Faculty Trainers
| Name | Primary Department Affiliation | Research Program |
| Ahmad, Nihal | Dermatology | Our research interests include two broad areas of investigation; i) mechanism of cancer development and identification of molecular targets for intervention, and ii) chemoprevention of cancer by naturally occurring non-toxic agents including dietary and herbal agents, vitamins and hormones. |
| Albertini, Mark R. | Medicine | My research is intended to provide a critical link between the basic science of T-cell recognition and the initiation of a cancer gene therapy trial to stimulate anti-melanoma T-cell immunity in melanoma patients. |
| Albrecht, Ralph | Animal Sciences | Antibody targeted, inductively heated core/shell nanoparticles to selectively remove unwanted cell type in vitro and in vivo. High resolution labels for simultaneous multiple labeling in correlative microscopy. Platelet structure and function; Receptor-ligand-cytoskeleton interactions; Microvascular development; Biomaterial biocompatibility; Immunotoxicology /organophosphates. immunoactivity; Imaging, immunolabeling, and correlative microscopy. |
| Assadi, Admir | Mathematics | Computational analysis of genomic/proteomic data and mathematical modeling of mechanisms of disease. Recent topics include: Diabetic Retinopathy, Angiogenesis, systems biology of TB-infected cells. In addition, we are interested in modeling mechanisms of healthy functions in the nervous system, with emphasis on vision, cortical information coding and decision-making. |
| Baker-Herman, Tracy | Comparative Biosciences | Homeostatic plasticity in respiratory control; cellular and synaptic mechanisms underlying inactivity-induced plasticity in phrenic motor neurons; neural control of breathing following developmental inflammation. |
| Bernard, Kristen | Pathobiological Sciences | Viral pathogenesis of West Nile virus and other arthropod-borne viruses. We use molecular virologic techniques in combination with in vitro and in vivo models to further our understanding of how the virus causes disease, including its effect on the immune and nervous systems during the initial infection and after recovery. Other areas of research include the interaction of the virus, host, and mosquito and the development of new therapies and vaccines. |
| Bjorling, Dale E | Surgical Sciences | Inflammation of the bladder due to non-infectious causes; control of smooth muscle tone by neuropeptides . |
| Brownfield, Mark | Comparative Biosciences | Neuroendocrinology of cardiovascular and renal regulatory hormones; chemical anatomy; physiological regulation and pharmacological effects on the secretion of pituitary, adrenal, and renal hormones. |
| Burlingham, William | Surgery | Transplantation research; acquired immunologic tolerance; graft acceptance by studying transplant recipients who have survived even though they have stopped taking immunosuppressive drugs. |
| Carey, Hannah V | Comparative Biosciences | Gastrointestinal physiology in hibernating mammals and piglets. Use of hibernation as a natural model for superior tolerance to extreme physiologic conditions, including cold storage of organs prior to transplantation and ischemia/reperfusion injury. Role of stress proteins in intestinal physiology. Development of a piglet model for necrotizing enterocolitis. |
| Christensen, Bruce | Pathobiological Sciences | How a particular mosquito species initiates an immune response capable of killing an ingested pathogen and, likewise, how certain parasites are capable of overcoming this response and developing to the infective stage. Of primary interest are investigations of (1) the melanotic encapsulation immune response of mosquitoes against filarial worms, (2) cellular aspects of the innate immune response of mosquitoes, with special emphasis on evaluation of the transcriptome of phagocytosing hemocytes, (3) the biochemical characterization and genetic regulation of chitin synthesis during peritrophic membrane formation in the midgut of mosquitoes and how this might play a role in vector competence, and (4) clarifying the role mosquito immunity plays in vector competence and the epidemiology of Anopheles mosquitoes that transmit both Wuchereria bancrofti and malaria parasites to humans in Papua New Guinea. |
| Colley, Nansi Jo | Opthalmology | Molecular genetic approaches for identifying novel loci involved in photoreceptor cell function and inherited retinal degeneration diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. |
| Collins, Michael T | Pathobiological Sciences | Johne's disease: a prevalent, infectious and usually fatal disease primarily affecting ruminants (cattle, sheep, goats, deer, bison, etc.). Research focuses on its detection and epidemiology. |
| Czuprynski, Charles | Pathobiological Sciences | Immunoregulation of antibacterial resistance; phagocyte biology; cytokines; listeriosis; pasteurellosis; Johne's disease; inflammatory bowel disease; apoptosis in endothelial cells; bone marrow toxicology. |
| Darien, Benjamin | Medical Sciences | Hemostasis and microvascular injury: Investigations on the mechanisms by which heparin oligosaccharides alter the function of inflammatory cells, and their effects on lung biology and pathology during inflamation. |
| Davis, Dawn Belt | Medicine (Endocrinology) | Mechanisms that regulate pancreatic beta cell mass in response to obesity and other forms of insulin resistance. This research has implications for the understanding and treatment of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. |
