Faculty
Welcome new ILS Faculty members!
Dan Peach
Assisstant Professor
Infectious Diseases
Dr Peach’s research interests are in the field of vector ecology, with a focus on behavioral and sensory ecology.
Charles A. Easley, IV
Associate Professor
Environmental Health Science, Regenerative Bioscience Center
Research in the Easley lab focuses on 3 major goals: 1) impacts of environmental exposures on spermatogenesis and future generations, 2) regenerative medicine by developing stem cell treatment options for male factor infertility, and 3) drug discovery for identifying unique compounds which may serve as male contraceptives.
Tati Russo-Tait
Assistant Professor
Cellular Biology
We engage in interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects employing various methodological approaches to examine different facets of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice issues in undergraduate biology and STEM education.
Oshri Avraham
Assistant Professor
Cellular Biology
Deciphering the mechanisms that regulate the diversity of peripheral glial cells to achieve a better understanding of their role in the context of disease and injury.
Courtney Ellison
Assistant Professor
Microiology
Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, dynamics of bacterial nanomachines, microbial subcellular organization.
Alex Rosenberg
Assistant Professor
Infectious Diseases
Deciphering the mechanisms of host immune system manipulation by human eukaryotic pathogen – Toxoplasma gondii.
Holly Bik
Assistant Professor
Marine Sciences, Bioinformatics
Invertebrate microbiomes; nematode ecology and evolution; benthic and deep-sea habitats; using environmental DNA for biomonitoring.
Yao Yao
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
Develop regenerative therapies for neurological diseases by investigating the pathological and therapeutic roles of extracellular vesicles in cellular and animal models.
Xiangyu Deng
Associate Professor
Center for Food Safety
Genomic epidemiology, foodborne pathogens, microbiome, bioinformatics
Hitesh Handa
Associate Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Translational research in biomaterials (antifouling, antiplatelet, antibacterial, and antiviral) for tissue engineering and medical device applications
Natalie Cohen
Assistant Professor
Marine Science, Bioinformatics
Marine microbial ecology; phytoplankton physiology; ocean biogeochemistry; environmental bioinformatics
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Anna Abraham
Professor
Neuroscience
Neurocognition of creativity & imagination – reality/fiction distinction, self/social cognition, mental time travel, semantic cognition, aesthetics
Mike Adang
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Entomology
Ecology of macroinvertebrates in freshwater wetlands and streams.
Magdy S. Alabady
Senior Research Scientist (Faculty)
Plant Biology
Genomics and computational biology of plant – microbiome interactions, RNA post-translation regulatory networks, and genome characterization
Jon Amster
Professor
Chemistry
Structural analysis and characterization of glycosaminoglycans using mass spectrometry
Jill Anderson
Professor
Genetics
Evolutionary genetics and population ecology of plants; global change biology;
field ecology; seed dispersal ecology; frugivorous fish.
Tessa Andrews
Associate Professor
Genetics
Undergraduate evolution education; instructor experiences, knowledge,
and skills in teaching biology; teaching context and climate in life science departments.
Oshri Avraham
Assistant Professor
Cellular Biology
Deciphering the mechanisms that regulate the diversity of peripheral glial cells to achieve a better understanding of their role in the context of disease and injury.
Parastoo Azadi
Senior Research Scientist, CCRC
Technical Director — Analytical Services, CCRC
Structural analysis and hands-on training for all glycoconjugates using mass spectrometry and NMR
Justin Bahl
Professor
Infectious Diseases; Bioinformatics
Ecology, epidemiology and evolution of infectious RNA viruses (Influenza A virus, avian paramyxovirus, RSV, MERS-CoV) in animals and humans
Maor Bar-Peled
Associate Professor
Plant Biology
Molecular cell biology of the wall, Biofuel and BioEnergy, Golgi as model for System biology, Plant Immunity.
Deborah Barany
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
Neural mechanisms of goal-directed movement; Functional neuroimaging; non-invasive brain stimulation; neurorehabilitation
Adam W. Barb
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Our goal is to define the impact of protein post-translational modifications on structure and function in the immune system.
Lewis J. Bartlett
Assistant Professor
Entomology
Ecology and evolution of infectious disease; pollinator health; host-parasite evolution; apiculture;Â agroecology
Michael Bartlett
University Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Neuroscience
ADME of drugs and environmental toxicants; impact of compounds on memory,
cognition, and neuropathic pain; oligonucleotide therapeutics and biomarkers.
Darold Batzer
Professor
Entomology
Distinguished Research Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Research interest: Functional and structural genomics, metabolism and enzymology of organisms that grow near 100C.
Jeff Bennetzen
Professor
Genetics; Bioinformatics
Plant genomics and genome evolution, transposable elements, and regulatory gene evolution.
Douda Bensasson
Associate Professor
Bioinformatics; Plant Biology
Genome bioinformatics, ecological and evolutionary genomics of yeast.
Pengpeng Bi
Associate Professor
Genetics
We use​ the advanced genetic mouse models to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying several diseases: obesity, diabetics, muscle and heart diseases.
Holly Bik
Associate Professor
Marine Sciences; Bioinformatics
Invertebrate microbiomes; nematode ecology and evolution; benthic and deep-sea habitats; using environmental DNA for biomonitoring
Blake Billmyre
Assistant Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Infectious Diseases
High throughput genetics to better understand evolution of fungal pathogens and drive antifungal drug discovery.
Katie Billmyre
Assistant Professor
Genetics
Meiotic chromosome biology using Drosophila as a model system.
