TSRI Faculty Interests

In situ Hybridization

Baldwin, Kristin  
studies the sense of smell by genetically visualizing the neural circuits of the mouse olfactory system and uses mouse cloning and stem cell technology to investigate the molecular mechanisms that govern neural circuit formation and function throughout the nervous system.

Chun, Jerold  
is interested in the study of lysophospholipid signaling in neural and systems biology, chromosomal aneuploidy in the nervous system, and disease related studies with a Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience approach.

Crossin, Kathryn  
focuses on understanding the signaling capabilities of various cell adhesion molecules on the cell's plasma membrane, particularly the neural cell adhesion molecule, N-CAM, and its ability to signal hippocampal neural precursor cells to become neurons rather that astroglia and to activate the transcription factor NFkB in astrocytes.

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

Mueller, Ulrich  
focuses on the genes and the gene mutations that contribute to the pathology of Usher syndrome, other human diseases related to mechanosensory perception, and central nervous system diseases

Oldstone, Michael  
studies the interaction of viruses and the immune system, how viruses persist and the resultant disease, how a non-lytic virus alters the differentiation function of the infected cell, investigates infectious protein folding disease and uses transgenic mouse models to understand human diseases. Included are molecular explorations for how viruses suppress the immune system or on the other side of the coin, induce autoimmunity.

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.

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.

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.

Whitton, J. Lindsay  
studies antiviral immunity mediated by the recognition of viral peptides by host cells, the basis of immunization with plasmid DNA vaccines, and the role of the immune system in viral pathogenesis during coxsackievirus infections.