| Dopfer, Dorte | Medical Sciences | Veterinary epidemiology, microbiology, applied mathematical modeling for food safety and production medicine, especially cattle as a reservoir for verotoxinogenic Escherichia coli (VTECs) and lameness in cattle. |
| Dubielzig, Richard | Pathobiological Sciences | Characterization of ocular sarcomas in cats that occur in traumatized eyes, characterization of the proliferative response following severe ocular trauma in dogs and cats, classification of ocular and dental neoplasms, and the morphological changes seen in spontaneous glaucoma. |
| Duncan, Ian | Medical Sciences | Myelination of the central nervous system (CNS) and the study of mutant animals in which this complex developmental process is disrupted. Transplantation of glial cells into the CNS of the myelin mutants to study glial cell function, and the ability of grafted cells to myelinate host axons. |
| Elfarra, Adnan | Comparative Biosciences | Characterization of drug metabolizing enzymes, species and tissue differences in bioactivation and detoxification reactions, cellular and biochemical mechanisms of toxicity, blood protein and DNA modifications as biomarkers of exposures to chemical toxicants and carcinogens, and design of new prodrugs for cancer chemotherapy. |
| Fadl, Amin | Animal Sciences | Research is focused on molecular pathogenesis and regulation of virulence genes of Salmonella, host-pathogen interaction, immune and inflammatory signaling triggered by microbial components. |
| Fernandez, Luis | Surgery | Iimproving the quality and insulin secretory capacity of human islets for transplantation. We have focused on creating a sensitive and specific expanded panel of assessments for human islets that provides a level of sensitivity and objectivity beyond the current FDA standard measures of islet identity, purity, viability, sterility, and functional potency. Other areas of interest: 1) evaluation of donor treatment strategies to improve the quality of islets from donation after brain death; and 2) evaluation of alternative donor sources for islet transplantation. In this regard, a strong interest in understanding beta cell biology from donation after cardiac death (DCD) donors as potential donors for beta cell therapy has been a major focus. |
| Friedich, Thomas C. | Pathobiological Sciences | Pandemic viruses: immunity, pathgenesis, mechanism of emergence. |
| Ginther, Oliver J | Pathobiological Sciences | Folliculogenesis in cattle and many aspects of reproductive biology in mares. |
| Goldberg, Tony | Pathobiological Sciences | The ecology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious disease, combining field and laboratory studies to understand how pathogens in dynamic ecosystems are transmitted among hosts, across complex landscapes, and over time. Activities involve molecular epidemiological and evolutionary studies of pathogens, coupled with ecological investigations of hosts and vectors. Projects include studies of zoonotic disease transmission between people and non-human primates in Uganda, and studies of the ecology and molecular epidemiology of West Nile virus in the Midwestern United States. The overall goal is to discover generalized mechanisms that govern pathogen transmission, evolution, and emergence, and to improve the health and well-being of animals and humans while helping to conserve the rapidly changing ecosystems that they share. |
| Golos, Ted | Comparative Biosciences | Placental biology relevant to human health and disease using both nonhuman primate models as well as human clinical materials. Our studies of embryo/maternal interactions will lead to improved understanding of the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy, reasons for early pregnancy loss, and insights into the role(s) of the placenta in promoting fetal well-being. |
| Gumperz, Jenny | Medical Microbiology & Immunology | Although most T cells recognize peptide antigens that derive from non-self proteins and are presented at the cell surface by MHC molecules, NKT cells are activated by lipid and glycolipid antigens presented by CD1d molecules. NKT cells can become activated by self lipids, which means that they can perform functions even when there is no infectious challenge. The central focus of my lab is to understand how this autoreactivity contributes to immune regulation. |
| Hornberger, Troy | Comparative Biosciences | My overall research interest is to determine how skeletal muscles sense mechanical information and convert this stimulus into the molecular events that regulate changes in mass. This interest has led me to study a protein kinase called the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Signaling by mTOR is necessary for mechanically-induced growth of skeletal muscle, and I have recently determined that mechanical stimuli activate mTOR signaling through a unique mechanism involving phospholipase D (PLD) and the lipid second messenger phosphatidic acid (PA) (PLD to PA to mTOR). Based on this observation, research in my lab is now focused on further defining how mechanical stimuli activate the PLD to PA to mTOR pathway and skeletal muscle growth. |
