated genetic tools and practical advantages of Drosophila. We build, study and drug-screen Drosophila cancer models that reflect the complexity and diversity of sequenced human tumors.

Hank W. Bass
Meiosis in higher plants; telomere dynamics; molecular cytology; maize chromatin, nuclease sensitivity profiling, G4-DNA, and genome replication. Work primarily on maize.

Hongchang Cui
Cell fate specification and reprogramming in plants; evolutionary and developmental biology; plant-environment interaction; genomics and epigenomics; proteomics; molecular genetics.

Jonathan H. Dennis
The biology of chromatin involved in the innate immune response.

Debra A. Fadool
Structure and Function of Ion Channel Proteins; Signal Transduction and Neuromodulation by Phosphorylation; Impact of Obesity and Diabetes mellitus on Olfactory and Sensory Processes

James M. Fadool
Using zebrafish as an model system, we investigate genetic & cellular mechanisms regulating photoreceptor development, patterning, retinal degeneration and regeneration.

Jian Feng
Epigenetic regulation of neuropsychiatric disorders

Ashwanth Francis
Structure-function studies of virus cell biology. We use live-cell imaging and cryo-EM to uncover mechanisms of virus transport, virus disassembly, nuclear pore interactions and virus compartmentalization inside the nucleus of living cells

Peter Fraser
Dynamic changes in chromatin and chromosome architecture regulates patterns of cellular gene expression during differentiation and development, or in response to environmental signals. Our research looks at various levels of chromatin, chromosome and nuclear structure, from individual nucleosome modifications to the dynamic 3D structure of chromosomes and their inter-relationships in the nucleus and how they affect genome functions.

David Houle
I am an evolutionary geneticist, studying the relationship between genomic and phenotypic variation. Now that we have genomes, we need a comparably thorough understanding of phenomes to understand the selection that acts on genetic variation. Our models are the appendages of fruit flies, where we exploit genomic variation, direct manipulation of genes and experimental evolution to understand how the developmental system shapes variation, and ultimately the ability of complex systems to evolve.

Kimberly A. Hughes
Why are organisms are so genetically diverse? This is the broad question on which my lab focuses. In particular, we want to understand how variation is maintained in traits that are under strong natural selection: life history traits, sexually selected traits, and other traits closely tied to fitness. We use a variety of approaches to investigate these issues ranging from field experiments to genomic analyses.

Kathryn M. Jones
I study the symbiotic interaction of nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria with legume host plants: 1)How bacteria manipulate their environment during host plant invasion such that the plant not only permits entry, but provides an invasion pathway for them; 2)Why the interactions of specific strains of Sinorhizobium with particular Medicago truncatula plant ecotypes are more productive than others; 3)How plants direct resources to productive symbionts at the expense of unproductive ones (cheaters).

Emily Lemmon
Research in our lab focuses on the study of speciation, from the earliest stages where populations start to diverge to the final stages where reproductive isolation evolves. We are also involved in accelerating resolution of the Tree of Life, through development of next-generation sequencing approaches for phylogenomics and population genomics.

Lisa C. Lyons
We are interested in the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which sleep and the circadian clock affect neural plasticity from drug tolerance to long-term memory. We use Drosophila melanogaster and mice for our research with sleep deprivation.

Karen M. McGinnis
Epigenetic gene regulation in maize.

Guangxia Miao
My lab focuses on complex cell behavior, specifically the movements of cells from one place to another. We use fruit fly as the model system.

Darin R Rokyta
I study the genetics of adaptation, primarily in the context of the coevolution between venomous animals and their prey. My research group studies the venoms of snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and spiders, and we are interested in how the genetics of traits influence their evolutionary trajectories.

M. Elizabeth Stroupe
The Stroupe laboratory uses cryogenic electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography to discover fundamental mechanisms in ribosome biogenesis and sulfur metabolism.

Hengli Tang
Virus-host cell interactions; Stem cell-based models for viral infections; Cell biology of flavivirus replication.

Hong-Guo Yu
Using gametogenesis as a model to study cellular rejuvenation; mechanisms of chromosome tethering at the nuclear envelope

Fanxiu Zhu
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV); viral evasion of the host innate immune responses; viral modulation of the host kinase signaling pathways; role and assembly of KSHV tegument proteins.