Molecular & Cell Biology Faculty
The following is an alphabetical list of MCB faculty members and brief
descriptions of their research. A list of faculty by division affiliation is
available here
- Tom Alber
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structure/function correlates in tuberculosis, molecular recognition and signaling
- Mark Alper
- Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biochemistry; biomolecular materials
- Sharon Amacher
- Associate Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Cell fate determination in vertebrate embryonic development
- Bruce N. Ames
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Mechanisms of aging. Mitochondrial decay in aging. Oxidants and antioxidants in DNA damage. Micronutrient deficiencies and DNA damage. Chronic inflammation and Cancer.
- Clinton E. Ballou
- Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Georjana Barnes
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Microtubule cytoskeleton and cell cycle controls
- Greg Barton
- Assistant Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
Innate immune system
- Diana Bautista
- Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Molecular mechanisms of transduction in touch and pain receptors
- Steven Beckendorf
- Professor Emeritus of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Molecular biology of development; Global warming: solutions and biological effects; Concentrating solar power.
- James Berger
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structural and mechanistic biochemistry of macromolecular assemblies and machines that regulate the initiation of DNA replication and chromosome and superstructure
- Carolyn R. Bertozzi
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Molecular basis of cell surface interactions
- David Bilder
- Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Genetics of cell and tissue architecture
- Michael Botchan
- Department Co-Chair and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Eukaryote gene expression
- Rachel Brem
- Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Genetics of Regulatory Variation
- Steven E. Brenner
- Associate Professor (Affiliated) of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Computational Genomics
- Beth Burnside
- Professor Emerita of Cell and Developmental Biology
Cell biology of the photoreceptor cytoskeleton
- Carlos Bustamante
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structural characterization of nucleo-protein assemblies
- Richard Calendar
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Molecular genetics of viruses
- W. Zacheus Cande
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Cell and developmental biology
- Jamie H. D. Cate
- Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Molecular Basis for Protein Synthesis by the Ribosome
- Michelle Chang
- Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Enzyme catalysis and metabolic engineering
- Lu Chen
- Associate Professor of Neurobiology
Mechanisms of synapse formation during development and synapse modification in plasticity
- Thomas Cline
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Sex determination in Drosophila
- Kathleen Collins
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Telomerase, non-coding RNAs, RNA silencing
- Laurent Coscoy
- Associate Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
Molecular mechanisms of immune evasion in viral infection
- Yang Dan
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Neurobiology
Information processed by neuronal circuits
- Abby Dernburg
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Chromosome organization and dynamics during meiosis
- Jennifer A. Doudna
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Ribozymes and RNA machines
- David G. Drubin
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Actin and microtubule cytoskeletons in yeast and mammalian cells
- Peter Duesberg
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Genetic structure of retroviruses
- Michael B. Eisen
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Associate Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Genomics/Bioinformatics
- Daniel Feldman
- Associate Professor of Neurobiology
Sensory processing and plasticity in cerebral cortex
- Marla Feller
- Associate Professor of Neurobiology
The role of neural activity in the assembly of retinal circuits
- Gary Firestone
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Molecular endocrinology; tumor biology
- John G. Flannery
- Affiliated Professor of Neurobiology
Molecular mechanisms underlying diseases of the retina
- John Forte
- Professor Emeritus of Cell and Developmental Biology
Membrane proteins, transport and energetics
- Walter Freeman
- Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology
Neurophysiology; nonlinear brain dynamics
- James Fristrom
- Professor Emeritus of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Role of transmembrane proteins in cell-cell adhesion and the actin cytoskeleton
- Gian Garriga
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Developmental neurobiology; molecular genetics
- John Gerhart
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Cell and Developmental Biology
Developmental biology
- Robert Glaeser
- Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Cryo-EM of multiprotein complexes; membrane proteins; structural biology; biophysics; advancing the capabilities of high-resolution cryo-EM in biology.
- Donald Glaser
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Neurobiology
Psychophysics of vision
- Alexander Glazer
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Macomolecular complexes; photosynthetic systems
- Ming Hammond
- Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Chemical Biology, Molecular Biology, Organic Chemistry, and Bioinformatics
- Iswar Hariharan
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Mechanisms of control of growth and cell proliferation. Regulation of regenerative growth.
