Board Members
Last updated
Advisory Editorial Board Members
Asifa Akhtar
Director, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany
Chromatin, epigenetics, dosage compensation
Asifa studies the epigenetic regulation by histone acetylation and long non-coding RNAs. In particular, her lab focusses on X-chromosome specific gene regulation at single cell resolution all the way to chromosomal and organismal level, using Drosophila dosage compensation as a model system. More recently, they have expanded their analyses into mouse models.
M. Madan Babu
Programme Leader, MRC Lab of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK
Computational biology, protein structure and function, regulatory genomics and systems biology
My group aims to gain a detailed understanding of how regulation is achieved at distinct levels of organization in cellular systems. We place a particular emphasis on understanding how the precise structure and intrinsically disordered regions of proteins contribute to cellular regulation. Specifically, we investigate regulation at three levels of organization: molecules, processes and genomes. At the molecular level, we aim to discover novel features of regulatory and signalling proteins. At the process level, we aim to understand how the different regulatory mechanisms contribute to cellular homeostasis. At the genome level, we study the interplay between regulation and genome evolution.
Erika Bach
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology;
Director, Molecular Pharmacology Training Program,New York University School of Medicine, New York NY, USA
Cell competition, sex determination, cellular plasticity
My lab is interested in how social interactions between cells impact growth and tissue homeostasis. We use the Drosophila testis as a paradigm to study stem cell biology: competition between stem cells for limited space in the niche, maintenance of cellular sex identity, and plasticity (dedifferentiation/transdifferentiation). We use Drosophila imaginal discs to study "cell competition", a process in which more metabolically robust cells kill the less fit cells. Recent work has shown that tumors increase in size by outcompeting and replacing wild-type cells. We have identified conserved genes that control cell competition and that are dysregulated in human cancers.
Eric Baehrecke
Professor, Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA, USA
Autophagy, cell health and cell death
The Baehrecke laboratory studies how autophagy (self-eating) is regulated and functions in complex multi-cellular organisms. Autophagy is a conserved catabolic process that is used to clear materials from cells, helps to maintain cell health and has been implicated in multiple human diseases. We screen for novel mechanisms that control autophagy using genetic and genomic approaches, and determine how autophagy functions to promote cell health and cell death in different cells and tissues within developing animal cells.
Marek Basler
Professor, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Bacterial secretion systems, cell-cell interactions, live-cell imaging
Bacteria evolved a variety of systems to deliver proteins and toxins into the neighboring cells. The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a widespread secretion system that can be found in many Gram-negative bacteria. The T6SS plays significant roles in pathogenesis and interactions between bacteria. We study the structure and dynamics of this extraordinarily large nanomachine using the newest electron and light microscopy techniques combined with biochemical approaches. Furthermore, we are interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying mode of action of T6SS effectors and target cell killing.
Tuncay Baubec
SNF Professor, Department of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Epigenetics, gene regulation, systems biology
What defines the identity of a cell? How is the same genetic code used to build different cell types with distinct physiological and morphological properties? These fundamental questions drive our enthusiasm for understanding how information processing is regulated at the level of chromatin modifications and DNA sequence. We aim to answer these questions by dissecting how interactions between transcriptional or chromatin regulators and the genome are specified, and how these interactions impact chromatin and transcription during biological processes. Towards this we combine various experimental and computational strategies, including genome and epigenome engineering, functional genomics, single-cell measurements and computational modelling.
Pedro Beltrao
Group Leader, European Bioinformatics Institute, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL-EBI), Hinxton, UK
Molecular evolution, cell signaling, systems biology
Our group studies the molecular sources of phenotypic novelties, exploring how DNA changes are propagated through structures and interactions to give rise to phenotypic variability. Our main focus is to dissect the evolutionary dynamics, functional importance and disease changes of post-translational regulatory networks. We aim to reconstruct the ancestral states of PTM regulation, understand how these systems make decisions in present day species, and how they are re-wired in disease. Beyond PTM regulation we are also broadly interested in studying why different individuals diverge in their response to drugs, other environmental perturbations, or additional genetic changes.
Kerry S Bloom
Thad L. Beyle Distinguished Professor, Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC, USA
Centromeres, kinetochores, chromosomes
My laboratory takes an integrative approach to understand the structural basis of chromosome segregation. Together with physicists and applied mathematicians we build mathematical models that recapitulate chromosome and microtubule dynamics. Using these models, we embarked on a project to define the organization of over 1 million base pairs of DNA in the centromere. The centromere is the chromosomal site where the kinetochore is assembled. We found that the centromere is organized into loops that exert tension within the centromere that has changed the paradigm from a passive centromere DNA binding site to an active participant in partitioning chromosomes.
Shiqing Cai
Investigator, Institute of Neuroscience and CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Healthy aging, ion channels, neurotransmitters
My study mainly focuses on the regulation of ion channels and the genetic basis of healthy aging. I am particularly interested in: 1) What is the mechanism underlying ion channel biogenesis (including folding, assembly and trafficking); 2) How to rescue the function of disease-associated trafficking-defective ion channel mutants; 3) The genetic basis of natural variations in the rates of aging among individuals; 4) The role of neurotransmitter signaling in healthy aging; 5) Comprehensive understanding of the mechanism underlying the biological regulation of healthy aging.
Rafael Carazo Salas
Professor, School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Quantitative cell biology, biological big data, human stem cells
Rafael Carazo Salas' research aims to elucidate how the gene and protein networks that control basic or disease-related processes like cell growth, division and differentiation operate in space and in time within cells, and how those networks allow cells to function as integrated systems and acquire specific fates. To that end, his group develops and uses interdisciplinary quantitative cell biology methods - including 3D high-throughput/high-content microscopy pipelines and Big Data approaches - and human pluripotent stem cells as an experimental system. The group's long-term goal is to understand how to specifically, efficiently and safely program stem cell-derived human tissues for therapeutic applications.
Monica Carson
Professor; Chair of biomedical sciences; University of California, Riverside CA, USA
Microglia, neuronal development, neurodegeneration
We develop methods utilizing microglia as biosensors reporting brain damage and dysfunction that are difficult to detect by standard clinical methodologies. Our aim is to define neuroprotective CNS-specific functions of microglia that are not readily replaced by other blood-derived immune cells, to elucidate the mechanisms by which microglia regulate neuronal development, synaptic maturation and ultimately CNS function. We are furthermore studying how normal aging and common life events such as concussions, viral & bacterial systemic infections and air quality regulate and alter microglial neuroprotective and neurotoxic functions with the aim to aid development of diagnoses, therapies and risk assessment for neurodegenerative disorders.
Andrew Carter
MRC Lab of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK
Dynein, cryo-EM, cytoskeleton
I did a PhD with Venki Ramakrishnan (MRC LMB) and was part of the team that solved the structure of the small ribosomal subunit bound to antibiotics. I was a postdoc with Ron Vale (UCSF) using X-ray crystallography and single molecule fluorescence microscopy to study the microtubule motor protein dynein. My own lab determined crystal structures of dynein's motor domain revealing how it generates force. We used cryo-EM to solve structures of full-length dynein and its co-factor dynactin and showed how they interact. We are currently working on how this dynein/dynactin machine interacts with different cargos and regulators.