Molly Bolger
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology
Biology education; Understanding student scientific development; Biological modeling in classrooms; Instructor reasoning in non-traditional classrooms
Tim Bolger
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and control of mRNA-protein dynamics by RNA helicases in normal conditions and cell stress.
Peggy Brickman
Professor
Plant Biology
Factors that motivate undergraduates to learn science; scientific literacy skill acquisition; and effective methods to provide instructional feedback.
Melinda Brindley
Associate Professor
Infectious Diseases
Arenavirus glycoprotein structure and function; virus entry and membrane fusion; emerging virus-host interactions. Functional characterization of viral glycoproteins and host interactions.
C. Robin Buell
Professor
GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Crop Genomics
Bioinformatics
Plant genome biology with a focus on crops and medicinal plants; Synthetic biology; Evolution of natural product biosynthesis
Gaelen Burke
Associate Professor
Entomology
Functional and evolutionary genomics of microbial associations with insects; virology, symbiosis, immunity
John Burke
Distinguished Research Professor and Department Head
Plant Biology
Evolutionary genetics; molecular evolution; genomics.
Haini Cai
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology; Neuroscience
Nuclear and genome organization; Chromatin structure and function; Gene regulation in Drosophila development.
Houjian Cai
Associate Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Post-translational modification including protein acylation, fatty acid metabolism, prostate stem cell, Src family kinases, prostate cancer, small molecular inhibitor.
Jarrod Call
Associate Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology
Mitochondrial bioenergetics of muscle, brain, and stem cells. Skeletal muscle physiology. Regenerative medicine and rehabilitation following traumatic tissue damage, disease, aging.
Maria Belen Cassera
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Metabolomic approaches applied to drug target selection and validation in human pathogens; discovery and development of new chemotherapeutic interventions.
Website
Don Champagne
Associate Professor
Entomology
Role of arthropod salivary factors in pathogen transmission and immune responses in their vertebrate hosts.
Shu-Mei Chang
Professor
Plant Biology
Evolutionary Ecology of flowering plants; Plant mating system evolution.
Brett Clementz
Professor
Neuroscience
Structural, functional & genetic abnormalities in schizophrenia.
Julie Coffield
Associate Professor
Physiology and Pharmacology; Toxicology; Neuroscience
Neurotoxic agents that alter synaptic transmission. The actions of toxins such as the Clostridial neurotoxins (Botulinum and Tetanus) at the mammalian neuromuscular junction.
Natalie Cohen
Assistant Professor
Marine Sciences; Bioinformatics
Marine microbial ecology; phytoplankton physiology; ocean biogeochemistry; environmental bioinformatics
David Crich
Professor; Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Drug Design
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Chemistry
Organic and medicinal chemistry; carbohydrate chemistry; glycomimetics; drug design and development with emphasis on multi-drug resistant infectious diseases
Kurt Dahlstrom
Assistant Professor
Microbiology
The rules of microbial community formation to restore and engineer beneficial communities for crops under climate stress and human disease states.
Julie Dangremond Stanton
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology
My research is focused on the use of metacognition to enhance student learning in biology.
Kelly Dawe
Distinguished Research Professor
Genetics; Plant Biology
Plant centromere and kinetochore structure and function.
Rabinadranath De La Fuente
Associate Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology; Toxicology
Regulation of Large-Scale Chromatin Structure and Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression during Oogenesis; Role of Chromatin Modifications during Meiosis; Cancer Epigenetics and Chromosome Instability
Megan DeMarche
Assistant Professor
Plant Biology
Plant evolutionary ecology; population dynamics; responses to climate change
Xiangyu Deng
Associate Professor
Infectious Diseases
Genomic epidemiology, foodborne pathogens, microbiome, bioinformatics
Katrien Devos
Distinguished Research Professor
Bioinformatics; Plant Biology
Crop genetics, comparative genomics and genome evolution.
Roberto Docampo
Professor
Cellular Biology
Cellular and molecular biology of acidocalcisomes; the role of polyphosphate in trypanosomatids.
Erin L. Dolan
Georgia Athletic Association Professor in Innovative Science Education
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Course-based undergraduate research, student integration into the
scientific community; research mentoring of undergraduate researchers.
Scott Dougan
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology
Molecular and cellular basis of pattern formation in vertebrates; developmental genetics of zebrafish.
Eugene Douglass
Assistant Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Multi-drug resistance(MDR) causes most cancer deaths(Nat. Rev. Cancer 2018, 18, 452). We use organic chemistry, cell biology and data-science to overcome MDR.
Diana Downs
Distinguished Research Professor
Microbiology
Bacterial physiology and metabolic integration using biochemical, genetic and metabolomics approaches.
Kylee Jo Duberstein
Associate Professor
Neuroscience
Animal biomechanics related to disease, injury, conditioning, and nutrition; functional outcomes assessment related to therapeutics development
Chris Dundas
Assistant Professor
Plant Biology; Institute of Bioinformatics
Using plant and microbial synthetic biology to study and design plant form/function, engineer plant microbiomes, and aid biological carbon sequestration.
Kelly Dyer
Professor
Genetics
Molecular evolution and evolutionary genetics, in particular genetic conflict,
sex chromosome evolution, genetics of adaptation and speciation,
and host-parasite interactions.
Charles A. Easley, IV
Associate Professor
Environmental Health Science
Research in the Easley lab focuses on 3 major goals: 1) impacts of environmental exposures on spermatogenesis and future generations, 2) regenerative medicine by developing stem cell treatment options for male factor infertility, and 3) drug discovery for identifying unique compounds which may serve as male contraceptives.
