Biological Sciences

Cell, Molecular, and Developmental Biology

(Eukaryotic gene expression) Control of eukaryotic gene expression and replication; DNA structure; virus evolution.

Detection of viable foodborne pathogens using bateriophage; automated extraction of nucleic acids from various matrices; enumeration of microorganisms (i.e. pathogens and other organisms) using quantitative PCR; the use of bioreporters in bioelectronics; metabolic engineering; detection of problematic microorganisms in industrial environments; construction of recombinant bacterial strains to rapidly evaluate antimicrobial products; microbial ecology.

(Neurobiology and physiology) Central auditory neurophysiology and neuroanatomy at the systems and cellular levels.

(Microbiology and molecular genetics) Understanding mechanisms of innate immunity during acute and latent herpesvirus infection.

(Structural molecular biology; biochemistry) Protein structure and function; X-ray crystallography; metalloenzymes; biodegradation of PCBs and related compounds.

Besides my busy teaching schedule, I manage to remain active in research through collaborations with other faculty members.  My research interests are in molecular genetics and genomics, and I have primarily studied genes of the immune system.  However, recent research has led to the study of the genetics of human parasites, focusing on protease sequences and microRNAs of Schistosome parasites.

(Biochemistry; physiology) Biochemistry and physiology of the visual process; evolution of vision; transport and utilization of vitamin A in the body; genes for retinoid-binding proteins, hereditary retinal degenerations.

(Endocrine physiology) Hormonal regulation of mammary gland development; hormone binding protein function.

(Cell and developmental biology) Membrane trafficking; molecular genetics; cell polarity; development; signal transduction.

(X-ray crystallography and protein chemistry) ABC transporters and membranefusion proteins.

(Biochemistry; Biophysics) Membrane biochemistry, biophysics; structure-function of membrane proteins.

(Microbiology) Mechanisms of the responses of bacteria to osmotic stress; genetic engineering of plant cells with increased tolerance of salinity stress.

(Science education) Professional preparation and development of both elementary and secondary teachers; collaborative problem solving and its role in the teaching and learning of science; the nature of science in science education and its importance for both teachers and students.

Plant Ecology and Evolutionary Biology - Evolution of the ecological niche, evolution of distribution patterns, plant population biology, community ecology and evolutionary biology.

(Neurobiology, cell and developmental biology) Morphogenesis of the inner ear.

Evolutionary Ecology, Behavioral Ecology, Visual Ecology) Evolution of
visual systems in birds; anti-predator and foraging behaviors;
human-wildlife interactions.

(Structural biology) Structural cell biology of infection, immunity, and aging.

(Plant molecular biology) Mechanism of the transfer to and expression of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens Ti-plasmid in plant cells.

Structural Basis for RNA function.

(Computational biology; bioinformatics) Relationship between patterns in macromolecular sequences and the evolution, structure and function of corresponding molecules; development of databases and computational tools for functional genomics; development of systems that federate knowledge across multiple electronic resources.

(Neurobiology) Intracellular organelle transport in neurons.

(Evolutionary ecology and behavior) Evolution of mating systems: influence of social and ecological factors on reproductive tactics; estimation of reproductive success; patterns of sexual dimorphism; environmental risk assessment of genetically modified organisms.

(Developmental biology) Animal development and regeneration.

(electron cryomicroscopy; biophysics) Structure of bacteriophages (epsilon15, T7, P22), cyanophages (syn5, syn2, syn9) and flaviviruses (west nile); technique developments in cryo-EM for high throughput structural determination of macromolecular machines at high resolutions

(Plant molecular biology) Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plant-phytopathogen interactions. Methods of teaching of molecular biology laboratories.

(Bioinformatics, computational biology) protein tertiary structure prediction/comparison, protein sequence analysis, evolution of protein families, metabolic/regulatory pathway analysis.

(Cell, Molecular and Cancer biology)

(Eukaryotic molecular biology) Gene expression during mammalian development; cancer model systems.

(Molecular biology and animal virology) Viral gene expression; virus-host interactions; pathogenesis; virus receptors and virus assembly.

(Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology; Neurobiology) Gene Regulatory Network of Zebrafish Eye Development

(Evolution and population biology) Evolutionary genetics of plant pathogen systems; plant-pathogen coevolution.