Wei Chen
Chair Professor, Department of Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology; Medi-X Institute, SUSTech Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Systems biology, functional genomics, gene regulation
"DNA makes RNA makes protein." After transcription, mRNAs undergo a series of intertwining processes to be finally translated into functional proteins. 'Post‐transcriptional' regulation provides cells with an extended option to fine‐tune their proteomes and plays an important role in a variety of patho-physiological processes. Moreover, changes in these regulatory processes can be important driving forces underlying the evolution of phenotypic differences across different species. My lab has been using systems biology/functional genomics approaches to uncover novel post-transcriptional regulatory networks and reveal their functional relevance as well as the pattern of their changes during evolution.
Xuemei Chen
Professor, HHMI-GBMF Investigator, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside CA, USA
MicroRNA, RNA biology, plant development
My lab studies post-transcriptional processes in gene expression in plants. A main area of investigation is small RNA biology. We study how microRNAs and endogenous small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are made and degraded and how they function in the regulation of gene expression and plant development.
Jerry Chipuk
Associate Professor, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY, USA
Cancer, mitochondria, cell death
The Chipuk laboratory's long-term goals are to provide: 1) Mechanistic insights of how mitochondrial composition and shape impact on cellular metabolism and commitment to apoptosis, 2) explore how cancer-promoting pathways converge on the mitochondrial function to regulate malignancy and chemotherapeutic success, and 3) to reveal novel contributions of the mitochondrial network in tissue homeostasis.
Orna Cohen-Fix
Senior Investigator, The Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda MD, USA
Nuclear morphology, nuclear envelope, cell division, chromosome structure
We study processes that affect nuclear morphology and on the relationship between nuclear structure and nuclear function. Nuclear morphology is altered in certain cancers and during aging, but the consequences of this phenomenon are not understood. We use two model systems, budding yeast and C. elegans, and we are currently focusing on two questions: (a) the processes that dictate nuclear volume, which scales with cell volume, and (b) the mechanisms by which the nuclear envelopes of the maternal and paternal pronuclei are breached to allow mixing of the parental genomes in the zygote.
Lélia Delamarre
Senior Scientist, Genentech, South San Francisco CA, USA
Cancer Immunology, vaccines, dendritic cells, cancer antigens
My group explores novel approaches to expand anti-tumor T cell responses through priming. We are interested in further understanding how dendritic cell initiate T cell responses. Another recent focus has been the identification of the tumor antigens that shape immune responses to cancer. My group contributed to the identification of cancer-specific mutations, also called neoantigens, as the drivers of protective T cell responses against cancer and is now further investigating the properties of neoantigens to help their selection. The findings provide the opportunity to develop strategies that selectively target cancer and tools to monitor tumor-specific T cell responses in patients.
Vlad Denic
Professor, Harvard University, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Cambridge MA, USA
Autophagy, proteostasis, membrane proteins
The budding yeast S. cerevisiae is a model organism in which the power of genetic screening and genomic analysis can be combined with biochemical reconstitution approaches to dissect complex cell biological mechanisms that are conserved in humans. Historically, my lab has been using budding yeast to study several mechanisms ranging from selective autophagy, targeting and insertion of membrane proteins to organelles, and transcriptional control of protein folding in the cell. More recently, we have been carrying out genome-wide mammalian cell screens using CRISPR/Cas9 technologies to uncover novel regulatory components with direct connections to human autophagy diseases.
Scott J. Dixon
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford CA, USA
Cell death, metabolism, chemical biology
In the Dixon lab we have broad interests in the regulation of non-apoptotic and apoptotic cell death. In particular, we want to understand how the perturbation of intracellular metabolism leads or contributes to different forms of cell death. This work may have important clinical applications if we can find new drugs that can activate or inhibit different forms of cell death in a way that is helpful to treat diseases such as cancer (insufficient cell death) or neurodegeneration (too much cell death). We also have a strong interest in developing new technologies to monitor and quantify cell death.
Anne Eichmann
Professor, Yale University Cardiovascular Research Center, New Haven CT, USA; INSERM U970, Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Paris, France
Vascular biology, branched network formation, angiogenesis
Research in my lab aims to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that direct formation of branched vascular networks. Vessel networks develop in a highly stereotyped fashion, with major vessels in different organs and the limbs all forming at designated sites. Blood vessel networks ramify together with nerves of the peripheral nervous system and use shared cellular and molecular principles to orchestrate the formation of their branched networks. At the cellular level, capillaries and axons of developing neurons employ specialized motile structures to ensure their directional outgrowth. Molecularly, common signaling molecules including Semaphorins, Netrins and Slits guide capillary tip cells and axonal growth cones. Using mouse genetics, biochemical and signaling studies, we are studying the essential contributions of these pathways to vascular outgrowth and branching in development and pathological angiogenesis.
Barbara Engelhardt
Associate Professor, Computer Science Department and Center for Statistics and Machine Learning, Princeton University
Machine learning, statistical genetics, complex phenotypes
I study the genetic basis of complex traits by developing statistical models with biological structure to disentangle cellular mechanisms associated with disease phenotypes and drug responses.
Nicolas Fazilleau
INSERM, University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
T Lymphocyte, Memory, B lymphocyte
Nicolas Fazilleau is a team leader and INSERM Research Director at the Center for Pathophysiology of Toulouse-Purpan, France. He studied at the Pasteur Institute and obtained his PhD in Immunology from the University Paris Diderot. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla USA. His research interest is to better understand how humoral responses are regulated by T lymphocytes. Nicolas' lab aims to identify predictive biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve humoral responses in physiological conditions or revert humoral dysfunction associated with pathologies.
Sarah-Maria Fendt
Principal Investigator, Center for Cancer Biology, KUL - VIB, Leuven, Belgium; Assistant Professor, Department of Oncology, KU Leuven, Belgium
Cancer metabolism, metastasis formation, microenvironment
My laboratory is interested in cellular metabolism and metabolic regulation in the context of cancer and metastasis formation. Specifically, we are investigating how the microenvironment and the cellular phenotype define the in vivo metabolism of cancer cells. Moreover, we are dissecting the underlying regulatory mechanism and specifically metabolic regulation, which is a non-canonical cellular control mechanism.
Yasuyuki Fujita
Professor, Division of Molecular Oncology, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Cell competition, cell adhesion, molecular oncology
My laboratory is interested in the events occurring at the initial stage of carcinogenesis and especially focuses on cell competition between normal and transformed epithelial cells. Our results indicate that normal epithelial cells are able to sense the presence of the neighboring transformed cells and actively eliminate them from the epithelium. We are now trying to elucidate the mechanisms of how normal and transformed cells recognize the difference between them. I expect that this study would lead to a novel type of cancer preventive medicine.
Eileen E. Furlong
Head, Department of Genome Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany
Developmental enhancers, genome regulation, gene regulatory networks
Eileen's research spans the areas of transcription/chromatin regulation and developmental biology using the integration of genetics, genomics, imaging and computational biology. In particular, her laboratory dissects general principles by which developmental enhancers function and how robustness is imparted within developmental programs. How a single genome can generate such a diversity of cells, and how transcriptional networks control and buffer the process of differentiation, are the two overarching questions of her group's work.
Ian Ganley
Principal Investigator, MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK
Autophagy, mitophagy, ULK1
The Ganley Lab is interested in autophagy, a membrane-driven lysosomal degradation pathway, and how this might be targeted to treat disease. The lab is particularly focussed on how signalling leads to mitophagy, the autophagy of mitochondria, and uses a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches to determine when and where this process is important and how it is regulated.