Arthur Edison
Professor
GRA Eminent Scholar
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Genetics
Metabolomics and systems biology of Caenorhabditis elegans using NMR,
mass spec, and computational approaches.
Gaylen L. Edwards
Professor
Neuroscience; Physiology & Pharmacology; Toxicology
Neural processing of abdominal sensory information. Control of ingestive behavior and autonomic function.
Jonathan Eggenschwiler
Associate Professor
Genetics; Neuroscience
Genetic analysis of mouse development; cell fate specification in the embryonic
central nervous system; patterning of the body plan’s left-right axis.
Mark A. Eiteman
Professor
Microbiology
Fermentation and biotechnology with emphasis on microbial processes to generate fuels and chemicals; nutrient-limited processes; central metabolism and the effect of redox constraints.
Courtney Ellison
Assistant Professor
Microbiology
Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, dynamics of bacterial nanomachines, microbial subcellular organization.
Jorge Escalante-Semerena
UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor
Microbiology
Prokaryotic metabolism and physiology with emphasis on protein acetylation, toxic metabolites, and complex metabolic pathway analysis, integration.
Ronald D. Etheridge
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology
Toxoplasma’s Strategies to Manipulate Host Immunity
Nikolay Filipov
Professor
Physiology and Pharmacology; Neuroscience; Cellular Biology; Toxicology
Major research focus areas: Neurotoxicology; Neuroimmunology; Basal ganglia, Neurodevelopmental, and Metabolic disorders.
Brian Forschler
Professor
Entomology
The mission of the Household and Structural Entomology program is acquisition of information on behavior, biology, ecology and evolution of associations with arthropods and human habitation.
Spencer J. Fox
Assistant Professor
Bioinformatics
Understanding and forecasting infectious disease dynamics with the goal of improving public health outcomes and policies; specialize in integrating population-level infectious disease data with epidemiological models through statistical analysis and simulation; primarily work on respiratory viruses like influenza and COVID-19, among others.
Marc Frischer
Professor
Marine Sciences
Role of microbial diversity in marine environments and the utilization of molecular methods to investigate microbial diversity, interactions between micro- and macroscopic organisms and the functioning of marine ecosystems.
Jonathan Frye
Research Microbiologist
Microbiology
We investigate the development and spread of antimicrobial resistant Salmonella, which is the most prevalent foodborne bacterial illness in the U.S.
Kosuke Funato
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Molecular and cellular mechanisms of brain tumors; oncohistone mutations; human ES cell-based tumor modeling; tumor heterogeneity and evolution
Jacek Gaertig
Professor
Cellular Biology
Molecular cell biology of the cytoskeleton; molecular genetics of ciliates.
David Garfinkel
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Retrovirus-like transposons in budding yeast, control of transposition, restriction factors.
Mandev S. Gill
Assistant Professor
Bioinformatics
Statistical and computational methods for phylodynamic inference.
Olivia Ginn
Assistant Professor
Bioinformatics
Characterization and modeling of antimicrobial resistance and disease transmission in air and water and the implications for human and environmental health.
Travis Glenn
Professor
Environmental Health Sciences; Bioinformatics; Toxicology
Environmental Genomics; Crocodilians; Reptilian Genomics; Molecular Ecology.
Mary Goll
Associate Professor
Genetics
Epigenetic regulation in the context of development and cancer. We focus on heterochromatin and primarily use zebrafish as a model system.
Adam Goodie
Professor
Neuroscience
Judgment and decision making, especially the role of control in decision making,
Bayesian updating, and cognitive contributors to problem gambling.
Emma Goodwin
Assistant Professor
Microbiology
We study undergraduate research experiences and inclusive education for under served groups, including students with disabilities and transfer students.
Adam Greer
Assistant Professor
Marine Sciences
Zooplankton ecology, predator-prey interactions, ocean biophysical coupling, plankton imaging and analysis
Neil J. Grimsey
Assistant Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Defining the spatiotemporal regulation of kinase pathways and the regulation of GPCR induced inflammation and proangiogenic signaling, for the development of therapeutic agents.
Tai L. Guo
Professor
Toxicology; Neuroscience
(Immuno)Toxicology of nanobiomaterials and endocrine disruptors; Diabetes, prostate cancer, asthma, probiotics, microbiome; Translational study (http://www.devertigo.com)
Brian W. Haas
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
Biological basis of social behavior and emotion processing in humans.
Robert Haltiwanger
Professor, GRA Eminent Scholar in Biomedical Glycosciences
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Neuroscience
Role of glycosylation in regulating Notch signaling, assisting protein folding, and development.
Hitesh Handa
Associate Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Translational research in biomaterials (antifouling, antiplatelet, antibacterial, and antiviral) for tissue engineering and medical device applications
Eric T. Harvill
Professor
Infectious Diseases
Interactions between microbial pathogens and host immunity in the mouse model using bacteria that naturally infect mice and closely related strains that are important human pathogens.
Biao He
Professor, GRA Distinguished Investigator
Infectious Diseases
Paramyxovirus-host interactions, vaccine development, emerging paramyxovirus and onocylytic virus.
Kelly M. Hines
Assistant Professor
Chemistry
Lipidomic and metabolomic analyses of antimicrobial resistant pathogens using ion mobility and mass spectrometry
Adrienne Hoarfrost
Assistant Professor
Marine Sciences
Marine microbiology; carbon cycling and biogeochemistry; AI/machine learning for biology; bioinformatics; astrobiology; space biology; marine biotech.
