Cell & Molecular Biology
Cells are the fundamental unit of life. Thus the cellular structure, organization, and function, and cellular communication is at the very heart of all biological processes. Most diseases result from the failure or malfunction of normal cellular processes. Research in this area explores a wide variety of basic aspects of cell function and communication, leading to a better understanding of many diseases. Research interests include cellular neurobiology, cell transport, cell physiology and toxicology, virology, immunology, molecular neurobiology, gene expression and regulation, and cellular signal transduction.
Cellular & Molecular Basis of Disease Training Program
Faculty List
Katherine Amato, PhD
Email: katherine.amato@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Biological Anthropology
Xiaomin Bao, PhD
Email: xiaomin.bao@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Epigenomic regulation of stem cell maintenance and differentiation
Greg Beitel, PhD
Email: beitel@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Molecular genetics of organ morphogenesis
Shelby Blythe, PhD
Email: shelby.blythe@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Developmental control of chromatin structure & embryo pattern formation
Jason Brickner, PhD
Email: j-brickner@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Cell biology of transcription
Jenna Christensen, PhD
Email: jenna.christensen@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Intracellular transport diversity and regulation
Marco Gallio, PhD
Email: marco@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Processing of temperature stimuli in the brain
Erica Hartmann, PhD
Email: erica.hartmann@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Effect of anthropogenic chemicals on microbes in the environment
Curt Horvath, PhD
Email: horvath@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Signal transduction and gene regulation in innate immune responses to cancer and viruses
Neil Kelleher, PhD
Email: n-kelleher@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Top-down proteomics, natural products discovery, chromatic oncobiology, and computational proteomics
Sinan Keten, PhD
Email: s-keten@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Molecular modeling, adhesive and structural proteins, bioinspired materials
Email: wklein@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Molecular basis of Alzheimer's disease Carole LaBonne, PhD
Email: clabonne@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Stem cells, gene regulatory networks and the evolution of vertebrates Laura L. Lackner, PhD
Email: laura.lackner@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Spatial organization within cells, using mitochondrial structure and distribution as a model Keara M. Lane, PhD
Email: kearamlane@gmail.com
Research Interests: Dynamic single-cell profiling of host-pathogen interactions
Hojoon Lee, PhD
Email: hojoon.lee@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Neurobiology of taste
Email: j-leonard@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Engineering cellular systems and biomolecules for immunotherapy, synthetic biology, and biotechnology John F. Marko, PhD
Email: john-marko@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Protein-DNA interactions, and chromosome structure and dynamics
Kelly E. Mayo, PhD
Email: k-mayo@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Gene regulation in the mammalian neuroendocrine system
David McLean, PhD
Email: david-mclean@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Development and plasticity of motor networks
Email: chadnano@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Developing methods for controlling the architecture of molecules and materials on the 1 - 100 nm length scale Richard I. Morimoto, PhD
Email: r-morimoto@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Cell stress responses, molecular chaperones, and protein conformational disease
Christian P. Petersen, PhD
Email: christian-p-petersen@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Molecular and cellular basis of regeneration
Email: tiffany.schmidt@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Understanding visual circuits using electrophysiology, behavior, and anatomy in mouse models
Reza Vafabakhsh, PhD
Email: reza.vafabakhsh@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Development of methods for quantitative hierarchical characterization of synaptic players at different length scales
Email: elweiss@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Signaling pathways in the control of cell architecture Sadie M. Wignall, PhD
Email: s-wignall@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Spindle assembly and chromosome segregation during cell division
Yue Yang, PhD
Email: yue.yang@northwestern.edu
Research Interests: Epigenetic programming of neural circuits