Ana-Jesus Garcia-Saez
Professor, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Apoptosis, single molecule microscopy, membrane biology
Our research is focused on the study of dynamic membrane processes from a quantitative point of view. We have a special interest in the mitochondrial membrane alterations during apoptosis and the mechanism of action of the Bcl-2 proteins, which control this process. We make use of our expertise in membrane biophysics, advanced microscopy and single molecule techniques. We apply fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and single molecule imaging to in vitro reconstituted systems in order to characterize the complex interaction networks between the members of the Bcl-2 proteins. Our strategy includes approaches to clarify the role of the mitochondrial membrane, which strongly influences the molecular mechanism of these proteins, and to determine the stoichiometry and supramolecular organization of the proteins of the Bcl-2 family during apoptosis to shed new light on their molecular mechanisms of action.
Sonia Garel
Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Superieure (IBENS), INSERM U1024, CNRS UMR 8197, PSL Université Paris, Paris, France
Developmental biology, neuroscience, neuroimmune interactions
Our general goal is to understand how functional forebrain circuits wire up during development. Developmental programs coordinate the assembly of millions of neurons via a complex choreography of neuronal migration and axonal navigation. These intrinsic programs can be perturbed by maternal environment, as illustrated by the fact that prenatal inflammation constitutes a major risk factor for neurodevelopmental diseases, including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders. The team is examining how migration shapes the assembly of forebrain circuits, how such circuits establish long-range axonal connections and how microglia, the brain resident macrophages that are activated by prenatal inflammation, contribute to both processes.
Mary Gehring
Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research; Associate Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA, USA
Plant genetics, epigenetics, DNA methylation
The Gehring lab studies plant epigenetics — that is, the heritable information that influences cellular function but is not encoded in the DNA sequence itself. The lab uses genetic, genomic and molecular biology approaches to study the fidelity of epigenetic inheritance and the dynamics of epigenomic reprogramming during reproduction, primarily in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Recently, the lab has focused on the mechanisms and evolution of genomic imprinting, the function and regulation of small RNAs in seeds, and mechanisms that maintain DNA methylation homeostasis across generations.
Saghi Ghaffari
Professor, Department of Cell, Developmental & Regenerative Biology; Black Family Stem Cell Institute; Tisch Cancer Institute; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York NY, USA
Hematopoietic stem cells, erythropoiesis, FOXO
Saghi Ghaffari's research is on mechanisms implicated in blood formation and disorders of blood. Her work on both hematopoietic stem cells and erythroid cells has partly focused on exposing homeostatic functions of transcription factors FOXO. She was trained in medicine in Paris, France, before obtaining her PhD in Vancouver, Canada, in the laboratory of Connie Eaves. She worked with Harvey Lodish at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research MIT in Cambridge, USA, before joining the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
Jesus Gil
MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences (LMS), London, UK; Professor, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Imperial College London. London, UK
Senescence, p16INK4a, SASP
The goal of our research program is to understand the molecular mechanisms behind the implementation and regulation of senescence. There are three general questions that we are aiming to address: 1) What are the epigenetic mechanisms controlling senescence? 2) What are the regulation, composition and functions of the senescence secretome? 3) How can we target senescent cells for therapeutic benefit in cancer and aging? Overall, we expect that our research will allow a better knowledge of how senescence impacts aging, cancer and other diseases, opening possibilities for therapeutic approaches.
Michael Glotzer
Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago IL, USA
Cytokinesis, optogenetics, cell polarity
The Glotzer lab focuses on the mechanisms of cell organization. How do cells position the cleavage furrow? By what mechanisms are cortical domains that mediate cell polarization assembled and maintained? How do cells regulate cortical contractility during morphogenesis? We use a variety of model systems and combine forward and reverse genetics, biochemistry, optogenetics, and live cell imaging. Through these approaches we have discovered and extensively characterized the centralspindlin complex, which regulates every step of cytokinesis. Through optogenetics, we demonstrated that RhoA activation is sufficient to induce cleavage furrows irrespective of spindle position or cell cycle stage.
Miguel Godinho Ferreira
Telomere shortening and Cancer Laboratory, IRCAN - Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging of Nice, CNRS UMR7284 - INSERM U1081 - UNS, Faculté de Médecine, Nice, France
Telomeres, cancer and ageing
Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from inappropriately being recognized as damaged double strand breaks. However, as telomeres shorten, this protection is lost, resulting in cell senescence and genome instability.
Age is the strongest carcinogen. We are testing an hypothesis that attempts to explain the apparent paradox of tumours arising at a stage of low cell proliferation. Due to continuous telomere attrition, senescent cells accumulate in tissues throughout time. This creates a microenvironment that promotes both malignant phenotypes and tumour invasiveness. Thus, with age, cells with short telomeres provide a permissive soil for tumour formation in a non-cell autonomous manner.
Todd E. Golde
Director, Evelyn F. and William L. McKnight Brain Institute; Director, 1Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center; Member, Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease; Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, USA
Alzheimer's Disease, proteinopathies, Aadenoassociated virus
Our research focuses on translational studies that are designed to identify potential therapeutic targets and strategies in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. Much of this work involves rAAV-mediated delivery of biologically active proteins to the brain using vectors and methodologies developed and optimized in his laboratory. The Golde lab has been at the forefront of utilizing rAAV somatic brain and spinal cord transgenic technology to accelerate translational research in preclinical models of neurodegenerative disorders. We have now successfully applied this technology to disease modifying studies in models of amyloid deposition, tauopathy, SOD1-mediated ALS, and α-synucleinopathy.
Yukiko Gotoh
Professor, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Neural stem cells, neural development, chromatin, cell fate regulation
Yukiko Gotoh's research goal is to understand the molecular basis of brain development with an emphasis on the regulation of neuralstem/progenitor cell fate and epigenetics. Her group also aims at understanding the signal transduction pathways that regulate cell proliferation, death/survival, differentiation and immune responses and the involvement of these pathways in neurological disorders.
Thomas Gregor
Associate Professor of Physics, Laboratory for the Physics of Life; Member, Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton NJ, USA
A core focus of the lab is to understand biological development–the complex process through which an organism grows from a single cell into a differentiated, multicellular organism–from a physics perspective. As such, we formulate and experimentally validate quantitative models that describe how individual cells interact and organize in order to generate complex life forms. Our main interests lie in multicellular pattern formation, transcriptional regulation in the context of development, molecular limits to biochemical sensing, and emergence of collective behaviors in multicellular systems. We work with a variety of organisms in the lab, mainly the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.
Melanie Greter
Assistant Professor, Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Macrophages, dendritic cells, development
The mononuclear phagocyte system comprises ontogenetically and functionally distinct myeloid cells including monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. These cells are critical for immune responses and are also key players for tissue homeostasis. In contrast to dendritic cells and monocytes, most tissue macrophages originate from an embryonic precursor. We are interested in the environmental cues that govern the differentiation of tissue macrophages and in identifying their functional specializations at different stages of life. We also focus on the regulation of monocyte and dendritic cell development and their roles in pathological conditions.
Howard Hang
Richard E. Salomon Family Associate Professor, Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Microbial Pathogenesis, The Rockefeller University, New York NY, USA
Chemical biology, microbial pathogenesis, microbiota metabolites
My laboratory is interested in establishing new methods in chemical biology to elucidate fundamental mechanisms of host-microbe interactions and developing new approaches to combat microbial infections.