Philip V. Holmes
Professor
Neuroscience
Behavioral neuropharmacology; neuropeptides and trophic factors; plasticity; stress, depression, and addiction.
Tim Hoover
Professor
Microbiology
Gene regulation in bacteria; regulation of flagellar biogenesis; control of RpoN-dependent transcription in bacteria.
Diego Huet
Assistant Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
The Huet Lab will use metabolomics and CRISPR-based approaches to understand the mitochondrial and organellar biology of a class of protozoan parasites, the apicomplexans.
Kate Hummels
Assistant Professor
Microbiology
Our work focuses on understanding the regulation of cell envelope biosynthesis in bacteria using genetic, biochemical, and cell biological approaches.
Brendan Hunt
Associate Professor
Entomology
Behavioral and evolutionary genetics and epigenetics of social insects.
Natalia Ivanova
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Genetics
Transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms regulating preimplantation development, pluripotency, differentiation and cellular reprogramming in humans
Samantha Joye
Professor
Marine Sciences
Biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in aquatic systems (saline lakes, coastal environments, deep ocean sediments). Biogeochemical and molecular ecological dynamics of microbial community composition and microbial activity.
Chester Joyner
Assistant Professor
Infectious Diseases
All facets of host-parasite interactions during malaria, ranging from molecular pathogenesis to malaria immunology to transmission
Daichi Kamiyama
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology; Neuroscience
Our research is aimed at identifying the principles of neural circuit assembly, which is key to understanding the treatment of neurological disorders. To achieve this, we develop imaging toolkits including fluorescent probes and advanced microscopes. Website
Natarajan Kannan
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Bioinformatics
Evolutionary systems biology; protein kinase signaling in plants, pathogens and microbes. Evolution and classification of glycoenzymes.
Anumantha G. Kanthasamy
Professor, John H. “Johnny” Isakson Chair, and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar
Director, Center for Neurological Disease
Physiology & Pharmacology
Research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, identifying novel druggable targets, discovering prodromal biomarkers and novel reengineered gut microbiome based therapeutics for treatment of neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and related dementia.
Arthi Kanthasamy
Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology
Research focuses on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, identifying novel immunomodulatory drugs, discovering biomarkers for diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases related dementia.
Lohitash Karumbaiah
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
Developing Translational Glycomaterials for Neural Tissue Repair and Neural Interfacing.
Eileen Kennedy
Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Chemical biology, kinase signaling, cancer, signal transduction, drug discovery.
Chang Hyun Khang
Associate Professor
Plant Biology
Mechanisms of disease and immunity in the rice blast system; Fungal effector proteins; Nutrient uptake in fungi.
Edward Kipreos
Professor
Cellular Biology
Regulation of the cell cycle; ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and development.
Jessica Kissinger
Distinguished Research Professor
Bioinformatics; Genetics
Parasite genomics and the biology of genome evolution.
Kim Klonowski
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology
Development and regulation of immunological memory.
Natalie Krahn
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Engineering tRNA technology to build novel proteins with selenocysteine.
Samarchith Kurup
Assistant Professor
Cellular Biology
Basic immunology of the liver and blood stages of malaria
Brian Kvitko
Associate Professor
Microbiology
Molecular mechanisms of plant immune action and bacterial pathogen virulence in model and crop pathosystems. Tool/technique development for phytopathogenesis systems biology and translational research.
Dennis Kyle
Professor
GRA Eminent Scholar Chair in Antiparasitic Drug Discovery
Cellular Biology; Infectious Diseases
The discovery and development of new drugs to prevent or treat malaria and diseases caused by brain-eating amoebae. Elucidating mechanism(s) of resistance and discovering new drug treatment regimens, combinations, or strategies to overcome resistance.
Eric Lafontaine
Professor
Infectious Diseases
Bacterial pathogenesis; role of adhesins in virulence; vaccine development.
Stacey L. Lance
Associate Research Scientist
Toxicology; Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Evolutionary toxicology, disease ecology, impacts of natural and anthropogenic stressors on freshwater vertebrates.
William Lanzilotta
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
The mechanisms of metalloproteins involved in radical generation, oxidative stress protection, as well as heme synthesis, sensing, aquisition and transport.
James Lauderdale
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology; Neuroscience
Developmental neurobiology: molecular genetic mechanisms of vertebrate eye and forebrain development.
Karl Lechtreck
Professor
Cellular Biology
Cell Biology of Cilia; Cilia-related diseases, Intracellular Transport.
Jae-Kyung (Jamise) Lee
Associate Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology; Neuroscience
My research is focused on determining key molecules and their intrinsic mechanisms in neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.
Jim Leebens-Mack
Professor
Plant Biology
Phylogenetics, genetics of diversification including speciation; molecular basis of adaptation; evolutionary genomics; evolution of plant reproduction; organismal and molecular coevolution.
Paula Lemons
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
My research investigates problem solving among biochemistry undergraduates and the process college science instructors go through as they innovate their teaching.
Zachary Lewis
Professor
Microbiology
Chromatin structure and function; Epigenetics; Eukaryotic genome stability; Histone H1.
Wentao Li
Assistant Professor
Environmental Health Sciences; Toxicology
The research in Dr. Li’s laboratory combines biochemistry, genetics, adductomics and computational approaches to investigate effects of epigenetics and spatial genome organization on environmental carcinogen-induced DNA damage formation, DNA repair, mutagenesis, and carcinogenesis.
