Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program

Cancer is the leading cause of death in the United States.

Researchers in this group investigate how genetic and environmental factors result in cancer through disruption of cellular growth control and organismal development.

Collaborative work involving clinicians and laboratory scientists allows access to normal and cancerous human tissues and fosters the development of clinical trials.

Faculty

	Paul Andreassen, PhD, Associate Professor Fanconi anemia and breast cancer susceptibility proteins in DNA damage responses and genetic stability [Visit the  Andreassen lab]
	Jose A. Cancelas Perez, MD, PhD, Associate Professor Cellular and molecular mechanisms of norm and cancer hematopoietic stem cells [Visit the Cancelas Lab]
	Brian Gebelein, PhD, Associate Professor Patterning of the nervous and digestive systems during development [Visit the Gebelein Lab]
	Lee Grimes, PhD, Professor Hematopoiesis, molecular biology, and molecular oncology including mouse modeling of hematopoiesis, myelopoiesis and leukemia. [Visit the Grimes Lab]
	Rashmi Hegde, PhD, Professor The Hegde laboratory studies molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis in development, cancer and retinal diseases, and is involved in structure- and mechanism-based drug development [Visit the Hegde Lab]
	Tanya V. Kalin, MD, PhD, Associate Professor Molecular biology of cancer, tumor microenvironment and metastasis. Chemotherapeutic drug development. [Visit the Kalin Lab]
	Vladimir Kalinichenko, MD, PhD, Professor Transcriptional regulation of epithelial and endothelial cell functions during lung embryonic development and lung carcinogenesis. [Visit the Pulmonary Biology]
	Rafi Kopan, PhD, Professor The generation of different cell types and specialized organs. [Visit the Kopan Lab]
	Qing Richard Lu, PhD, Professor Transcriptional and epigenetic control of glial development and brain tumor initiation [Visit the Lu Lab]
	James C. Mulloy, PhD, Professor Molecular mechanisms involved in leukemia induction and maintenance; mouse modeling of leukemia using primary human blood stem cells [Visit the Mulloy Lab]
	Nancy Ratner, PhD, Professor The Ratner lab studies how nerve development is subverted in cancer. We aim to identify targets for therapy in the inherited cancer predisposition syndromes neurofibromatosis type 1 and type 2. [Visit the Ratner Lab]
	Soona Shin, PhD, Assistant Professor Molecular mechanisms of childhood liver cancer with a focus on hepatic stem/progenitor cells. [Visit the Shin Lab]
	Susanne Wells, PhD, Professor Papilloma virus and cervical cancer [Visit the Susanne Wells Lab]
	Kathryn Wikenheiser-Brokamp, MD, PhD, Associate Professor Our research aims to elucidate the molecular basis of lung development and disease with specific focus on identifying critical biologic functions of the Rb/p16, p53 and Dicer/miRNA pathways in pulmonary progenitor/stem cell growth in the context of organogenesis, repair after injury and disease pathogenesis to identify novel targets with diagnostic and therapeutic utility. [Visit Pathology]
	Yi Zheng, PhD, Professor Molecular mechanisms of Rho GTPase signal transduction. Development of novel therapeutic reagents to inhibit Rho pathways related to human pathological conditions [Visit the Zheng Lab]