| Johnson, Stephen M | Comparative Biosciences | Cellular mechanisms underlying neuroplasticity in the spinal cord using in vitro brainstem/spinal cord preparations from mice and turtles that spontaneously produce respiratory motor output. Our hypothesis is that descending synaptic inputs to respiratory spinal motoneurons express changes in synaptic efficacy following different patterns of activity, spinal cord injury, or activation of specific spinal receptors. Also, theinvestigaion of how respiratory rhythm is generated and modulated in vertebrates using isolated in vitro brainstems from turtles. Our working hypothesis is that turtle respiratory rhythm generation requires neurons with intrinsic pacemaker properties. |
| Jorgenson, Joan | Comparative Biosciences | Understanding the mechanisms leading to sex determination and differentiation. Transcriptional control of gonad development. Uncovering links between gonadal development and subsequent oncogenesis. |
| Kaufman, Paul L | Ophthalmology | Studies of the physiology, pharmacology, morphology, cell biology, neural control and aging of the aqueous humor formation and drainage apparatus, and developing treatment strategies for glaucoma including gene therapy and novel therapeutic compounds and targets. A second major area of research involves studies of presbyopia, the age-related loss of the ability to accommodate (adjust focus for different distances), which is the most common ocular affliction affecting every human over 45 years of age. |
| Kawaoka, Yoshihiro | Pathobiological Sciences | Influenza virus: molecular mechanism of interspecies transmission of the virus leading to influenza pandemics in humans; molecular pathogenesis of influenza in poultry and mammals. Ebola virus: role of viral proteins in pathogenesis and viral replication. |
| Malkovsky, Miroslav | Medical Microbiology & Immunology | Pathogenesis and treatment of HIV-induced disorders; gene therapy and immunotherapy of malignant tumors; heat shock proteins; gamma/delta T lymphocytes; immunoregulation. |
| Markel, Mark D | Medical Sciences | Limb salvage; non-invasive evaluation of bone material properties; large animal long bone fracture repair; musculoskeletal applications of laser energy. |
| McAnulty, Jonathan | Surgical Sciences | Studies on mechanisms of injury to organs stored ex vivo for transplantation including altered calcium homeostasis, oxidative stress and the role of growth factors in synthetic media. |
| McFall-Ngai, Margaret | Medical Microbiology & Immunology | Symbiotic associations between animals and prokaryotes; signaling between partners during establishment and maintenance of a symbiosis; the influence of bacteria on animal development; the evolution of animal-bacterial interactions; the design of tissues that interact with light; and the biochemical basis of transparency and reflectivity. |
| McGuirk, Sheila | Medical Sciences | Control and treatment of calf diseases and metabolic problems of dairy cattle. |
| Messing, Albee | Comparative Biosciences | Transgenic mice; developmental neuropathology; molecular neurobiology. |
| Mitchell, Gordon | Comparative Biosciences | Plasticity in respiratory motor control; serotonin-induced neuroplasticity; recovery from spinal cord injury; regulation of neurotrophic factors; physiological responses to intermittent hypoxia and exercise; developmental plasticity of the hypoxic ventilatory response; cellular and synaptic mechanisms of neuroplasticity; changes in gene expression following hypoxia, exercise and neural injury. |
| Muir, Peter | Surgical Sciences | Mechanotransduction in bone. |
| Mukhtar, Hasan | Dermatology | Cancer prevention and establishing the utility of naturally occurring dietary substances in chemoprevention of prostate and skin cancers using cellular and molecular approaches in cell culture systems and intervention studies in transgenic mouse models. |
| O'Connor, Dave | Pathology | We study the interplay of genetics and immunology in infectious disease, with an emphasis on understanding HIV/AIDS pathogenesis. |
| Oetzel, Garrett R | Medical Sciences | Characterization of subacute rumen acidosis in dairy cattle; prevention of hypocalcemia in dairy cattle by manipulating dietary cation-anion difference and/or the oral administration of calcium supplements; effects of subclinical ketosis on dairy cow performance; direct-fed microbials. |
| Olsen, Christopher | Pathobiological Sciences | The molecular epidemiology of swine influenza viruses and their public health significance. Understanding the genetic controls of interspecies transmission of influenza viruses and replication efficiency of influenza viruses in pigs; zoonotic swine influenza virus infections. |
| Osorio, Jorge | Pathobiological Sciences | Ppathogenesis of important human and veterinary diseases and to develop novel methods for vaccination and prevention. Strongest interest on viruses and zoonotic pathogens. Molecular approaches to unravel host-pathogen interactions for emerging diseases (e.g., dengue, West Nile) and biodefense pathogens, (e.g., Monkeypox, plague). |
| Paskewitz, Susan | Entomology | Management of arthropods involved in disease transmission, with a focus on mosquitoes and ticks. |
| Paulnock, Donna | Medical Microbiology & Immunology | Cellular and molecular analysis of macrophage activation; role of macrophages in infectious diseases and cancer. |
| Perna, Nicole | Genetics | Molecular epidemiology; bacterial genomics; molecular evolution. |
| Sandgren, Eric P | Pathobiological Sciences | Genetics of epithelial cancers; contribution of genomic instability to tumor progression; molecular regulation of tumor growth and metastasis. |