- Richard Harland
- C.H. Li Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Molecular biology of development
- Lin He
- Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
microRNA functions in cancer development, mouse tumor models
- Rebecca Heald
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Mitotic spindle assembly and function in Xenopus laevis
- Ehud Isacoff
- Professor of Neurobiology
Ion channel function and synaptic plasticity
- Caroline Kane
- Professor Emerita of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Eukaryotic gene regulation during transcript elongation
- Gary Karpen
- Adjunct Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Chromosome structure and function
- Nicole King
- Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Choanoflagellates and the evolution of multicellular animals from their unicellular ancestors
- Jack Kirsch
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Enzymology; site-directed mutagenesis
- Judith Klinman
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Principles of catalytic and regulatory mechanisms in enzyme-catalyzed reactions
- Arash Komeili
- Assistant Professor (Affiliated) of Cell and Developmental Biology
Assembly and Subcellular Organization of Bacterial Organelles
- Doug Koshland
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Mechanisms and principles that mediate desiccation tolerance and the structure, integrity, and evolution of chromosomes
- Richard H. Kramer
- Professor of Neurobiology
Chemical signaling within and between neurons
- Bryan A. Krantz
- Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Molecular Mechanism of Protein Translocation Across Membranes
- John Kuriyan
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Chancellor's Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structural and functional studies of signal transduction and DNA replication
- Harold Lecar
- Professor of Neurobiology
Neural biophysics; excitable membranes
- Michael Levine
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Regulation of enhancer-promoter interactions
- Stuart Linn
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Enzymology of DNA metabolism
- Kunxin Luo
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Signal transduction pathways mediated by receptors and the mechanisms controlling the activity of the receptor kinases
- Robert Macey
- Professor Emeritus of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Terry Machen
- Associate Dean of Biological Sciences and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Epithelial transport; cellular and membrane physiology
- Michael Marletta
- Aldo DeBenedictis Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structure/Function Relationships in Proteins; Enzyme Catalysis; Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Signaling
- Susan Marqusee
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Determinants of protein structure and folding
- Andreas Martin
- Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Energy-dependent proteases and molecular machines
- G. Steven Martin
- Department Chair and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Cell biology; tumor virology
- Howard Mel
- Professor Emeritus of Cell and Developmental Biology
- Barbara Meyer
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Sex determination in C. elegans
- Craig T. Miller
- Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Developmental and evolutionary genetics
- Satyabrata Nandi
- Professor Emeritus of Cell and Developmental Biology
Tumor biology; endocrinology
- John Ngai
- Professor of Neurobiology
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of olfaction
- Hiroshi Nikaido
- Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Membrane biochemistry; bacterial physiology
- Eva Nogales
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structure-function of macromolecular assemblies: cytoskeleton self-assembly and nucleic acid transactions
- George Oster
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Mathematical modeling of molecular, cellular and developmental systems
- W. Geoffrey Owen
- Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology
Membrane biophysics; retinal neurophysiology
- Lior Pachter
- Professor, Affiliated of Genetics, Genomics and Development
- Nipam Patel
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Genetic and evolutionary studies of embryonic pattern formation
- Mu-ming Poo
- Professor of Neurobiology
Neurobiology
- Daniel Portnoy
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Molecular and cellular basis of microbial pathogenesis
- David Presti
- Senior Lecturer of Neurobiology
Neurobiology
- Michael Rape
- Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Protein ubiquitination, degradation and the control of cell division and differentiation
- David Raulet
- Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
NK cell and T cell recognition, development and function
- Jasper Rine
- Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Gene regulation; cell biology
- Donald Rio
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Molecular genetics; transposable elements; RNA splicing
- Ellen Robey
- Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
Fate determination in the T-lymphocyte lineage
- Henk Roelink
- Associate Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Induction in vertebrate development and ES cell differentiation
- Daniel S. Rokhsar
- Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Collective phenomena and ordering in condensed matter and biological systems
- Gerald Rubin
- Howard Hughes Investigator and MacArthur Professor Emeritus of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Molecular genetics; molecular neurobiology
- Harry Rubin
- Professor Emeritus of Cell and Developmental Biology
Cell and tumor biology
- Howard Schachman
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Physical biochemistry
- Randy Schekman
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Organelle assembly; protein transport
- Mark Schlissel
- Dean of Biological Sciences and Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
The regulation of lymphocyte development, genetic transcription, chromatin structure, and V(D)J recombination.
- Kristin Scott
- Associate Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development
Establishment of nerve cell connectivity in developing nervous systems
- William Sha
- Associate Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
B cell gene regulation and fate determination
- Nilabh Shastri
- Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
Mechanisms of immunesurveillance
- Richard Steinhardt
- Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology
Cellular and developmental physiology
- Mark Tanouye
- Professor, Affiliated of Neurobiology
Mechanisms of nervous system structure and function
- Jeremy Thorner
- William V. Power Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Signal transduction mechanisms; biochemistry; molecular genetics; cell biology
- Robert Tjian
- Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Eukaryotic molecular biology; biochemistry
- Russell Vance
- Assistant Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
Host-pathogen interactions
- Karsten Weis
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Macromolecular transport into and out of the nucleus in eukaryotic cells
- David Weisblat
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Developmental biology
- Matthew Welch
- Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
The role of the actin cytoskeleton in cell locomotion
- Frank Werblin
- Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology
Neurophysiology of vision
- Gerald Westheimer
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Neurobiology
Neurobiology; psychophysics
- Fred Wilt
- Professor of the Graduate School Division of Cell and Developmental Biology
Molecular embryology; cell biology
- Astar Winoto
- Director of Cancer Research Laboratory and Professor of Immunology and Pathogenesis
Molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and proliferation in T cells, cancer, host pathogen interaction and human stem cells.
- Andrew Wurmser
- Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells
- Ahmet Yildiz
- Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Structural mechanism of molecular motors. High resolution imaging of subcellular structures
- Qing Zhong
- Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Mechanistic Studies of Apoptosis and Autophagy in Mammals
- Qiang Zhou
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Biochemistry of HIV gene expression and transcriptional elongation
- Robert Zucker
- Professor of Neurobiology
Cellular neurophysiology; synaptic biophysics
- David Zusman
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Microbial development; molecular genetics
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