Xiaorong Lin
Professor
Microbiology; Plant Biology
Human fungal pathogens, sexual reproduction and development in fungal pathogenesis
Erin K. Lipp
Professor
Environmental Health Sciences; Microbiology
Environmental microbiology, microbial ecology, marine systems, water quality and public health, disease ecology
Dexi Liu
Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Neuroscience
Gene therapy, obesity, drug delivery, gene drug discovery.
Hongxiang Liu
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
Sensory organs of taste: development, maintenance, and molecular regulations using genetically modified mouse models.
Liang Liu
Assistant Professor
Bioinformatics
Phylogenetics, evolutionary biology, statistics.
Shaolin Liu
Associate Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology; Center for Neurological Disease Research
Cellular to network mechanisms of olfaction and olfactory dysfunction in diseases including Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, traumatic or neurotoxic brain injuries.
Tianming Liu
Professor
Bioinformatics; Neuroscience
Multiscale and multimodal brain mapping with applications to brain diseases.
Yang Liu
Assistant Professor
Institute of Bioinformatics
Microfluidic system development and application for single-cell analysis.
Jason Locklin
Professor
Chemistry
Our research is focused on functional polymer interfaces. We are
currently developing methodologies and platforms that can be used
to study biological lubrication, patterning of cellular components in
two and 3 dimensions, patterning of glycosaminoglycans to study
nerve regeneration, 3D printing of biodegradable scaffolds, and antimicrobial coatings.
Catherine M. Logue
Professor
Microbiology
A bacterial pathogenesis/food safety lab that specializes in the detection and characterization of pathogens from food animal sources that impact human and animal health.
Wolfgang Lukowitz
Associate Professor
Plant Biology
Fertilization, and early cell-fate decisions in plant embryos.
Rob Lynall, PhD, ATC
Associate Professor
Neuroscience
Functional movement and motor control following concussion, the biomechanics of head trauma, and clinical concussion management.
Ania Majewska
Assistant Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology
Course-based undergraduate research experiences, virtual reality in learning physiology and anatomy, culturally responsive teaching.
Leidong Mao
Associate Professor
Bioinformatics
Micro- and nano-technology, lab-on-a-chip systems, microfluidics,
single cell study, cancer diagnostics.
Jennifer McDowell
Professor
Neuroscience
Schizophrenia, psychosis, cognitive control, plasticity, saccades, ocular motor system, exercise, f/MRI, DTI.
Amy Medlock
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Understanding intracellular and intercellular heme transport.
Christof Meile
Professor
Marine Sciences
Biogeochemical nutrient cycling in porous media and aquatic systems, reactive transport modeling of microbially mediated processes.
Douglas Menke
Professor
Genetics
Developmental Regulation of Gene Expression; Evolution of Vertebrate Morphology.
Aaron P. Mitchell
Professor
Microbiology
We use genetic and genomic approaches to understand mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis and drug resistance.
Piliyur Seshadri MohanKumar
Professor
Neuroscience
Neuroendocrinology Reproductive Aging, Stress Axis and Metabolic Function, Neuroendocrine-Immune Interactions, Prenatal Programming and its Neuroendocrine Consequences, Neuroendocrine Effects of Exposure to Environmentally Relevant Chemicals
Sheba M.J.MohanKumar
Associate Professor
Neuroscience
Neuroendocrine immune interactions in the context of Reproduction and Stress; Prenatal Stress and programming of obesity; Environmental exposures and their impact on Stress and Reproduction; Biomarker development for various human diseases.
Debra Mohnen
Professor
Georgia Athletic Association Professor in Complex Carbohydrate Research
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Plant Biology
Biosynthesis and function of the plant cell wall polysaccharide pectin. Anti-cancer effects of pectin.
Cory Momany
Associate Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
X-ray crystallography of macromolecules, prokaryotic transcriptional regulators.
Michelle Momany
Professor
Plant Biology
Cellular and molecular biology of polar growth in fungi.
Patricia Moore
Professor
Entomology
The role of developmental mechanisms in sexual selection and the evolution of reproductive strategies in insects.
Mary Ann Moran
Professor
Marine Sciences
Ecology of marine bacteria in the carbon and sulfur cycles; application of ecological functional genomics techniques to marine microbes.
Kelley Moremen
Distinguished Research Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Biochemistry, molecular, and structural biology of mammalian glycoprotein biosynthesis and catabolism.
Silvia Moreno
Distinguished Research Professor
Cellular Biology, Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases
Metabolism and drug development against protozoan parasites.
Calcium signaling and storage in Toxoplasma gondii.
Richard Morrison
Associate Professor
Chemistry
Development of synthetic organic methodologies to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients. Microwave-promoted synthesis of bioactive amines.
Luke Mortensen
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
In vivo optical microscopy for bone and tissue regeneration.
Tatum Mortimer
Assistant Professor
Microbiology; Institute of Bioinformatics
Population genomics and evolution of pathogenic bacteria, antimicrobial resistance, genomic epidemiology, precision diagnostic.
Jan Mrázek
Associate Professor
Bioinformatics; Microbiology
Use bioinformatics and comparative genomics to study relationships between the genomic DNA sequence and the organism’s physiological characteristics,and regulatory processes that govern the flow of genetic information.
Vasant Muralidharan
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology
Molecular and cellular biology of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.