Silke Hauf
Associate Professor, Virginia Tech, Department of Biological Sciences, Biocomplexity Institute, Blacksburg VA, USA
Cell cycle, mitosis, quantitative biology
Silke's group is intrigued by the question how cellular networks are wired to control cellular processes reliably, and with perfect timing and accuracy. The lab focuses on chromosome segregation and cell division, core processes of life whose proper execution is essential. To understand the underlying networks, they combine quantitative live cell imaging, yeast molecular genetics, biochemical methods and computational modeling.
Cole Haynes
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester MA, USA
Mitochondria, stress responses, organelle communication
Mitochondrial dysfunction is linked with a number of seemingly disparate pathologic scenarios including neurodegeneration, cancer, diabetes and bacterial infection. My research focuses on how cells evaluate mitochondrial function and adapt to survive and ultimately recover from mitochondrial stress. We focus on a mitochondrial-to-nuclear signaling pathway known as the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) that regulates a transcriptional response to recover mitochondrial function. We are interested in mechanistic questions such as how cells evaluate mitochondrial function and how UPRmt activation coordinates with organismal growth and metabolism, but also how such a pathway plays out during aging and during bacterial infection.
Myriam Heiman
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, MIT, Broad Institute, Picower Institute, Cambridge MA, USA
Huntington's disease, striatal neurobiology, molecular neuroscience
The most common neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases, each display distinct clinical presentations. The basis of these distinct clinical presentations is enhanced vulnerability of certain neuronal types to death or dysfunction. The Heiman Laboratory is broadly interested in this phenomenology of enhanced vulnerability in neurodegenerative disease and view it as an opportunity to discover valuable insights into the cell biology of each disease-relevant neuronal cell type, as well as to identify new therapeutic targets.
Simon Hippenmeyer
Assistant Professor, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria
Cerebral cortex, neural stem cells, mosaic analysis with double markers (MADM)
The human cerebral cortex, the seat of our cognitive abilities, is composed of an enormous number and diversity of neurons and glia cells; but how the cortex arises from neural stem cells is an unsolved fundamental question. To obtain mechanistic insights, we genetically dissect corticogenesis at unprecedented single cell resolution using the unique MADM (Mosaic Analysis with Double Markers) technology. In a broader context, our research has the ultimate goal to advance the general understanding of brain function and why human brain development is so sensitive to disruption of particular signaling pathways in pathological neurodevelopmental diseases and psychiatric disorders.
Tatsushi Igaki
Professor, Graduate School of Biostudies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Cell competition, cancer, tissue growth regulation
The laboratory of Tatsushi Igaki explores how cells communicate with each other to establish and maintain multicellular systems, using Drosophila as a model organism. His research focuses on understanding epithelial cell-cell communications such as cell competition and cooperation, which govern tissue growth, homeostasis, aging, and cancer.
Jacqueline Jacobs
The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Division of Oncogenomics, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Genome integrity, telomere, DNA damage
Our research focuses on the mechanisms that operate in mammalian cells to maintain genome integrity and stability. In large part driven by functional genetic screens, we investigate how cells activate DNA damage responses and DNA repair activities when encountering DNA lesions in their genome or when the natural ends of our chromosomes become inadvertently recognized as broken DNA due to the loss of telomere protection. In addition, we study the mechanisms underlying telomere maintenance that operate to avoid DNA damage responses and DNA repair at natural chromosome ends, and we study the dynamic regulation of DNA damage responses.
Carsten Janke
Institut Curie, Orsay / Paris, France
Tubulin code, microtubule functions, tubulin posttranslational modifications
Carsten Janke is studying the role of tubulin posttranslational modifications in the regulation of microtubule functions. Having discovered several families of tubulin-modifying enzymes, his team is currently investigating how these enzymes alter the functions of microtubules, and how this controls the behavior of the microtubule cytoskeleton in cells and organisms.
Cigall Kadoch
Assistant Professor of Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Biology at Harvard Medical School; Institute Member and Epigenomics Program Co-Director at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Chromatin regulation, cancer, transcription
Cigall established her independent laboratory in 2014, at age 28, one of the youngest scientists ever appointed to the Harvard Medical School faculty, immediately following completion of her Ph.D. studies in Cancer Biology at Stanford University working with developmental biologist Gerald Crabtree. She has quickly become a leading expert in chromatin and gene regulation and is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking studies in these areas. Specifically, her laboratory studies the structure and function of chromatin remodeling complexes such as the mammalian SWI/SNF (or BAF) complex, with emphasis on defining the mechanisms underlying cancer-specific perturbations. The recent surge in exome- and genome-wide sequencing efforts has unmasked the major, previously unappreciated contribution of these regulators to malignancy: the genes encoding subunits of mammalian SWI/SNF complexes are mutated in over 25% of human cancers.
Shingo Kajimura
Associate Professor, University of California, San Francisco, UCSF Diabetes Center, Department of Cell and Tissue Biology; Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research, San Francicsco CA, USA
Thermogenesis, obesity, diabetes
Thermoregulation is a fundamental homeostatic system required for a myriad of biological processes. Dysregulation of thermogenesis is closely associated with the initiation and progression of many diseases, including obesity, metabolic diseases, cachexia, fever, and age-associated disorders. Our lab aims to understand and harness the regulatory circuitry of thermogenesis, with an emphasis on thermogenic fat: brown adipocytes and beige adipocytes.
Raghu Kalluri
Professor and Chairman, Department of Cancer Biology; RE Bob Smith Chair for Cancer Research; CPRIT Established Investigator; Director, Metastasis Research Center, MD Anderson Cancer Centre, University of Texas, Houston TX, USA
Matrix biology, cancer biology, exosomes
Raghu Kalluri received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas Medical Center and his M.D. from Brown University Medical School. Dr. Kalluri was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and joined Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as an assistant professor of medicine in 1997, and in 2006 became a full professor and Chief of the Division of Matrix Biology. In 2013, Dr. Kalluri moved to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as the Chairman and Professor of the Department of Cancer Biology and the Director of the Metastasis Research Center and serves as the RE Bob Smith Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research. Dr. Kalluri's laboratory is focused on studies related to cancer biology and metastasis, tumor microenvironment, tissue injury/regeneration, and exosomes biology.
Gary Karpen
Professor, University of California, Berkeley CA, USA
Chromatin, centromere, lncRNA
The Karpen lab has a long-standing interest in chromatin structure and function, with a special emphasis on heterochromatic DNA regions. The current projects in the lab range from centromere formation and function, to the role of lncRNAs, ageing, and DNA repair in heterochromatin formation and maintenance.
René Ketting
Professor, Biology of non-coding RNA, Institute of Molecular Biology, Mainz, Germany
Germline, small non-coding RNA, transposon
Our major focus is on mechanism and cell-biology of gene regulation by small RNA molecules. Since their discovery, many different RNAi-related pathways have been identified, and although all these pathways depend on proteins from the Argonaute family, each pathway has its own unique characteristics and effects on gene expression. We mainly focus on mechanisms related to piRNA and siRNA biology, two species of small RNAs that are particularly abundant in, and important for the germline. Hence, we also have a strong interest in general germ cell development and early embryogenesis. We use zebrafish and C. elegans as main model systems.
