TSRI Faculty Interests

Genomics

Beutler, Bruce  
searches for genes that are required for normal immune function through germline mutagenesis and positional cloning.

Ding, Sheng  
is applying arrayed large-scale chemical, cDNA, and siRNA libraries and novel high throughput cellular screens to identify and characterize small molecules and genes that can control stem cell fate in various embryonic and adult stem cell systems and modulate specific signaling pathways in development and regeneration.

Felding-Habermann, Brunhilde  
establishes unique models of brain metastasis from circulating tumor cells of breast cancer patients and analyzes their properties in vitro and in vivo, investigates genes and functional pathways that control metastatic activity.

Gerace, Larry  
seeks to understand the mechanisms for regulation of signaling and cell differentiation by components of the nuclear envelope, particularly in regard to muscle, and the machinery for posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression by nucleocytoplasmic transport, mRNA translation and protein turnover, with focus on HIV-1.

Kono, Dwight  
is investigating the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and mercury-induced autoimmunity as well as seeking to identify new potential therapeutic targets through novel approaches; his main interest is to define both predisposing genes and genes critical for disease development.

Lazzerini Denchi, Eros  
focuses on the mechanisms that protect chromosome ends and their deregulation in human pathologies such as cancer and aging

Patapoutian, Ardem  
studies the molecular basis of the sense of touch by using genomics, imaging, and transgenic technologies to identify and characterize ion channel proteins involved in the perception of distinct thermal, mechanical, and chemical stimuli.

Reed, Steven  
focuses on the regulation of cell cycle progression through cyclin-dependent kinases and related proteins, particularly the role of regulated proteolysis in cell cycle control and how defects in the proteolytic machinery can promote carcinogenesis.

Salomon, Daniel  
investigates how molecular mechanisms driving immune cell activation and tissue injury, both critical components of cell and organ transplant rejection, are regulated at the gene transcriptional and proteomic level to map molecular networks that determine clinical outcomes.

Sauer, Karsten  
We combine broad functional genomics approaches with traditional, hypothesis-driven research to identify and functionally characterize novel genes with important roles in lymphocyte development and function. A particular focus of the lab are signal transduction mechanisms downstream of the T cell receptor.

Schork, Nicholas  
focuses on the development and implementation of analysis methods for understanding the genetic determinants of complex human traits and diseases such as cancer, neuropsychiatric disease, and cardiovascular disease. These methods focus on both the design, integration, and interpretation of studies making use of contemporary high throughput genomic technologies.

Stowers, Lisa  
studies the ligands, neurons, and brain nuclei that initiate social behavior using molecular genetics and genomics; her work is determining the rules that generate the information coding of neuronal networks.

Sun, Peiqing  
seeks to delineate the signal transduction pathways mediating cellular responses to oncogenic mutations, and to systematically search for genetic alterations that contribute to specific cancer-associated phenotypes by screening cDNA expression libraries and siRNA libraries.

Topol, Eric  
studies the genome of patients who have particular medical conditions or who have been healthy beyond the 8th decade to determine variants associated with the phenotype. His research moves this information forward in medicine to provide individualization of medical care in the future.

Winzeler, Elizabeth  
develops new genome analysis technologies and applies them to study agents of infectious disease, such as the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum; her goal is to use genome sequence information, microarrays, and proteomics as a substitute for traditional forward and reverse genetic approaches for elucidation of gene function.

Wuthrich, Kurt  
develops advanced techniques in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and applies them in protein structural biology and structural genomics projects.