Luke P. Naeher
Professor and Associate Department Head
Environmental Health Sciences
My training is in human exposure assessment to environmental chemicals and environmental epidemiology, with current EPA and NIH/NIOSH-funded forest fire research.
Ellen Neidle
Professor
Microbiology
We use the easy genetic system of a  soil bacterium, Acinetobacter baylyi ADP1,to study diverse aspects of gene expression and chromosomal rearrangements.This research has implications for medical issues (gene amplification), environmental issues (bioremediation), biotechnology/bioenergy (conversion of lignin to biofuels), and evolution (new methods for experimental evolution).
Brad Nelms
Assistant Professor
Plant Biology
Cell differentiation during plant reproduction, genomics and gene regulatory networks, single-cell RNA-sequencing, reprogramming cell fate
Emily Noble
Assistant Professor
Nutritional Sciences; Neuroscience
Central regulation of feeding behavior, diet and cognitive function, the gut microbiome-brain connection, exercise and brain energy metabolism
Karen Norris
Professor
Infectious Diseases
Vaccine development for prevention of PCP and COPD, RSV infection, COPD; Immunce activation and aging, PAH; Immune-mediated mechanisms of pathogenesis, Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrom, therapeuric testing; chronic immune activation/inflammation.
Kerry Oliver
Associate Professor
Entomology
Ecology and evolution of heritable symbiosis in insects.
Ron Orlando
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Solving biological/biomedical problems with mass spectrometry.
Assaf Oshri
Associate Professor
Neuroscience
Youth and Family Resilience: how neurobiological and socioemotional systems adapt to psychosocial stress using multi-level methods (e.g., fMRI, psychophys, observations)
Elizabeth Ottesen
Assistant Professor
Microbiology
Ecology and physiology of environmental microbes. The use of community genomics and transcriptomics to examine microbial behavior in natural systems.
Dax Ovid
Assistant Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology
CORPUS Education Lab: Collaborative Opportunities for Research in Physiology and Under/Graduate Science | DBER | Curriculum Studies | Equity & Inclusion
Andrew Park
Professor
Infectious Diseases
Transient evolution of pathogens. Evolutionary processes involved in cross-species transmission. Evolutionary constraints in viral epidemiology.
Ben Parrott
Assistant Professor
Toxicology; Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Environmental and ecological influences on development, reproduction,
and aging in wildlife and humans.
Andrew Paterson
Regents Professor and Head, Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory
Plant Biology; Genetics; Bioinformatics
My unit’s work addresses dimensions of plant genome biology relevant toward a more bio-based economy, linking increased fundamental knowledge to improved human lives.
Douglas Paton
Assistant Professor
Infectious Diseases
Vector mosquito biology, malaria transmission, and vector/pathogen interactions. Novel interventions for malaria elimination.
Dan Peach
Assistant Professor
Infectious Diseases
Dr Peach’s research interests are in the field of vector ecology, with a focus on behavioral and sensory ecology. He is primarily focused on how arthropod vectors, such as mosquitoes, find and interact with resources such as the hosts they bite, the flowers they nectar-feed from (and pollinate) or the breeding sites they use, and the implications of this information for mosquito management and pathogen transmission as well as understanding species and disease distributions..
Camilo Perez
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Our research aims to elucidate the mechanism of membrane transporters, flippases, and polymerases involved in bacterial cell wall biosynthesis, unravel how their function influences bacterial adaptation, discover inhibitory molecules for the development of new antimicrobials, and repurpose the activity of these proteins for applications in the synthesis of glycoconjugates. Our lab uses a multidisciplinary approach, combing techniques such as single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), x-ray crystallography, live cell assays, and various buichemical/biophysical methods to study the function and molecular mechanism of membrane proteins.
Chris Peterson
Professor
Plant Biology
Response and vulnerability of forests to natural (e.g. wind, fire) and anthropogenic disturbances (e.g. salvage logging), and geographic patterns of disturbance severity.
David Peterson
Professor
Infectious Diseases
Characterization of adhesion proteins which mediate host-parasite interactions in Plasmodium falciparum.
Gregory Phillips
Professor
Infectious Diseases, Center for Neurological Disease Research
Basic and translational research to engineer bacteria to understand and develop new treatments for neurological diseases via the gut-brain axis..
Robert Phillips
Professor
Chemistry; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Enzymes involved in amino acid, especially tryptophan, metabolism which may be drug targets for cancer, hypertension and neurodegenerative diseases.
Vladimir Popik
Professor
Chemistry
Development of biorothogonal protein modification techniques, novel caging groups, and photoactivatable antitumor antibiotics.
Fred Quinn
UGA Athletic Association Professor
Infectious Diseases
Tuberculosis pathogenesis; host-pathogen interactions.
Shannon Quinn
Assistant Professor
Cellular Biology
Biomedical imaging and large graph mining in public health applications.
Balazs Rada
Professor
Infectious Diseases
Role of reactive oxygen species in host-microbe interactions of the respiratory mucosa, neutrophil biology, pathomechanism of Pseudomonas infection in cystic fibrosis.
Ana S. Ramirez
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Structural and mechanistic investigation of the GPI-anchor biosynthesis pathway
Lisa Renzi-Hammond
Associate Professor
Neuroscience
Director, Institute of Gerontology
Visual neuroscience; risk for neurodegenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and Alzheimer’s and related dementias
Rachel Roberts-Galbraith
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology; Neuroscience
Regeneration and development; understanding cellular/molecular mechanisms that underlie neural regeneration in planarians.
