Protein Structure and Function
Research in this area seeks to enhance our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying normal organ development and how these processes might be disrupted in disease states.
- Vaughn Cleghon, PhD, is interested in understanding the role of protein kinases in development and disease. His lab uses molecular biology, tissue culture, Drosophila genetics and bioinformatics to better understand fundamental mechanisms involved in the regulation of protein kinase activity.
- Tiffany Cook, PhD, studies cell type specification using the Drosophila retina as a model. The lab is focused on cell-specific gene regulation, and uses a combination of developmental genetics and biochemistry to understand the role of various transcription factors during eye development. Visit the Cook lab site.
- Brian Gebelein, PhD, is studying the Hox transcription factor family using the fruit fly as a model organism. The goal of the lab is to use a combination of genetic and biochemical approaches to understand how the eight different Drosophila Hox genes recognize the appropriate downstream genes to specify different cell fates along the anterior-posterior axis. Visit the Gebelein lab site.
- Rashmi Hegde, PhD, studies the three-dimensional structure and function of proteins involved in embryonic organ development and in the papillomavirus life- and infection-cycle; using a combination of X-ray crystallography and biochemistry molecular mechanisms are studied at the atomic level. Visit the Hegde lab site.
- Xinhua Lin, PhD, is interested in cell-cell signaling mechanisms that control tissue patterning during development. His lab focuses on the role of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in morphogen distribution and signaling. Lin lab also studies the molecular mechanisms of Wnt signaling in development.
- Jun Ma, PhD, focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that orchestrate embryonic development. His lab's work centers on a morphogenetic protein found in the fruit fly Drosophila, Bicoid, which directs the formation of the anterior structures in the embryo.
