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The Biochemistry faculty has a wide range of research interests from cell biology to molecular biophysics. Primary faculty have their main affiliation with the Department of Biochemistry and are based within the department. This includes faculty members in the Center for RNA Science and Therapeutics.   Secondary faculty have their main affiliation with other departments or centers. Students can thus work in virtually any field in current biomedical research.

Primary Faculty

Faculty Member Area of Research
Ryan Arvidson Bioinformatics-based approaches to understanding nervous system circuitry and signaling.
Kaixiang Cao Elucidating mechanisms underlying stem cell differentiation and mammalian development with genetic, epigenetic, and genomic approaches.
J. Alan Diehl Cell cycle regulation and ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation; integrated stress response and ncRNAs in regulation of the circadian clock and tumorigenesis.
Thomas Gerken Biosynthesis of O-linked glycans.
Jonatha Gott Mechanistic studies of RNA editing in Physarum mitochondria.
Nathan Howell Specificity of tRNA modifying enzymes
Eckhard Jankowsky Molecular Mechanisms of RNA Helicases
Hung-Ying Kao Mechanisms controlling signaling networks and gene expression in breast cancer.
Xiao Li RNA systems biology in precision medicine
Joseph Luna Systems biology of RNA virus infections, RNA sensing and metabolism
William C. Merrick Mechanism and regulation of eukaryotic protein biosynthesis.
David Samols The mammalian response to inflammation; function and regulation of the acute phase reactant, C-reactive protein.
William P. Schiemann Molecular mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis, metastatic dormancy, and metastastic relapse
Boaz Tirosh Stress signaling in cancer and immunity
Focco van den Akker Structure-function and inhibitor design studies to combat antibiotic resistance.
Susan Wang Mechanistic studies of radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine enzymes.
Vivien C. Yee Structure-function studies of enzymes and prion proteins using X-ray crystallography.
Yi Zhang Molecular basis of cellular pathways important for human health and disease biology, including selective autophagy, chromatin regulation and dynamics, and biomolecular condensates.

RNA Center Faculty

Faculty Member Area of Research
Jonatha Gott Mechanistic studies of RNA editing in Physarum mitochondria.
Eckhard Jankowsky Molecular Mechanisms of RNA Helicases
Joseph Luna Systems biology of RNA virus infections, RNA sensing and metabolism
Xiao Li RNA systems biology in precision medicine

Secondary Faculty

Faculty Member Area of Research
Kristian Baker Mechanisms of the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay.
Nathan Berger PolyADP-ribose metabolism in DNA repair and replication.
Robert Bonomo β-lactamases and antibiotic resistance.
Henri Brunengraber Nutritional Biochemistry.
David Buchner Epigenetics, gene expression, obesity and diabetes, insulin signaling, glucose.
Magdalena Grabowska Prostate cancer.
Vincent Hascall Structure, function and metabolism of proteoglycans and hyaluronan in connective tissues.
Faramarz Ismail-Beigi Diabetes, thyroid disease.
Jonathan Karn HIV, AIDS, transcription, chromatin, retroviral vectors.
Anton Komar Protein synthesis, protein folding and translational control of gene expression in eukaryotic cells.
Donal Luse Eukaryotic gene transcription and RNA polymerase.
Vincent Monnier Biochemistry of aging.
Krisztina Papp-Wallace β-lactamases and antibiotic resistance.
Paul Park Mechanism of action of rhodopsin and other G protein-coupled receptors.
Jun Qin Biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, signal transduction.
Parameswaran Ramakrishnan Regulation of signal transduction in health and disease: autoimmune diabetes, inflammatory diseases and cancer.
Ganes Sen Mammalian gene expression anantiotensin-converting enzyme and interferon.
Robert Silverman Role of the OAS-RNase L pathway in antiviral innate immunity and cancer.
Marion J. Skalweit Mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance.
Jonathan Stamler Redox-based cellular regulation and signal transduction, and in particular the role of protein S-nitrosylation.
Derek Taylor Structure and molecular mechanisms of macromolecular machines involved in DNA maintenance and RNA maturation and biogenesis.
Saba Valadkhan Role of the mammalian long non-coding RNAs in neurogenesis and cancer.
Martina Veigl DNA repair, mutation analysis in bacterial and mammalian gene targets, mutagenic effects of nucleotide pool imbalance, colon cancer, genetic susceptibility, environmental mutagens.
Jordan Winter Adaptation of pancreatic cancer cells to a nutrient deprived microenvironment and other forms of cancer-associated stress

Emeriti Faculty

Faculty Member Area of Research
Paul Carey Protein-ligand interaction and Raman spectroscopy.
Pieter deHaseth Mechanism of RNA polymerase-DNA interactions.
Nikki Harter Molecular mechanisms of adult stem cells and the transformation of melanocytes.
Nelson F. B. Phillips Biochemical mechanisms of tissue-specific transcription factors.
Marianne Pusztai-Carey Structure and function of the insecticidal proteins expressed by the Bacillus thuringiensis family.
Menachem Shoham Drug discovery against infectious diseases, heart disease and cancer.
Martin Snider Intracellular movement of cell-surface receptors during endocytosis.
Jo Ann Wise Mechanism and regulation of pre-mRNA splicing in S. pombe.

Other Biochemistry Trainers

Faculty Member Area of Research
Timothy Chan Genomic analysis to characterize the drivers of genetic programs underlying immunotherapy and oncogenesis
Afshin Dowlati Biology of thoracic malignancies, with emphasis on translational aspects of drug development.
Maria Hatzoglou Molecular mechanisms of the cellular response to stresses, including inflammation and diabetes.
Blanton Tolbert Molecular mechanisms used by RNA viruses to express their genomes