Claudine Kraft
Professor, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ZBMZ, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Autophagy, trafficking, signalling
We aim at understanding how the cellular waste disposal system, called autophagy, works. Upon autophagy induction, cellular components are sequestered into a double-membrane organelle followed by their delivery to the vacuole/lysosome for breakdown and recycling. Defects in autophagy have been associated with several human diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. Despite these fundamental functions, the cellular signals that induce or restrict autophagy, and the mechanisms that spatially and temporally act to ensure cargo selection and degradation remain poorly understood. Our goal is to dissect the signaling events inducing autophagy and to analyze the underlying mechanistic events at a molecular level.
Ulrike Kutay
Professor, Institute of Biochemistry, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Nuclear envelope, mitosis, ribosome synthesis
Research in the Kutay lab is centered on nuclear biology of mammalian cells. One main research focus is the structure, function and dynamics of the nuclear envelope, giving emphasis on the biogenesis of nuclear envelope constituents and the molecular mechanisms that drive the disintegration of the nuclear compartment at the onset of open mitosis. A second line of research seeks to decipher the highly regulated and mechanistically unique processes responsible for the production of ribosomal subunits, exploiting biochemical, high-content screening and proteomic approaches.
Tuuli Lappalainen
Junior Investigator and Core Member, New York Genome Center; Assistant Professor, Department of Systems Biology, Columbia University, New York NY, USA
Genetic variation, functional variants, transcriptomics
Tuuli Lappalainen is a human geneticist whose research focuses on functional genetic variation in human populations and its contribution to human traits and diseases. Her lab develops approaches for integrating large-scale genome and transcriptome sequencing data to understand how genetic variation affects gene expression, which gives insight to biological mechanisms underlying genetic risk to disease. She has participated in many genomics consortia such as the Genotype Tissue Expression (GTEx) Project, TOPMed, 1000 Genomes, and the Geuvadis Consortium.
Eros Lazzerini Denchi
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla CA, USA
Telomere biology, genome integrity, DNA damage
My laboratory focuses on the role of telomere-associated proteins in maintaining genome stability and preventing tumorigenesis. In the past years, we have identified novel factors involved in telomere homeostasis, and we defined the role of known telomere-associated factors in telomere protection. Moreover, using mouse models, we have established how telomere dysfunction impacts tumor formation as well as normal biological processes.
Francois Leulier
Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France
Symbiosis, microbiota, animal physiology
My research group studies how intestinal bacteria shape animal physiology upon nutritional challenges. To this end, we use gnotobiotic animals (animals with a controlled microbiota) such as Drosophila and Mouse and intestinal model micro-organisms such as Lactobacilli. Our approaches include comparative phenotyping of our Drosophila and Mouse models and genetics both in bacteria and in Drosophila to decipher the molecular mechanisms underlying bacteria-mediated host phenotypes. Currently, our research work is focusing on how Lactobacilli shape juvenile growth upon chronic undernutrition.
Guanghui Liu
Professor, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Stem cells, aging, gene editing
Guanhui's research focuses on the use of stem cell and gene editing techniques to study and treat aging-associated disorders.
Mofang Liu
Principal Investigator, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Noncoding RNA, spermatogenesis, cancer
Dr. Mo-Fang Liu obtained her Ph.D degree from Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2000. From 2000 to 2006, she was a postdoctoral fellow in National Cancer Institute, NIH, and then a research assistant at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in 2006. The major research interests in Liu's group are the roles and mechanisms of noncoding RNAs and their binding proteins, especially of those involved in spermatogenesis and human male infertility. Additionally, they have also engaged in understanding the pathological function and mechanisms of noncoding RNAs in human cancers, especially in inflammation-associated tumorigenesis and tumor cell metabolism.
Laura Machesky
Professor, CRUK Beatson Institute, Glasgow University College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, Glasgow, UK
Cell migration, cancer metastasis, actin cytoskeleton
My lab studies the molecular mechanisms of cell migration and how cancer cells use their actin cytoskeletons to invade and metastasise. We are interested in how actin dynamics is regulated and how key actin regulators are subverted during metastatic disease. We also study how microenvironment, including matrix and mechanical properties affect migration in 3-dimensions.
Kay MacLeod
Associate Professor, The University of Chicago, Chicago IL, USA
Mitochondria, autophagy, cancer
The Macleod Lab researches the role of mitophagy and mitochondrial dysfunction in cancer with a particular emphasis on the functions of the mitophagy adaptor proteins BNIP3 and BNIP3L/NIX in stress responses, such as to hypoxia and nutrient deprivation. Using mouse models and human patient samples, we seek to determine how deregulated expression of BNIP3 and/or BNIP3L in cancers affects rates of mitophagy and contributes to cancer progression to invasive carcinoma and metastasis. In addition, the lab examines how mitophagy is coordinated with mitochondrial biogenesis and how this is deregulated in cancer.
Susan Mango
Professor; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA; Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Embryogenesis, developmental plasticity, chromatin organization
The Mango lab studies embryonic development, developmental plasticity and chromatin organization using the C. elegans. Her lab has probed the earliest stages of embryogenesis, when embryonic cells transition from developmental plasticity to specification of cell fates. Her work has focused on the master regulators that specify organ fate and on the dynamic nuclear architecture within developing embryos. More recently, her lab has shown that developmental processes in the embryo are modulated by the environment experienced by the parent. The Mango lab is fascinated by this observation, which suggests embryogenesis is sensitive to cross-generational signaling. The lab uses a combination of genomics, genetics and cell biology to identify key regulators and understand how they function.
Shyamala Maheswaran
Associate Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School; Assistant Molecular Biologist, Center for Cancer Research; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA, USA
Tumorigenesis, breast cancer and cancer genetics
Metastasis, the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, is governed by multiple steps, which are not well understood. Using cell culture and mouse models, as well as patient-derived tumor tissues, and tumor cells circulating in the blood (Circulating Tumor Cells/CTCs), the Maheswaran lab uncovers novel tumor cell characteristics that promote metastasis in breast cancer patients. The lab intends to define the functional and molecular properties of different subclasses of tumor cells and their contribution to metastasis, tumor evolution and drug sensitivity using appropriate experimental models and patient-derived samples.
Taija Mäkinen
Associate Professor, Uppsala University, Rudbeck Laboratory, Uppsala, Sweden
Lymphangiogenesis, vascular morphogenesis, endothelial cell heterogeneity
The long-term aim of my lab is to understand how endothelial cells lining blood and lymphatic vessels communicate with the tissue environment to co-ordinate morphogenesis and functional specialisation of the vasculature. Most of our research has focused on the lymphatic vasculature that was traditionally considered a passive drainage system for removal of excess of tissue fluid but has recently been shown to play an active role in many important processes and common diseases such as autoimmune disease and cancer. We also investigate how the regulators of developmental (lymph) angiogenesis impact on genetic human diseases such as lymphoedema and vascular malformations
Jean-Christophe Marine
Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology, Center for Cancer Biology, VIB, Leuven, Belgium; Professor, Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology, Department of Oncology, KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium
Cancer biology, melanoma, therapy resistance
Our group focuses on the analysis of pathways that underlie the genesis, progression and maintenance of cancer. The lab harnesses the power of mouse genetics to study cancer gene function in vivo. We have recently developed a strong interest in melanoma biology and therapy response. We aim at understanding and characterizing melanoma intra-tumor heterogeneity using lineage tracing and single-cell sequencing approaches. These experiments will contribute to a better understanding of the biology of melanoma subpopulations, an essential step in overcoming the barrier presented by tumor heterogeneity and for the development of effective antimelanoma therapeutic strategies.
