Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program

The broad goals of this research is to understand the cellular, molecular and genetic mechanisms that drive immunologically-mediated disorders.

Dysregulated immune responses are of central importance to the pathogenesis and expression of a wide spectrum of disease (HIV, asthma, coronary artery disease, arthritis, cystic fibrosis, cancers) that cause an immense burden of morbidity and mortality in the US and the world at large.

Faculty

	Theresa Alenghat, PhD, Assistant Professor Molecular mechanisms that mediate intestinal homeostasis and the host-microbiota relationship [Visit the Alenghat Lab]
	Artem Barski, PhD, Assistant Professor Epigenomics of immunological memory [Visit the Barski Lab]
	Lee Grimes, PhD, Professor Hematopoiesis, molecular biology, and molecular oncology including mouse modeling of hematopoiesis, myelopoiesis and leukemia. [Visit the Grimes Lab]
	John Harley, MD, PhD, Professor We work to bring the new technologies of genomics to clinical care. We do this for the institution as a service and for our own work in autoimmunity. At the moment we are evaluating the microbiome in blood for systemic lupus erythematosus. [Visit Rheumatology]
	Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD, Professor Genetics and the pathogenesis of atopic disorders [Visit the Hershey Lab]
	David Hildeman, PhD, Professor Molecular biology of antigen-specific T cells, including mechanisms involved in cell signaling, apoptosis, and sex-based differences in autoimmunity and the T cell response to viral infections [Visit the Hildeman Lab]
	Vivian Hwa, PhD, Associate Professor Genetic and cellular basis of severe pre- and post-natal growth failure in children who often present co-morbidities (immunodeficiencies, insulin insensitivity). [Visit the Hwa Lab]
	Kenneth Kaufman, PhD, Professor Utilization of next generation DNA sequencing data to identify variants that cause disease. We are particularly interested in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus. [Visit CAGE]
	Tim Le Cras, PhD, Associate Professor Chronic lung diseases: Asthma, Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, Pulmonary fibrosis, Pulmonary hypertension [Visit the Le Cras Lab]
	Takahisa Nakamura, PhD, Assistant Professor Functional analysis of small RNAs and their binding proteins in integrative organ crosstalk in metabolic diseases. [Visit Endocrinology]
	Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD, Professor Eosinophil biology, chemokine receptor signaling pathways [Visit the Rothenberg Lab]
	Stephen N. Waggoner, PhD, Assistant Professor We are interested in host and viral factors that control disease pathogenesis by regulating development of long-lived immunological memory, generation of potent immune effector cells, and functional repression of immune function during chronic infection. [Visit the Waggoner Lab]
	Jeffrey A. Whitsett, MD, Professor  Organ morphogenesis, gene regulation, cell differentiation, respiratory disease [Visit the Whitsett Lab]