Sofie Salama and David Haussler standing in lab

Faculty

PBSE Faculty

Over sixty faculty members, primarily from the Departments of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, participate in the overall program. Faculty overlap is considerable in the four interdisciplinary training tracks – Biomolecular Engineering and Bioinformatics (BMEB), Chemical Biology, Biochemistry, and Biophysics (CB3), Microbial Biology and Pathogenesis (METX), and Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology (MCDB). All PBSE training faculty members are listed below. For faculty listings specific to each training track, use the quicklinks above.

FacultyResearch Interests
Joshua ArribereCellular quality control of gene expression
Vicki Auerbuch-StoneInnate Immune Responses to the Human Pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
Needhi BhallaMeiotic Chromosome Dynamics
Hinrich BoegerChromatin Structure and Gene Regulation
David BoydViral immunology, respiratory viruses, stromal cells, lung biology, lung extracellular matrix
Angela BrooksTranscriptome Analysis of RNA Splicing and Cancer
Manel CampsUse of Random Mutagenesis for Studies of Evolution and for Therapy
Susan CarpenterLong Noncoding RNA and Innate Immunity
Raquel Chamorro-GarciaEpigenetic mechanisms of genome-environment interactions and transgenerational inheritance in mouse models
Bin ChenMammalian Brain Development
Bradley ColquittMolecular mechanisms of behavioral development and evolution
Russell Corbett-DetigPopulation and Evolutionary Genomics, Bioinformatics
Valerie CortezRNA viruses, epithelial biology, and mucosal immunology
Rebecca DuboisStructure, Function, and Engineering of Virus Proteins
Lars Fehren-SchmitzHuman Palaeogenomics & Molecular Anthropology
David FeldheimThe Generation of Neural Connections
Camilla ForsbergMechanisms of Stem Cell Fate Decisions
Oliver FregosoLentiviral replication & evolution, innate immunity, DNA damage & repair
Ed GreenGenome Sequence Assembly and Comparative Genome Analysis
Carol GreiderTelomerase and Telomere Length Regulation
Grant HartzogHow Chromatin Influences Transcription
David HausslerBioinformatics, Computational Genomic Data Analysis, Molecular Evolution and Comparative Genomics
Lindsay HinckCellular Interactions During Organogenesis and Tumorigenesis
Ted HolmanBiochemical and Inhibitory Investigations into Lipoxygenase: a Possible Therapeutic for Stroke, Diabetes and Heart Disease
Alexander IoannidisComputational genomics, precision health and machine learning in medicine
Tim JohnstoneMedicinal bioinorganic chemistry; synthetic inorganic chemistry; nanoparticle drug delivery; inorganic spectroscopy; small-molecule X-ray crystallography; mammalian and microbiological cell culture
Vanessa JonssonComputational systems immunology; Virus and antibody evolution; Treatment Optimization
Melissa JuricaStructure and Functional Analysis of Spliceosomes
Rohinton KamakakaChromosome Structure and Gene Regulation
Doug KelloggControl of Cell Growth and Size
Marm KilpatrickEcology of Infectious Diseases and Population Biology
Daniel H. KimEpigenomic Reprogramming by Long Noncoding RNA
Euiseok KimConnectivity, function, development, and genetic identity of neural circuits
Jacqueline KimmeyHost pathogen interactions and dynamics in Streptococcus pneumoniae infection
Audrie LinRole of the exposome in the biological embedding of childhood adversity
Sarah LoerchStructure and function of RNA-protein complexes, electron cryo-microscopy, biochemistry and biophysics, image processing
R. Scott LokeyChemical Biology, Cyclic Peptides, Small Molecule Screening
Todd LoweComputational and Experimental Discovery of Non-coding RNAs, Microbial Genomics, Extremophile Biology
John MacMillanNatural products chemistry, chemical biology, structural elucidation, cancer biology, microbial natural products
Shaun McKinnieDiscovery and application of natural product biosynthetic enzymology and chemistry
Jaron MercerSynthetic organic chemistry, protein evolution, chemical biology
Karen MigaCentromere sequence characterization, satellite DNA evolution, epigenetic annotation of repeat-rich regions
Glenn MillhauserPrions, Metallobiochemistry, Agouti and Melanocortin Signaling, Total Protein Synthesis
Karen OttemannThe Molecular Virulence Factors of Helicobacter pylori
Carrie PartchMolecular Mechanisms of Circadian Rhythmicity
Benedict PatenGenome Analysis and Precision Medicine
Michael PatnodeDefining competitive relationships among members of the human gut microbiota as it relates to carbohydrate metabolism
Nader PourmandSingle Cell Analysis and Manipulation, Biosensor, Nanotechnology, DNA Sequencing
Matthew RomeroSkeletal muscle biology, epigenetic regulation and metabolism
Seth RubinBiochemical Mechanisms in Cell Growth and Division
Shelbi RussellSymbiosis, evolutionary genetics, molecular evolution, developmental biology, cell biology
Sofie SalamaMolecular biology, Cell Biology, Stem Cells, Genomics, Neurobiology, Development, Cancer
Chad SaltikovUnderstanding the Molecular Biology and Ecology of Bacteria that Metabolize Toxic Metals
Laura SanchezMass spectrometry, small molecule communication, natural products, microbial communities, cancer
Jeremy SanfordPost Transcriptional Control of Gene Expression
Beth ShapiroInferring the Evolutionary Dynamics of Species and Populations Using Genome-scale Data Sampled Over Time
Tal SharfMapping human neuronal circuitry
Ali ShariatiCell division cycle, cellular differentiation, cell fate decision, genome engineering, pluripotency, stem cells, transcription, chromatin
Upasna SharmaEpigenetics, RNA, chromatin and transcriptional regulation, reproduction, genomes
Alexander SherNeural Circuits: Function, Development, and Treatment
Madeline SherlockTranslation regulation by viral RNA structures
Shaheen SikandarFunctional Heterogeneity Among Normal and Cancer Stem Cells
Marilou Sison-MangusMicrobial Ecology, Evolutionary Biology
Aleksandra SkrajnaWe are using interdisciplinary approaches, including proteomics and cryo-EM to study chromatin structure and function.
Donald SmithMolecular and Functional impacts of Neurotoxic Agents
Michael StoneStructure and Dynamics of Telomeres and Telomerase
Josh StuartComputational Functional Genomics, with Application to Integrative Analysis of Cancer
Bill SullivanCell Cycle, Cytoskeleton, and Host-pathogen Interactions
Mircea TeodorescuRobotics, bioengineering and bioelectronics
Olena VaskeGenomics of pediatric cancers and rare diseases
Christopher VollmersDNA Sequencing Tools for the Analysis of B cells
Zhu WangProstate Development and Cancer, Tissue Stem Cells
Jordan WardProbing C. elegans development, cellular differentiation, and parasitic disease
Andy YehProtein design/engineering for molecular probes and biosensors
Fitnat YildizMolecular Mechanisms of Biofilm Formation in Vibrio cholerae
Yi ZuoSynapse Plasticity and Learning/Memory
PBSE Faculty
Last modified: Aug 01, 2025