Sophie Martin
Associate Professor, Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Cell polarity, cytoskeleton, cell fusion, yeast
The lab of Sophie Martin studies the spatial organisation of cells. Cell polarisation is a fundamental property that underlies many cellular functions, such as polarised growth, cell division or cell-cell fusion. Using a simple eukaryotic organism, the fission yeast Schiozsaccharomyces pombe, her recent work has focused on the regulation of a central regulator of cell polarity, the small GTPase Cdc42, and how cell polarisation culminates in cell-cell fusion during sexual reproduction.
Kyle Miller
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences; Member, Livestrong Cancer Institute (Dell Medical Center), University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX; Adjunct Member, Dan Duncan Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX, USA
DNA damage, chromatin, cancer
Research in the Miller lab aims to understand genome maintenance and the DNA damage response in the context of chromatin, cancer and anticancer therapies. His lab employs genetics, genomics, cell biology and molecular biology to gain insights into these areas of research in mammalian cells. His lab applies these multifaceted and diverse approaches to these areas of research in hopes of defining the relationship between chromatin and DNA damage responses in DNA repair and disease, as well as gaining insights into the mechanisms of cancer therapeutic drugs that act at the chromatin and DNA level.
Maria Mota
Executive Director, Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, Lisbon, Portugal
Parasitology, physiology, molecular medicine, malaria, host-microbe interactions
Our ongoing work indicates that the web of host-Plasmodium interactions is densely woven, with liver stage-mediated innate mechanisms, host nutritional status, and an antagonistic relationship between the two parasite stages themselves all working to modulate the balance between parasite replication and human health. Altering this balance will be required if we aim to efficiently control this deadly parasite.
Christian Münz
Professor, Viral Immunobiology, Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Oncogenic herpesvirus, viral immunobiology, autophagy
We study infection and immune control by human oncogenic γ-herpesviruses. We explore in vitro and in vivo systems that model latent and lytic infection of the Epstein Barr (EBV) and the Kaposi sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV). We are particularly interested in the cell mediated immune control of these pathogens and their associated lymphomas by dendritic, natural killer and T cells. In this immune control we also study the role of the molecular machinery of macroautophagy at the cell biological level for its influence on viral infection and viral antigen processing for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted presentation to T cells.
Andrew Murphy
Associate Professor, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia
Hematopoiesis, cardiovascular disease, inflammation
Associate Professor Andrew Murphy heads of the Haematopoiesis and Leukocyte Biology laboratory and the Division of Immunometabolism at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute. He obtained his PhD in 2009 and his postdoctoral studies were completed in Prof. Alan Tall's group at Columbia University. In 2013 he set up his laboratory in Melbourne, where his group largely focuses on how inflammatory diseases associated with cardiovascular disease, including diabetes, obesity and rheumatoid arthritis cause the overproduction of innate immune cells and how this contributes to atherosclerosis. Furthermore, his laboratory studies fundamental biological process regulating haematopoiesis.
Dimple Notani
National Centre for Biological Sciences, India; Assistant Professor and Wellcome Trust/IA fellow, Bangalore, India
Chromatin organization, non-coding RNA, gene expression
Dimple is a Wellcome trust/IA fellow and Assistant Professor at National Centre for Biological Sciences India, where she heads the Chromatin Biology group in the Department of Genetics and Development. Her research uses an interdisciplinary approach to understand the dynamic interplay between chromatin organization, regulatory elements and non-coding RNAs in gene regulation. She earned her PhD from NCCS, India and completed her post-doctoral training in Geoff Rosenfeld's laboratory at UC San Diego where her work identified the important roles of enhancers and their non-coding RNAs (eRNAs) in ligand-dependent gene regulation.
Søren Riis Paludan
Professor, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
Virus infections, innate immunology, inflammatory diseases
We are interested in understanding how the innate immune system detects infections and abnormal self and translate this into a response that is appropriate for the challenge the organism is facing. Since most immune reactions have both beneficial and pathological potential, we are particularly interested in understanding how the different immune activities are regulated and how they cross-talk, thus allowing the host to fine-tune immune activities to achieve optimal defense with minimal immunopathology.
Staffan Persson
Professor, School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Plant cell biology, cell walls, cellulose
The Persson lab aims at understanding how plants produce their cell walls, with a particular focus on the prominent cell wall polymer cellulose. This is the major contributor to the biomass of a typical plant and consists of glucan chains that are hydrogen-bonded into microfibrils, which also provide the major strength to the cell wall. Cellulose is produced at the plasma membrane by large multimeric cellulose synthase (CESA) complexes. A major goal of the group is to understand how the CESA complex is regulated, what the components involved in making cellulose are, how the cytoskeleton impacts cellulose synthesis and the means that the cell wall uses to communicate with the interior of the cell.
Dana Philpott
Professor, Department of Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Crohn's disease, microbiome, innate immunity
Dr. Philpott's research employs animal models of inflammatory bowel disease and considers how innate immunity and the microbiome shape immune homeostasis within the intestine.
Katie Pollard
Director, Gladstone Institute for Data Science & Biotechnology; Professor, University of California San Francisco; Investigator, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco CA, USA
Bioinformatics, statistics, evolution
We are a bioinformatics research lab focused on developing novel methods and using them to study genome evolution, organization, and regulation. Our mission is to decode biomedical knowledge that is missed without rigorous statistical approaches. Research projects involve comparing genomes across time scales ranging from experimental time courses to the tree of life.
Jody Rosenblatt
H. A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair; HHMI Faculty Scholar; Professor, Huntsman Cancer Institute; Department of Oncological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City UT, USA
Epithelial, extrusion, homeostasis
The Rosenblatt lab studies how epithelia—the tissue that coat and protect our body and all our organs—maintain constant cell numbers through cell death and cell division. Mechanical forces control each process; when cells become too crowded, they extrude cells that later die, and when cells are too sparse, stretch activates cells to rapidly divide. Extrusion is critical for regulating epithelial cell numbers, as inflammation can result from excess extrusion due to an asthma attack. Moreover, driver mutations of an aggressive class of tumors hijack canonical extrusion, causing cell invasion through a novel, mechanical EMT mechanism—basal extrusion.
Carla Rothlin
Associate Professor of Immunobiology and Pharmacology; HHMI Faculty Scholar; Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT, USA
Innate immunity, resolution of inflammation, repair
Dr. Rothlin's laboratory is interested in understanding the regulation of the immune response and resolution of inflammation. Her studies have revealed innate immune checkpoints that regulate whether the adaptive immune response would be initiated (threshold), dynamically adjust its magnitude (how much and how long the response should last) and determine its quality (anti-viral versus anti-helminth). These checkpoints also trigger the resolution of inflammation and induction of tissue repair. Rothlin's laboratory also aims to understand the consequences of chronic checkpoint engagement in non-resolving infections and cancer.
