Names and affiliations of faculty with research interests in Molecular Signaling

The following faculty are grouped by the general research areas in which their research is focused. Most of these researchers are faculty on the Reynolda campus. For graduate school opportunities, please apply to the graduate programs of faculty of interest.  The faculty from the medical school campus are in italics.

Long distance signals

Carole Browne, Professor of Biology, contributes expertise in cell biology and advanced microscopy techniques for the localization of proteins within cells.

Susan Fahrbach, Reynolds Professor of Developmental Neuroscience, has expertise in steroid hormones and their receptors and how they interact with experience to regulate neuronal morphology and synaptic interactions; she is currently funded by the NIH and the NSF.

Erik Johnson, Assistant Professor of Biology, contributes expertise in the use of the Drosophila melanogaster model system to study molecular physiology; he is an expert in the study of stress.

Raymond Kuhn, William L. Poteat Professor of Biology, contributes expertise in the analysis of signaling in response to parasitic infection.

Anita McCauley, Adjunct Assistant Professor and Director of Microscopy, Biology, is a neuroscientist with special expertise in microscopy; she is PI on two NSF major research instrumentation grants.

Gary Miller, Associate Professor of Health and Exercise Science examines hormone signals generated in clinical disease states, and how these are altered during the course of treatment of the conditions; his research is currently funded by the NIH.  

Gloria Muday, Professor of Biology brings expertise on mechanisms that control the synthesis, secretion, and transport of both plant and mammalian hormones and how these coordinate complex physiological processes; she is currently funded by the USDA and the NSF.

Wayne Pratt, Assistant Professor of Psychology is an expert in the utilization of behavioral pharmacological methods to assess the role of brain reward circuitry in modulating feeding and appetitive behaviors in the rat.

Hang Shi, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine is an expert on the molecular and cellular mechanisms  of the signaling pathways that mediate obesity-induced insulin resistance.

Wayne Silver, Professor of Biology, is an expert in the study of the chemical senses; his research is currently funded by the NIH.

Intracellular signaling molecules and pathways

Edward Allen, Mathematics, contributes expertise in the application of combinatorial algorithms and computational algebraic modeling to problems in systems biology.

Lindsay Comstock, Assistant Professor of Chemistry focuses on developing biochemical tools to study post-translational modifications by combining organic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology.

Scott Cramer, Associate Professor of Cancer Biology, studies vitamin D signaling  and a novel prostate tumor suppressor ((TGF-ß-activated kinase 1) in prostate stem cell differentiation .and prostate cancer.

Larry Daniel, Professor of Biochemistry, is an expert on the signaling pathways that control cell growth and apoptosis; his work on prostate cancer is currently funded by the NIH.

Jacquelyn Fetrow, Reynolds Professor of Computational Biophysics and Dean of the College, has expertise on the use of computational tools to understand protein structure, protein function and mechanisms of disease; She is currently funded by the NIH and the NSF.

Cristina M. Furdui, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (WFUSM). Research is directed towards applying advanced systems biology methodologies to investigate the timing of signaling events in the propagation of receptor tyrosine kinase signaling under normal and pathogenic conditions. A second project is aimed at developing new nanokinetics platforms for quantitative monitoring of rapid enzyme kinetics and drug screening assays

David John, Computer Science, contributes expertise on combinatorial algorithms, genetic algorithms, and computational algebraic modeling to the study of computational systems biology.

Daniel Kim-Shapiro, Professor of Physics contributes expertise on the use of biophysical tools to understand nitrogen oxide signaling and its mediation by hemoglobin and other proteins; his research is currently funded by the NIH.

S. Bruce King, Professor of Chemistry, contributes expertise in organic chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics to better understand the roles of nitric oxide (NO) in biological systems; his research is currently funded by the NIH.

Richard Loeser, The Dorothy Rhyne and Willard Duke Kimbrell Professor of Internal Medicine, contributes expertise in the investigation of intracellular signaling pathways in chondrocytes, with a focus on how arthritis, aging, and oxidative stress affect cell signaling; his research is currently funded by the NIH.

Linda McPhail, Professor of Biochemistry and Associate Dean of the Graduate School, contributes expertise in the study of the intracellular signaling pathways that regulate the NADPH oxidase (NOX) enzyme family, particularly the mechanisms by which protein phosphorylation and the binding of signaling lipids to oxidase proteins regulate NADPH oxidase activation; her research is currently funded by NIH.

James Norris, Professor of Mathematics, is an expert in the development of statistical methodology for biological investigations.

Leslie Poole, Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the Center for Structural Biology. The Poole laboratory contributes expertise in study of the control of redox-dependent signal transduction; her research is currently funded by NIH.

Suzy Torti, Department of Biochemistry, focuses on iron signaling and its relationship to oxidant stress.

William Turkett, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, contributes expertise in the use of probabilistic and statistical machine learning approaches to gain insight into signaling mechanisms.

Mike Tytell, Professor of Neurobiology, has expertise in the area of heat shock protein signaling and the activity of these proteins in protection of neurons in response to thermal and physical stress.

Bingzhong Xue, Assistant Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism, contributes expertise in the application of  physiological and molecular biological approaches to delineate signaling pathways that regulate diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Protein conformation and regulation

Rebecca Alexander, Associate Professor of Chemistry brings expertise in intramolecular signaling within proteins, with a focus on how conformational change is coupled to catalysis and how chemical events result in mechanical motion within proteins. Her research is currently funded by NSF.

James Curran, Professor of Biology, contributes expertise in the study of the molecular mechanism of genetic translation; his research is currently funded by NIH.

Martin Guthold, Associate Professor of Physics, contributes expertise in the combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fluorescence microscopy to image and determine the mechanical properties of biological samples; his research is currently funded by the NSF.

Roy Hantgan, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Director of the Macromolecular Interactions Core Laboratory, is an expert in the use of biophysical approaches to study integrin signalinghis research is currently funded by the American Heart Association.  

George Holzwarth, Research Professor, Physics, studies how the motor protein kinesin transports cellular vesicles through neurons and how this is regulated by signaling; his research is currently funded by the NIH and the Dreyfus Foundation.

Jed Macosko, Assistant Professor of Physics, contributes expertise in the study of the mechanics of protein machines and motors using atomic force microscopy, single molecule fluorescence microscopy and video-enhanced differential interference contrast light microscopy: his research is currently funded by the NIH and the Kauffman Foundation.

Fred Salsbury, Associate Professor of Physics, is an expert on computational methods to study the relationships between macromolecular dynamics, structure and function; his research is currently funded by the NIH, and has recently funded by the NSF.

Karin D. Scarpinato, Associate Professor of Cancer Biology analyzes DNA damage response involving mismatch repair proteins on the molecular level using a combination of cell biological, biophysical and in silico methods.