Anatomy and Cell Biology

Molecular Medicine and Gene Therapy  

Botand Banfi, MD, PhD

• Molecular mechanisms that underlying defects in cystic fibrosis and deafness, with a focus on ROS and NADPH oxidase

Amit Choudhury, MSc, PhD

• Use of recombinant viral vector(s) to modulate membrane trafficking, with the goal of regulating tumor angiogenesis

Adam Dupuy, PhD

• Use of sleeping beauty transposon system to generate tissue specific-models of cancer in mice

John F. Engelhardt, PhD 

• Development of gene therapies for inherited and environmentally induced diseases
• Development of recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors for gene therapy
• Investigation of the pathogenesis and treatment of cystic fibrosis lung disease
• Mechanisms underlying ischemia/reperfusion injury and applications of gene therapy in the liver

C. Andrew Frank, PhD

• Use of Drosophila genetics and pharmacology to understand signaling pathways that link synaptic instability to disorders of the nervous system

Nicholas Pantazis, PhD

• Protection against the neurodegeneration induced by ethanol exposure of the developing brain
• Development of therapeutic paradigms to ameliorate the brain damage found in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)

Tom Rutkowski, PhD

• Mechanistic links between endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis and lipid metabolism in the liver
• Mechanisms whereby dysregulation of the ER stress response contributes to diseases of liver function (metabolic syndrome, hepatitis, alcohol steatosis)

Charles Yeaman, PhD

• Molecular mechanisms underlying renal cystogenesis, with a focus on dysfunction of the primary cilia