Aurélien Roux
Professor, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Dynamin, membrane properties, lipid phase separation
The Roux lab uses tools and concepts from physics and chemistry to understand how lipid membranes are remodelled by proteins involved in membrane traffic and other membrane-dependent cell functions. The group has shown how forces, energies and elastic parameters (bending rigidity, tension) are essential to our understanding of clathrin mediated endocytosis. More recently, the groups has shown that ESCRT-III complex forms spiral springs which could trigger membrane budding by buckling. The group uses physics tools such has optical tweezers to obtain quantitative experimental results that can be compared directly with theories made by theoretician colleagues, among which Martin Lenz, Orsay has been the main one.
Jared Rutter
Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City UT, USA
Mitochondria, metabolism, signaling
The Rutter laboratory employs a wide array of technologies to enable discovery related to metabolic control as well as fundamental aspects of mitochondrial biology. The Rutter laboratory has characterized the PAS kinase protein as an important factor in states of metabolic dysregulation—including obesity and diabetes. More recently, the Rutter laboratory and collaborators have identified the functions of a number of previously uncharacterized mitochondrial proteins, including the discovery of the long-sought mitochondrial pyruvate carrier. This knowledge has now enabled for the first time the demonstration that this critical metabolic step is impaired in a variety of human diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.
Marco Sandri
Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Skeletal muscle, protein breakdown, mitochondria
Marco Sandri is Full Professor of Pathology at Department of Biomedical Science, University of Padova. He is particularly interested in understanding the signalling pathways that control protein synthesis and degradation and the impact on muscle mass and force generation. He analyses in the involvement of ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosome systems in protein breakdown during catabolic conditions. He is also interested in mitochondria and their impact on tissue metabolism and longevity.
Maya Schuldiner
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Organelles, yeast, contact sites
Membrane-enclosed organelles are the hallmark of eukaryotic cellular organization. Correct targeting of organelle proteins, which constitute half of a eukaryotic proteome, is imperative for basic cellular functions and optimized physiology. Our lab uses the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to explore the machinery required for protein targeting and organelle communication. Importantly, we do this in an unbiased, systematic manner and follow up on our findings to reach a mechanistic understanding of the fundamental cellular mechanisms that underlie intracellular organization.
Carmine Settembre
Assistant Investigator, Cell Biology and Disease Mechanisms Program, Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine; Assistant Professor of Medical Genetics, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy
Autophagy, lysosome, signal transduction
The main research interest of my laboratory is to understand the regulation and the role of the lysosomal-autophagy pathway in both physiological and disease processes. In particular, my laboratory is exploring the hypothesis that the developmental regulation of this pathway is an important contributor of organismal development and growth. We use mouse genetics, tissue histopathology, cell biology and pharmacological approaches to understand the role of the lysosomal autophagy pathway during skeletal development and growth. The observation that mutations in more than 20 genes encoding for lysosomal proteins causes defects in skeletal growth in human suggests that lysosomes and related pathways play an important, yet unexplored, role during skeletogenesis.
Agnel Sfeir
Associate Professor, NYU School of medicine; Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York NY, USA
Genome stability, telomeres, mitochondrial DNA
Chromosomes are the structural units of our genome. Understanding their basic biology and how their mismanagement leads to disease is the focus of the Sfeir lab. Part of our research aims to investigate the structure and function of the protective elements at the end of chromosome – the telomeres. In addition, the lab investigates the link between dysfunctional telomeres and cancer. In more recent years, we have been building upon our knowledge of nuclear DNA replication and repair to investigate mitochondrial DNA replication and repair and understand the pathways that instigate mitochondrial DNA instability.
John Silke
Joint Division Head, Professor, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute; Adjunct Associate Professor, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
TNF superfamily, cell death, ubiquitin
My group is interested in the interplay of cell death and inflammation and how this knowledge can be translated to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer.
David Silver
Professor and Deputy Director, Signature Research Program in Cardiovascular & Metabolic Diseases, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.
Lipid transport, metabolism, metabolic disease
The overriding theme of our research group is to determine the molecular mechanisms by which organisms regulate lipid metabolism. This research theme is widely relevant to metabolic, immunological and neurological diseases. We have a particular interest in studying the biochemical functions of lipid transporters and protein-lipid interactions.
Lori Sussel
Professor, Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora CO, USA
Islet biology, transcriptional regulation, long non-coding RNAs
Dr. Sussel's research program focuses on the transcriptional regulation of pancreas development and adult pancreatic islet cell function during physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Most recently, she has pioneered the new field of long non-coding RNAs and their regulation of islet development and function.
Stephen Tait
University of Glasgow and Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, UK
Mitochondria, cell death, cancer
My group's research focuses on mitochondrial regulation of cell death and how this impacts on cancer. Based on our recent findings, one major lab theme is to understand the mechanisms and importance of cell death in the promotion of cancer. A second major theme is to understand how mitochondria can drive cell-death associated inflammation. Using knowledge obtained from this research, we aim to improve cancer treatment.
Shubha Tole
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India
Cerebral cortex and the amygdala are the two most complex brain structures. The cortex is responsible for higher brain functions- perception, language, learning, memory; the amygdala is the "emotion center" of the brain. The broad interests of Shubha Tole's group are the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that control the formation of these highly specialized structures. The group uses "knockout" and transgenic approaches, in-utero and tissue culture perturbation techniques, ChIP-seq and Mass spectrometry, neurocircuitry tracing and CLARITY-based approaches, and behavioral paradigms to pursue these questions.
Iva Tolić
Professor, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
Microtubules, mitotic spindle, motor proteins
My group investigates the biophysical principles underlying the mitotic spindle assembly and function. In an interdisciplinary approach, we combine cell and molecular biology, molecular genetics, biophysical tools including laser microsurgery, optogenetics, computer science, and theoretical physics. We are especially interested in force generation in the spindle, as well as in the recently discovered spindle chirality.
Nassos Typas
Group Leader, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Genome Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
Microbiology, systems biology, reverse genetics
The Typas group develops and utilises high-throughput methods to study the cellular networks of different bacterial species, and how these bacteria interact with the environment and with each other.
Igor Ulitsky
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Long noncoding RNAs, Gene Regulation, Nuclear export
The Ulitsky lab studies the genomics, evolution, functions and modes of action of RNA molecules, with a particular focus on long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in mammalian cells. We are developing and using computational and experimental tools for study of individual lncRNAs in a variety of systems, including embryonic stem cells and mouse models. We are also performing screens for sequences derived from lncRNAs and mRNAs that can carry out specific post-transcriptional fates and cellular functions.
Jan-Willem Veening
Professor, Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Antibiotics, Pneumococcal cell biology, systems and synthetic biology
The Veening lab is interested in understanding fundamental processes in the pneumococcus, the main cause of community acquired pneumonia and meningitis in children and the elderly. Using a multidisciplinary approach, including quantitative single cell techniques, systems and synthetic biology, we address how pneumococci grow and divide and segregate their DNA prior to cell division. We are also interested in the role of phenotypic variation for pneumococcal virulence and antibiotic resistance development.
Thierry Walzer
Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie (CIRI), Inserm U1111, Lyon, France
Natural Killer cells, lymphocyte development and activation, autoimmunity
Thierry Walzer's team studies molecular mechanisms underlying innate immunity including i) the development and activation of Natural Killer (NK) cells with an emphasis on signal transduction, metabolic pathways and transcriptional networks; ii) the impact of chronic infections or cancer on human NK cell functions; iii) the impact of anti-tumor therapies on NK cell function; iv) the genetics of immune dysfunction in pediatric patients with susceptibility to infections or severe inflammation.
