Cherie Briggs, Professor (Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology): Theoretical ecology; disease ecology; population dynamics; systems biology.

Alison Butler, Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Roles of metals in metalloenzymes; microbial iron acquisition, including siderophore structure and function.

Rolf E. Christoffersen, Associate Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Mechanisms of sethlene biosynthesis in plants, cytochrome P450 monooxygenase-mediated secondary metabolism.

Dennis O. Clegg, Professor & Chair (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Molecular basis of neuronal development and disease; retinal development and degeneration; extracellular matrix and growth factors important in determination of cell fate, cell differentiation, gene regulation, axonal pathfinding, synapse formation, and neurodegeneration.

James B. Cooper, Associate Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Molecular genetics and biochemistry of plant-microbe symbiosis and bacterial invasion; regulation of plant cell wall structure and function; bio-inspired strategies for synthesis and assembly of novel composite materials.

Peggy Cotter, Assistant Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Microbial pathogenesis; bacterial:host interactions; role of virulence gene regulation, and of regulated factors, in bacterial pathogenesis; transcriptional control mechanisms; signal transduction.

Frederick Dahlquist, Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology): biochemistry; protein structure and function relationships; dynamics of bacteriophage T4; chemotaxis in bacteria.

Patrick Daugherty, Assistant Professor (Chemical Engineering): Protein engineering and design; protein library technologies; antibody, enzyme and fluorescent protein engineering; protein-based materials.

Frank Doyle, Professor (Chemical Engineering): Systems analysis of complex biological networks; algorithms for controlled drug delivery; robustness in biosystems.

Deborah K. Fygenson, Associate Professor (Physics): Physical foundations of macromolecular technology: self-assembly, polymer mechanics and stability, energy transport, diffusion, and DNA-based nanotechnology.

J. Thomas Gerig, Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Magnetic resonance applied to biological systems.

Christopher Hayes, Assistant Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Molecular mechanisms of ribosome pausing during protein synthesis and recruitment of SsrA (tmRNA) to stalled ribosomes.

Jacob Israelachvili, Professor (Chemical Engineering; Materials): Intermolecular and surface forces in complex colloidal systems and macromolecular materials, adhesion, friction, lubrication, biological interactions.

Luc Jaeger, Assistant Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Nucleic acid bionanotechnology and biomaterials; RNA tectonics; RNA evolution; study of complex systems with molecular automata.

Kenneth S. Kosik, M.D. , Harriman Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology and Co-Director, Neuroscience Research Institute): Basic mechanisms and disorders of neural plasticity, the role of microRNAs in stem cell differentiation.

John Lew, Associate Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Molecular mechanisms of signal transduction and cell cycle control proteins.

Everett Lipman, Assistant Professor (Physics): Single molecule optical methods; protein folding; resonance energy transfer; applications of microfluidic devices.

David A. Low, Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Genetics and biochemistry of bacterial gene expression, DNA methylation, antimicrobial mechanisms, and bacterial adhesion.

Michael J. Mahan, Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Microbial pathogenesis; host-specific induction of bacterial virulence genes; vaccine and antibiotic development.

Samir Mitragotri, Associate Professor (Chemical Engineering): Drug delivery; biomaterials; biotransport processes.

Daniel E. Morse, Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Silicon biotechnology; biomineralization; biomimetics, biomolecular electronics and optoelectronic materials; biosensors.

Stanley M. Parsons, Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Neurotransmitter storage; transporter structure and function; development of in vivo diagnostics for PET and SPECT, rapid assays for drug abuse.

John J. Perona, Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Structure and function relationships in proteins and nucleic acids; structure determination by x-ray crystallography.

Philip A. Pincus, Professor (Physics; Materials): Soft condensed matter theory including biopolymer and biomembrane electrostatics, protein-membrane interactions, biopolymer solutions, and solution properties of conjugated polymers.

Kevin W. Plaxco, Associate Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Biophysics of protein folding; applications of protein folding kinetics.

Norbert O. Reich, Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Enzyme mechanisms; inhibitor design; enzyme design; DNA-protein interactions; prokaryotic and eukaryotic DNA methylation; carcinogenesis; nucleic acid based biomaterials; bio-inspired nano-electronics; quantum dot based biosensors.