Pejman Rohani
Regents’ Professor
Infectious Diseases
The ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, including measles, pertussis, avian influenza, dengue and polio using computational modeling.
John Rose
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
X-ray structural biology, the mitochondrial inner membrane space transport system, structure based vaccine and therapeutic design, improved/automated methods for synchrotron SAD data collection and structure determination.
Alex Rosenberg
Assistant Professor
Infectious Diseases
Deciphering the mechanisms of host immune system manipulation by human eukaryotic pathogen – Toxoplasma gondii.
Tania Rozario
Assistant Professor
Genetics
Understanding mechanisms that regulate stem cell behavior, regeneration, and reproductive development in tapeworms
Website to come
Tati Russo-Tait
Assistant Professor
Cellular Biology
We engage in interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects employing various methodological approaches to examine different facets of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice issues in undergraduate biology and STEM education.
Dean Sabatinelli
Associate Professor
Neuroscience
Hemodynamic and electrocortical measures of emotional scene perception.
Robert Sabatini
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Molecular and biochemical parasitology: DNA modification, homologous recombination and the regulation of antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei.
Shayla Salzman
Assistant Professor
Entomology
Multi-modal signaling between plants and insects, evolution and mechanism of inter-species interactions. Techniques include insect behavior, chemical ecology, and phylogenetics.
Jayshree Samanta, MBBS, ,PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Physiology & Pharmacology
Regeneration of myelin in the mammalian brain, cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating adult neural stem cells, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Disease
Susan Sanchez
Professor
Infectious Diseases
Veterinary diagnostics; emerging clinical problems; antibiotic resistance;
epidemiology of diseases with special emphasis in zoonoses.
Jaclyn Saunders
Assistant Professor
Marine Sciences
Marine microbial ecology and evolution; oceanography, biogeochemistry, astrobiology, bioinformatics, big data analytics in environmental science
Jesse Schank
Associate Professor
Neuroscience; Physiology & Pharmacology
The role of stress and neuropeptides in drug seeking behavior using behavioral pharmacology, neuroanatomy, and molecular neuroscience.
Paul Schliekelman
Associate Professor
Bioinformatics
My research group develops statistical and and computational approaches to better extract information from biological data, particularly in the genotype-phenotype relationship.
Walter K. Schmidt Jr.
Professor
Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Neuroscience
Molecular cell biology and biochemistry of proteases associated with isoprenylated protein maturation and amyloidogenic peptide degradation; cancer; Alzheimer’s disease.
Bob Schmitz
Professor
Genetics
Population epigenomics and mechanisms of epigenetic inheritance.
Cordula Schulz
Associate Professor
Cellular Biology
Tissue replenishment from stem cells, Drosophila genetics.
Heinz-Bernd Schüttler
Professor
Bioinformatics
Computational biology, functional genomics, kinetics of biochemical reaction networks.
Nikki Shariat
Assistant Professor
Microbiology
Molecular epidemiology of bacterial pathogens using metagenomics; ecology of Salmonella serovars in host animals and environments.
Amanda Spivak
Associate Professor
Marine Sciences
Coastal ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry; ecosystem resilience to and recovery from disturbances; global change; carbon cycling
Kathrin Stanger-Hall
Professor
Plant Biology; Entomology
Phylogenetics and Evolution of Fireflies (Coleoptera, Lampyridae), Signal evolution, Science communication.
Vincent Starai
Associate Professor
Infectious Diseases; Microbiology
Bacterial modulation of eukaryotic membrane dynamics for intracellular survival; SNARE-dependent membrane fusion biochemistry.
Steven Stice
D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor
GRA Eminent Scholar
Regenerative Bioscience Center Director
Neuroscience; Toxicology
We are developing stem cell approaches to repairing bone and nerve injury in addition to use of stem cells as a tool to screen toxins and potential drug therapies.
Mike Strand
Distinguished Research Professor
Entomology
Molecular and evolutionary biology of insect parasites; virology, immunology, symbiont evolution, reproduction.
Gregory P. Strauss
Franklin Professor of Psychology
Neuroscience, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
Dr. Strauss takes a cognitive and affective neuroscience approach to examining motivational and hedonic deficits in adults with schizophrenia and youth at clinical high risk for psychosis.
Anne Summers
Professor
Microbiology; Toxicology
Environmental stress biology, using biochemical, biophysical, and ‘omics approaches to define the roles of toxic metal exposure in chronic and infectious diseases.
Andrea Sweigart
Professor
Genetics
Evolutionary genetics and genomics of natural plant populations.
Christine Szymanski
Professor
Microbiology
Microbial glycobiology lab characterizing bacterial glycoconjugate pathways, bacteriophage interactions with their hosts, and benefits of human milk oligosaccharides to develop novel vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention of diarrheal diseases and post-infectious neuropathies such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
Thiab Taha
Professor
Bioinformatics
Computational Science and Parallel Computing; Bioinformatics: Involved in a project called: Computing Life: to solve system of differential equations that model biochemical reaction networks by using efficient/parallel numerical methods.
Lili Tang
Associate Professor
Environmental Health Science; Toxicology
Adverse neurological outcomes; Host-Microbe-Chemical (3-way) interaction; C. elegans model organism.
Rick Tarleton
Professor
Cellular Biology
Mechanisms of immunity and disease in Trypanosoma cruzi infection (Chagas Disease); Basic and applied biology of T. cruzi.
Michael Tiemeyer
Distinguished Research Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Neuroscience
Mechanisms that regulate the expression, function, and structure of tissue-specific glycans.