Shizhen Emily Wang
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, University of California, San Diego CA, USA
Tumor microenvironment, metastasis, extracellular vesicles
We are interested in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cancer-induced changes in the host and in developing methods to target niche modifications that result from oncogenic signaling networks in cancer cells. Our lab has recently focused on extracellular microRNAs that can be detected in the circulation as biomarkers of cancer disease and mediators of intercellular communication. Using extracellular vesicles as vehicles, miRNAs secreted by cancer cells can travel to and enter various types of niche cells at the primary and metastatic sites. We are currently exploring the various functions of cancer-derived extracellular miRNAs in the crosstalk between cancer and host.
Yibin Wang
Chair, UCLA Cardiovascular Theme; Director, Division of Molecular Medicine; Vice Chair for Research of Anesthesiology; Professor, Departments of Anesthesiology, Physiology and Medicine; David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA, USA
Cardiovascular, genomics, metabolism
Dr. Wang's research mainly focuses on genetic and molecular mechanisms of heart failure and metabolic disorders. His lab discovered important stress-signaling mechanisms in the pathogenesis of heart failure and revealed functional importance of amino acids catabolism in heart failure and metabolic disorders. His lab reported novel regulatory mechanisms in cardiac transcriptome reprogramming involving RNA splicing regulation and non-coding RNA mediated epigenetic modulation. In addition, Dr. Wang's lab employed a systems genetic approach to discover novel players in cardiovascular physiology and pathology.
Hedda Wardemann
Professor, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
Immunology, B cells, antibodies
Hedda Wardemann is a B cell immunologist with a primary interest in antibody repertoires and the functional evolution of human B cell antibody responses. She uses single-cell immunoglobulin gene repertoire analyses to measure the diversity and to track the clonal evolution of B cells in health and disease. In combination with antibody cloning she aims to assess the quality of human B cell responses and to develop tools to direct antibody responses by targeted interventions, e.g. through vaccination, with a special focus on human Plasmodium falciparum malaria.
Dolf Weijers
Professor, Laboratory of Biochemistry, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
Plant development, plant hormones, Gene regulation
Our team focuses on the question of how multicellular development is regulated in plants. We use the early embryo as a model to understand how cell types are defined transcriptionally, and how genetic instructions are translated to cellular decisions such as oriented cell division. A key trigger in plant development is the hormone auxin. We study how this hormone regulates developmental decisions, and use a combination of biochemistry, evolutionary biology and genetics to dissect the evolutionary, structural and functional basis for specificity in auxin hormone action.
Kathryn E. Wellen
Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA, USA
Cancer, metabolism, acetyl-CoA
My laboratory studies mechanisms of metabolic signaling in physiology, diabetes, and cancer. We are particularly interested acetyl-CoA, which plays key roles in both lipid biosynthesis and in chromatin regulation, as the acetyl donor for histone acetylation.
James Wells
Professor of Pediatrics; Chief Scientific Officer, Center for Stem Cell and Organoid Medicine (CuSTOM); Perinatal Institute Endowed Professor, Division of Developmental Biology; Director for research, Division of Endocrinology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati OH, USA
Developmental biology, stem cells, organoids
Dr. Wells' research focuses on the processes by which gastrointestinal and endocrine organs form in the developing embryo and how they maintain systemic metabolic homeostasis postnatally. This work in developmental biology has provided the basis for the efforts to generate human cells and tissues from pluripotent stem cells. His lab pioneered approaches to generate gastrointestinal (GI) tissue organoids of the stomach, intestine, and colon that are being used to study endocrine control of metabolism, congenital defects of the digestive tract, and enteric pathogens. Moreover, Dr. Wells and colleagues are using organoids as a basis for tissue engineering efforts to generate functional tissues for transplantation. His lab also uses mice and human pluripotent stem cells to study genetic forms of diabetes and digestive diseases in humans.
Eske Willerslev
Lundbeck Foundation Professor, Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; Prince Philip Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK
Evolutionary genetics, ancient & environmental DNA, human genetic diversity, distribution, and disease load
Willerslev has broad research interest in the fields of ecology and evolution. He started out as an environmental microbiologist, then moved into the field of invertebrate systematics, and later into mammalian population genetics and community ecology. Over the past seven years Willerslev has focused major parts of his research in understanding processes forming contemporary human genetic diversity, distribution, and disease load. In his research, Willerslev is known for his multidisciplinary approach collaborating with researchers from many different fields such as archaeology, anthropology, palaeontology, chemistry, physics, statistics, and mathematics, but also philosophy. His own primary experimental approach is ancient DNA.
R. Luke Wiseman
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla CA, USA
Proteostasis, stress-responsive signaling, unfolded protein response
The Wiseman lab research program focuses on understanding how organellar stress-responsive signaling pathways, such as the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), integrate to regulate cellular protein homeostasis in response to genetic, environmental or aging-related insults. Through these efforts, we are defining how alterations in stress-responsive signaling contribute to the onset and pathogenesis of human disease. Furthermore, we are identifying specific aspects of stress-responsive signaling pathways that can be therapeutically accessed to correct pathologic imbalances in protein homeostasis associated with etiologically diverse types of disease.
Will Wood
Professor; Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow; MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, Queens Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Macrophage biology, wound response, inflammatory blood cell migration
Cell movement is an essential process during both embryonic development and throughout adult life. We use Drosophila embryonic blood cells (hemocytes) as a model to study cell migration and chemotaxis in the context of a living organism. Hemocytes are large, macrophage-like cells that patrol tissues, recognising and engulfing apoptotic corpses in the embryo and pathogens in the larval and adult fly. Our aim is to uncover the signals that guide hemocytes during migration and how these immune cells are able to prioritize different cues within the complex setting of a 3-dimensional organism. We are interested in understanding the molecular mechanism by which these cells are able to sense and polarise toward an attractive source, be it a wound, an apoptotic corpse, or the presence of bacteria at a site of infection.
Julia Zeitlinger
Associate Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City MO, USA
Genomics, transcription, development
Julia Zeitlinger's long-term research goal is to understand and predict gene regulation based on DNA sequence information and genome-wide experimental data. Trained in developmental genetics and transcription, she obtained her Ph.D at EMBL in Germany. She then did postdoctoral work with Rick Young at Whitehead/MIT, where she began using genomics approaches to understand transcription during development. For her innovative approaches, she was named Pew scholar and received the NIH New Innovator Award in 2008. She is currently an Associate Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Centre.
Yi Arial Zeng
Professor, Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
Mammary stem cells, breast cancers, Wnt signaling
Yi Arial Zeng is interested to reveal the identity of adult stem cells in various tissues, understand their regulatory mechanisms, determine how these mechanisms have been hijacked in diseases, and learn how to manipulate the key players for the purposes of regenerative and cancer medicine. She has focused her research efforts on mammary stem cells and breast cancers.
Xiang Zhang
Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX, USA
Metastasis, tumor immunology, microenvironment
Dr. Zhang's research focuses on breast cancer metastasis and tumor immunology. In the former area, he is interested in elucidating mechanisms underlying the early-stage bone colonization of disseminated tumor cells and novel therapeutic strategies to eliminate latent breast cancer cells. In the latter, he concentrates on characterizing the aberrant immunosuppressive cells with respect to heterogeneity, cellular plasticity, cell-of-origin, and impact on immunotherapies.