Joel H. Rothman, Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Biological regulatory networks in C. elegans development; mechanisms of apoptosis and tumorigenesis.

Cyrus R. Safinya, Professor (Materials; Physics): Structures and interactions in complex fluids and biological systems; new materials for gene delivery into mammalian cells.

Martin Sagermann, Assistant Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Structural biology of ATPases; (re)design of proteins with novel architectures and functions; x-ray crystallography.

Omar Saleh, Assistant Professor (Materials & BMSE): Experimental single molecule biophysics of DNA-protein interactions.

Charles E. Samuel, C.A. Storke II Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Molecular biology of animal virus-cell interactions; antiviral mechanisms of interferon action; translational control of gene expression in mammalian cells; RNA editing; and new materials for gene delivery into mammalian cells.

Duane W. Sears, Professor (MCDB Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Molecular immunology and biochemistry of transplantation antigens; antigen recognition by cytotoxic T lymphocytes; mechanisms of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytolysis; structure and functions of Fc receptors.

Ambuj Singh, Professor (Computer Science): Searching and mining of DNA/protein sequences and protein structures, synthesis and analysis of protein interaction networks, querying and mining of biological images.

Boris I. Shraiman, Professor (Physics & permanent member of the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics): Quantitative systems biology and bioinformatics; statistical mechanics of non-equilibrium systems.

William Smith, Professor (MCDB Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Vertebrate developmental biology; growth factors and axis specification in Xenopus.

Hysongok (Tom) Soh, Assistant Professor (Mechanical & Environmental Engineering): Molecular & cellular detection and manipulation & application of nano and micro scale electromechanical systems.

Galen D. Stucky, Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Design, synthesis, and characterization of new bioinorganic materials with an emphasis on understanding interface and nucleation chemistry.

Matthew Tirrell, Richard A. Auhll Professor and Dean, College of Engineering (Chemical Engineering; Materials): Adhesion, amphiphilic molecules, bioadhesion, biomedical engineering, biomembranes, biomolecular materials, diffusion, interfacial properties, polymer fluids, rheology, transport properties.

Carol A. Vandenberg, Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Ion channels in the nervous system and cardiac muscle; molecular mechanisms of ion channel trafficking, regulation, and signal transduction.

J. Herbert Waite, Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Biochemistry and biophysics of bioadhesion in marine organisms; bio- and nanomechanics of sclerotins such as nereid jaws, squid beaks, setae and byssal threads; liquid crystals, piezoelectricity and molecular gradients in biomolecular materials.

Leslie Wilson, Professor (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Biochemistry and function of cytoskeletal proteins; regulation of microtubules assembly and dynamics.

Distinguished Emeriti, Research and Adjunct Faculty Active In Our Program

Bruce Altrock, Adjunct Professor (Independent Biopharmaceutical & Biotechnology Consultant; former Vice President of Research, Amgen Inc.): Independent advisor for biopharmaceutical companies and investors. Activities include: consulting, scientific advisory boards, and boards of directors. Areas of involvement include: cancer research, tissue repair, neuroscience, and drug design. Coordinator and instructor of BMSE graduate biotechnology seminar series.

Thomas C. Bruice, Research Professor (Chemistry & Biochemistry): Computational research directed towards the elucidation of enzyme mechanisms; design, synthesis, and study of antagonists of transcription factors and traps for mRNA.

John A. Carbon, ACS Research Professor & Professor Emeritus (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Centromers structure-function, chromosome segregation and cell division in pathogenic fungi and yeasts, especially Candida albicans and Candida glabrata.

Lois Jovanovic, MD, Adjunct Professor (Director & Chief Scientific Officer, Sansum Medical Research Institute): Diabetes and pregnancy, disease physiology, metabolic complications, treatment, screening and diagnosis; immunological response to treatment; fetal origins of adult disease; novel therapies, monitoring devices, and feedback control of insulin delivery.

Robert L. Sinsheimer, Professor Emeritus (Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology): Biology and chemistry of nucleic acids; development biology; bacterial pathogenesis.