(Evolutionary ecology; behavioral ecology) Animal communication; use of optimality models in behavioral ecology.

(Cellular microbiology) Type IV protein secretion of Legionella pneumophila; intracellular multiplication and trafficking of bacterial pathogens.

(Plant cell and molecular biology; genomics) Plant extracellular matrix and cell differentiation

(Population biology; genetics) Host-parasite coevolution; influence of parasitism on host life-history patterns; molecular epidemiology; genetic diversity of parasite populations

(Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biol.) Research Interest: (Plant cell/developmental biology) Developmental mechanisms that control organ size, cell size and stem cell maintenance in plants using the model plant Arabidopsis.

(Genetics & genomics, physiological ecology) Genetics and evolution of variable life history traits and physiologies in fishes.

(Biomedical Engineering) Neuroprostheses, systems neuroscience, and neurotechnologies.

(Molecular neurogenetics) Signal transduction; synaptic transmission.

(Physiology) Vascular smooth muscle physiology and signal transduction, physiology and evolution, physiology education.

(Structural biology; computational chemistry and biology) Signal transduction; viral protein structure and function; molecular recognition; enzymatic catalysis; protein dynamics; NMR structure determination.

Machine learning, computational biology, and Bayesian statistics

(Conservation biology; tropical ecology; behavioral ecology; community ecology) Population dynamics and viability; community integrity; evolution of sociality and economic advantages of aggregation; effects of seasonality on behavior and community structure; diversity patterns and migration; life-history strategies.

(Biology; developmental neurobiology) Cellular, molecular, and genetic studies of Drosophila retinal development.

(Neurophysiology, membrane physiology, biophysics) Ion channel function.

(Molecular biology; biophysics) Structure of picornaviruses (rhinoviruses, Mengo virus, coxsackievirus, poliovirus), parvoviruses, alphaviruses and bacteriophages, fX174, f29, T4; molecular evolution.

(Neurobiology) Cellular and molecular analysis of learning; cellular response to neural injury.

(Molecular virology) Entry of retroviruses and other enveloped viruses into cells; mechanism of enzymatic phosphoryl transfer.

(microbiology) Photosynthetic membranes - structure, function, and assembly in cyanobacteria; functional genomics and impact of environmental factors on photosynthesis; analysis of global regulation with microarrays; regulation of photosynthesis and N₂-fixation in unicellular cyanobacteria.

(Plant cell/developmental biology) Cytoskeletal function during plant and fungal development and in response to environmental signals.

(Biophysics; molecular biology; biochemistry) Macromolecular structure and assembly using X-ray crystallography; membrane associated proteins; enzyme structure and function.

(Eukaryotic molecular biology) Chromatin structure and gene regulation; biotechnology.

(Cell biology; neurobiology) neuronal growth cone motility and guidance, cell adhesion and migration, cytoskeletal dynamics, signal transduction, nervous system development, advanced light microscopy

(Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology) Signaling pathway interaction to regulate the expression of genes that are responsible for the genesis of distinct cell-types during organogenesis in zebrafish.

(Plant Cell Signaling and Morphonesis) Generation and propagation of Rho small GTPase into actin filament nucleation and cell growth responses; cytoplasmic control of cell structure and function; protein trafficking at ER exit sites.

(Eukaryotic molecular biology) Oncogene expression in eukaryotic cells.

I develop methods of analysis/algorithms, work on their implementation, apply them to data and gather data relevant to particular problems. My lab is both wet lab, focusing on RNA/DNA extraction, cell culture plus mass sequencing, and dry lab, focusing on computer analysis of biological data, especially genomic data.

(Molecular genetics) Molecular genetics; transmembrane signal transduction; cellular microbiology.

(Animal behavior) Ecological and demographic effects on mammalian dispersal; genetic estimators of dispersal in fragmented habitats; adaptive aspects of mammalian social behavior.

(Biophysics, Biochemistry and Structural Biology) Membrane protein structure and function; transport of ions and molecules across membranes; signal transduction.

(Cellular microbiology) Salmonella typhimurium Type III secretion; actin cytoskeleton rearrangements and bacteria-host interactions.

continuing lecturer