Skip to main content
menu

Faculty

Primary Faculty

Brian Altman
Research Interest:

Role of Circadian Rhythm in in gene regulation and cancer cell biology and metabolism. 

John Ashton

Co-Director of the Rochester Genomics Center
Director, Wilmot Cancer Institute Shared Resources
Director, Functional Genomics Resource

Jeevisha Bajaj
Research Interest: Molecular mechanisms of cancer stem cell interactions with tumor microenvironment in disease progression
Benoit Biteau
Research Interest: Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms that Control Tissue Homeostasis and Somatic Stem Cells
Dirk Bohmann
Research Interest:

The biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics of signal-transducing transcription factors and their role in development, aging and disease

Dr. Bohmann works part-time and doesn’t accept new students.

Isaac Harris
Research Interest:

Understanding the roles of antioxidants in disease

Hartmut Land
Research Interest: Molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis. Signaling and Cancer Cell Metabolism
Hongbo Liu
Research Interest:

Functional genome of aging and age-related diseases, with specific focus on human genetic variation, epigenome, and 3D genome, by leveraging the power of large-scale biobanks, single-cell multi-omics technologies, machine-learning/AI models and molecular experiments.

Margot Mayer-Pröschel
Research Interest: Identification of different stem and precursor cell pools in CNS that may be critical for cell replacement therapies or are targets of insults that lead to developmental pathologies.
Stephano Mello
Research Interest: Understanding how nuclear proteins and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) regulate gene transcription in pancreatic preneoplastic lesions, gaining knowledge of the process of cellular transformation and tumor initiation.
Patrick Murphy
Research Interest:

The genetics, genomics, and chromatin biochemistry of cell state transitions that occur during embryonic development and carcinogenesis.

Mark Noble
Research Interest: Neuro stem cell biology and medicine, developing pharmacological and cell based approaches to peripheral and spinal cord injury.
Catherine Ovitt
Research Interest:

Protective and regenerative strategies for salivary gland function and radiation therapies.

Dr. Ovitt works part-time and doesn’t accept new students.

Douglas Portman
Research Interest: Neural circuit development and function; Genetic control of behavior; Sex differences in neurobiology
Christoph Pröschel
Research Interest:

Using primarily human pluripotent stem cell models, we examine astrocyte development in normal and pathological conditions, the role of astrocytes in modulating response to injury or stress, the role of altered RNA processing and translation in neural development, and the utility of glial precursor cells and their astrocytic progeny for cell transplantation therapy.

Andrew Samuelson
Research Interest: Understanding the genetic, cell biological and molecular basis for age-driven proteostatic deterioration
Gabriella Sterne
Research Interest:

Understanding the neural circuit mechanisms that generate and shape complex feeding behaviors

Paula Vertino
Research Interest: Cancer epigenetics: the role of DNA methylation and chromatin in driving cancer phenotypes and as a target for therapeutic intervention
Jiyong Zhao
Research Interest: Signal transduction and development of therapeutic agents in B-lymphomas; Cell cycle regulation

Secondary Faculty

Aram Hezel
Research Interest: The molecular biology and genetics of pancreatic and biliary tract cancers
Amy Kiernan
Research Interest: Molecular development of the eye and inner ear; anterior segment dysgenesis (ASD) and developmental glaucoma; congenital deafness and vestibular dysfunction
Richard Libby
Research Interest: Neurobiology of glaucoma, molecular processes that lead to retinal ganglion cell death.
Thomas Mariani
Research Interest:

Genetic and environmental susceptibility to developmental lung injury

Matthew McCall
Research Interest:

Developing methods to estimate gene regulatory networks from gene perturbation experiments

Alexander Paciorkowski
Research Interest: Pediatric Neurology, Human Genetics
James Palis
Research Interest: Cellular and Molecular events underlying the ontogeny of the hematopoietic system.
Ruchira Singh
Research Interest:

Using patient-derived human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to study the molecular mechanism of specific retinal and neurological diseases and applying that knowledge to pharmacologically target certain retinal disorders in patient-derived cells.