| Schell, Ronald F | Medical Microbiology & Immunology | Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis - Determine the immune responses to Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, that are responsible for induction of protection, arthritis and chronicity; clinical and diagnostic microbiology and immunology of infectious agents; and development of rapid procedures for detection of bacterial diseases. |
| Schuler, Linda A | Comparative Biosciences | The role of prolactin in the development and progression of mammary cancer; Prolactin receptors, trafficking and signaling. |
| Schultz, Ronald D | Pathobiological Sciences | Immunopathogenesis of viral diseases; developmental aspects of immunity; effects of environmental factors on immune systems; vaccinology. |
| Setaluri, Vijay | Dermatology | Cell and molecular biology of skincancer melanoma. |
| Slukvin, Igor | Pathology | Hematopoietic and endothelial development from pluripotent stem cells; de novo generation of hematopoietic stem cells. |
| Splitter, Gary A | Pathobiological Sciences | Host-microbe interaction and pathogenesis; immunology. |
| Stein, Timothy J | Medical Sciences | The contribution of specific genetic alterations to the process of cancer development and progression. Secifically, the contribution of Wnt signaling pathway abnormalities to cancers of the liver and bone. Developing an understanding regarding the biological significance of differences in serum alkaline phosphatase concentrations in humans and dogs with bone tumors. |
| Striker, Robert | Medicine, Medical Microbiology & Immunology | Nucleotide selectivity, error rate, and supramolecular structure of the hepatitis C viral (HCV) polymerase. |
| Sun, Dandan | Neurological Surgery | Molecular mechanisms that lead to disruption of ionic homeostasis regulation in neurodegeneration conditions such as stroke, neonatal hypoxia, and spinal cord injury. |
| Suresh, Marulasiddappa | Pathobiological Sciences | Role of TNFRs in regulating apoptosis of effector T cells; Role of cell cycle regulators cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors in T cell proliferation and apoptosis. |
| Suzuki, Masatoshi | Comparative Biosciences | Stem cells as a model to understand brain development and for the possible application of stem cells as a therapy for neurodegenerative diseases. |
| Svaren, John P | Comparative Biosciences | Role of EGR and NAB proteins in peripheral nerve myelination; mechanism and regulation of NAB corepressor function; role of chromatin structure in gene regulation. |
| Talaat, Adel M | Pathobiological Sciences | Functional genomic of infectious diseases (currently mycobacterial infections) to understand their molecular pathogenesis and the nature of host-pathogen interactions to produce the next generation of vaccines. |
| Thomson, James | Anatomy | Human embryonic (ES) stem cells as a model system. Their unlimited proliferative capacity and developmental potential make them uniquely suited for exploring how a cell maintains or changes identity and understanding what limits the repertoire of identities that a particular cell can become. |
| Trepanier, Lauren A | Medical Sciences | Genetically determined differences in xenobiotic metabolism and their effect on the individual risk of drug toxicity and arylamine carcinogenesis. |
| Vail, David M | Medical Sciences | Clinical trials using spontaneous tumors in companion animals as models for the development of new and innovative cancer therapies. Improving therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy and radiotherapy while minimizing toxicity. Development of prognostically important information in the context of clinical trials. |
| Vezina, Chad | Comparative Biosciences | The developing rodent prostate as a model system to characterize molecular mechanisms of prostate growth. We use animal and cell-based models to test whether the genes and signaling pathways that are activated normally during prostate development are activated abnormally during prostate disease progression. |
| Watters, Jyoti J | Comparative Biosciences | The role of microglial cells (a macrophage cell type that resides in the brain) in the progression of neurologic disease and inflammatory disorders in the central nervous system. The excessive activation of these cells is thought to contribute to neurotoxicity and inflammatory damage in the brain resulting from a large number of diseases. Intracellular signal transduction mechanisms initiated in microglial cells following their activation by various stimuli, including neurotransmitters, hormones and toxins. Understanding these intracellular processes and their involvement in microglial cell activation will allow for the identification of novel therapeutic targets that can be used to minimize brain damage following a neurologic insult. |
| West, Susan | Pathobiological Sciences | The molecular biology of bacterial pathogens of medical and veterinary importance. |
| Wood, Gary S. | Dermatology | My research explores abnormalities of programmed cell death and cell cycle regulation in cutaneous oncology, focusing primarily on cutaneous lymphomas and melanomas. The emphasis is on translational research that bridges bench to bedside. |
| Yoshino, Timothy P | Pathobiological Sciences | Physiological interactions between parasites and their invertebrate intermediate hosts; phylogeny of cellular immune mechanisms; invertebrate immunobiology; regulation of reproduction in snail vectors. |
Updated 1/10/2012
