Department: Biology (School of Humanities and Sciences)

We use genetic, genomic and cell biological approaches to study cell fate acquisition, focusing on cases where cell fate is correlated with asymmetric cell division.

I am interested in how environmental variation affects life history traits, population structure and dynamics, and species interactions in ecological and evolutionary time, using Lepidoptera.

My research focuses on analyzing genome wide patterns of variation within and between species to address fundamental questions in biology, anthropology, and medicine. My group works on a variety of organisms and model systems ranging from humans and other primates to domesticated plant and animals. Much of our research is at the interface of computational biology, mathematical genetics, and evolutionary genomics.

Cells respond to extracellular changes by activating signal transduction pathways, many of which are highly conserved. We study Ca2+-mediated signaling in a simple eukaryote, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Using genetic, genomic, biochemical and cell biological approaches, we are examining how the Ca2+/calmodulin-regulated phosphatase, calcineurin, regulates gene expression and other cellular processes in response to environmental stress.

Ecological and evolutionary aspects of plant-animal interactions, largely but not exclusively, in tropical forest ecosystems. Conservation biology in tropical ecosystems. Studies on biodiversity. Education, at all levels, on biodiversity conservation.

In the course of evolution,two of the strongest selective forces in nature,light and sex, have left their mark on living organisms. I am interested in how the development and function of the nervous system reflects these events. In the visual system, we are studying the cellular basis of retinal development. In the reproductive system, we have indentified a collection of cells in the brain containing gonodotropin releasing hormone(GnRH)

Watching cells at work Focus: Transport / signaling across the plasma membrane (sugars, amino acids). Tools: FRET-based nanosensors for metabolite imaging (with subcellular resolution) in living organisms using confocal fluorescence microscopy and HTS; Sensor optimization by computational design; RNAi to modify cellular functions. Goals: Identify unknown sugar effluxers from liver/plant cells; study regulatory networks. Model systems: liver, neuronal, plant cell cultures, Arabidopsis, yeast

The long term goal of our research is to understand how proteins fold in living cells. My lab uses a multidisciplinary approach to address fundamental questions about molecular chaperones, protein folding and degradation. In addition to basic mechanistic principles, we aim to define how impairment of cellular folding and quality control are linked to disease, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases and examine whether reengineering chaperone networks can provide therapeutic strategies.

Ecological and evolutionary community assembly, with emphasis on historical contingency in community structure, ecosystem functioning, biological invasion and ecological restoration, using experimental, theoretical and comparative methods involving bacteria, protists, fungi, plants and animals.

We study the molecular mechanisms by which chromatin-signaling networks effect nuclear and epigenetic programs, and how dysregulation of these pathways leads to disease. Our work centers on the biology of lysine methylation, a principal chromatin-regulatory mechanism that directs epigenetic processes. We study how lysine methylation events are generated, sensed, and transduced, and how these chemical marks integrate with other nuclear signaling systems to govern diverse cellular functions.

The research of Elizabeth Hadly probes how perturbations such as climatic change influence the evolution and ecology of Neogene vertebrates.

Our current research focuses in two principal areas: 1. The molecular basis for diseases in which the pathway of transcription-coupled DNA repair is defective, including Cockyne syndrome (CS) and UV-sensitive syndrome (UVSS). Patients are severely sensitive to sunlight but get no cancers. See Hanawalt & Spivak, 2008, for review. 2. Transcription arrest by guanine-rich DNA sequences and non-canonical secondary structures. Transcription collisions with replication forks.

Neurobiology of sleep, circadian rhythms, regulation of body temperature, mammalian hibernation, and human exercise physiology. Currently applying background in sleep and circadian neurobiology the understanding and correcting the learning disability of Down Syndrome.

Dr. Jones' research has focused on genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that regulate immune responses. Current work focuses on innate immune responses, triggered by conserved microbial components. As these responses can be harmful they are highly regulated in their occurrence, magnitude, and duration. Her lab has discovered a novel mechanism that negatively regulates innate responses, mediated by the phosphatase calcineurin.

Our research is concerned with elucidating the basic cellular molecular mechanisms that underly the recognition and destruction of misfolded or mis-assembled proteins in eukaryotic cells. We study dominatly inherited human neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's, Huntington's or Parkinson's diseases that are caused by the failure of this system to effectively recognize and destroy such proteins.

Function and evolution of the Myb oncogene family; function and evolution of E2F transcriptional regulators and RB tumor suppressors; epigenetic regulation of chromatin and chromosomes; cancer genetics.

We are studying how neural circuits are assembled during development, and how they contribute to sensory perception. We are addressing these questions at different levels from molecular, cellular, circuit to animal behavior. We are primarily using Drosophila as a model organism for our studies. Most recently, we are also developing novel genetic tools in the mouse to extend our studies to the mammalian brain.

The McConnell Lab studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the development of the mammalian cerebral cortex. Our work focuses on the earliest events that pattern the developing forebrain, enable neural progenitors to divide asymmetrically to generate young neurons, propel the migration of postmitotic neurons outward into their final positions, and sculpt the fates and phenotypes of the neurons as they differentiate.

Our research interests are to elucidate the contribution of chromatin to mechanisms that promote genomic integrity.

My laboratory investigates how bacterial pathogens employ proteins secreted by the type III secretion system (TTSS) to manipulate eukaryotic signaling to promote disease. We study TTSS effectors in the plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris, the causal agent of bacterial spot disease of pepper and tomato. For these studies, we apply biochemical, cell biological, and genetic approaches using the natural hosts and two model pathosystems.

Our research objectives are to understand the cellular mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of epithelial cell polarity. Polarized epithelial cells play fundamental roles in the ontogeny and function of a variety of tissues and organs.

Research in the lab addresses problems in evolutionary biology and human genetics through a combination of mathematical modeling, computer simulations, development of statistical methods, and inference from population-genetic data. Our current work covers topics such as human genetic variation, inference of human evolutionary history, the role of population genetics in the search for disease-susceptibility genes, the relationship of gene trees and species trees, and mathematical pr..