S. Mark Tompkins
Professor, Director of Center for Vaccines & Immunology
Infectious Diseases; Toxicology
Transmission and pathogenicity of zoonotic influenza virus infection and development of vaccination and the prevention and treatment of viral infections.
M. Stephen Trent
UGA Foundation Distinguished Professor
Infectious Diseases
Characterizing the assembly of bacterial surface structures, development of vaccines for viral and bacterial pathogens, systems approaches to understanding microbial diseases
Ralph A. Tripp
Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Chair in Vaccine and Therapeutic Studies
Infectious Diseases; Toxicology
Disease intervention strategies for important human pathogens and emerging infectious diseases of zoonotic origin; mechanisms of immunity; virus-host interface.
C.J. Tsai
Professor, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar
Bioinformatics; Genetics; Plant Biology
Growth-defense tradeoff, phenylpropanoid metabolism and carbon allocation,
gene family evolution and functional diversification, alternative splicing and gene duplication.
Breeanna Urbanowicz
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology;
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Structure and function of enzymes involved in plant polysaccharide biosynthesis and modification with the long term goal to develop pathway engineering or targeted genomics approaches for enhanced production of bio-materials, -products, and -fuels.
Jeffrey Urbauer
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Chemistry
Structural biology of transcription regulation, steroid hormone activation and breast cancer.
Esther van der Knaap
Professor
Genetics; Plant Biology
The regulation of fruit shape and size of tomato and other Solanaceous crops
Chelsey VanDrisse
Assistant Professor
Genetics
Our lab seeks to uncover novel regulatory mechanisms of biofilm formation to undermine bacterial survival in chronic infections.
Maria Viveiros
Associate Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology; Toxicology
Mammalian germ cell and early embryonic development; meiotic chromosome segregation in oocytes; genomic instability; impact of age and environment on meiotic division.
Kevin Vogel
Assistant Professor
Entomology
Integrating physiology, genomics, evolution, and microbial symbiosis to understand the biology of insect vectors of disease.
John J. Wagner
Professor
Neuroscience; Physiology & Pharmacology
Neurophysiology of the hippocampus, cellular mechanisms of learning and memory, neuropharmacology of drugs of abuse and rodent models of addiction.
Ian Wallace
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Biosynthesis and regulation of plant cell wall synthesis and deposition, post-translational modifications, glycan imaging and dynamics.
Jason Wallace
Associate Professor
Bioinformatics
Quantitative genetics, crop genomics, crop-microbiome interactions.
Yifan Wang
Assistant Professor
Chemistry
Catalytic mechanisms and structure-function correlations of metalloenzymes; biomedically essential oxygenases
Wendy Watford
Associate Professor
Infectious Diseases
Regulation of host defense and tolerance by Stat transcription factors.
Ryan Weiss
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Investigating the regulatory mechanisms of glycosylation using genomic, chemical, and genetic approaches with particular focus on the discovery of novel drugs and targets to treat human diseases.
Lance Wells
Professor, Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Role of protein glycosylation in intellectual disability, congenital muscular dystrophy, cancer, and viral infection.
Christopher M. West
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Oxygen- and glycosylation-dependent regulation of polyubiquitin ligases in Dictyostelium and Toxoplasma gondii; Glycobiology of protozoa.
Franklin West
Associate Professor
Neuroscience
Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. We explore the potential of neural stem cells and other regenerative therapies to recover lost and damaged brain tissue. We utilize a novel pig ischemic stroke model in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging, cognitive, motor function testing and histology.
Catherine White
Associate Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Toxicology
The influence of gender on the disposition of drugs and drug carriers, and their subsequent therapeutic or toxic outcomes, and the physiological-based pharmacokinetic modeling for utilization in predicting toxicity and exposures.
Michael White
Associate Professor
Genetics
Evolutionary Genomics and Sex Chromosome Evolution.
Zachary Wood
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
X-ray crystallographic and biochemical studies of nucleotide sugar metabolism.
Robert Woods
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Immunological carbohydrate-protein interactions studied by computational simulation and experimental methods.
Taotao Wu
Assistant Professor
Bioinformatics
Traumatic brain injury: brain network under biomechanical attack, understanding the networked brain through its injury, injury biomechanics, network neuroscience.
Yaguang Xi
UGA Athletic Association Distinguished Professor, Department Head
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Targeted therapy and cancer chemoprevention; preclinical animal models; cancer immunotherapy; tumor microenvironment and exosomal microRNAs; biomarker of tumor metastasis.
Jin Xie
Professor
Chemistry
Nanoparticle-based imaging and drug delivery; radiation therapy and photodynamic therapy
Zhong-Ru (Paul) Xie
Assistant Professor
Bioinformatics
Computational drug discovery, simulation model, new computational tools for drug design
May Xiong
Associate Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Biomaterial-based systems in the area of iron chelation therapy, biological metal sensors, overcoming antibiotic drug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria, and chelation of transfusional iron overload.
Jing Xu
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
Identify behavioral, cognitive, and neural mechanisms for dexterity; learning and control principles for skilled movement; rehabilitation after neuromuscular injuries.
Patricia Yager
Professor
Marine Sciences
Marine microbial ecology and biogeochemistry; climate change.
Yao Yao
Assistant Professor
Neuroscience
Develop regenerative therapies for neurological diseases by investigating the pathological and therapeutic roles of extracellular vesicles in cellular and animal models.
Kaixiong Ye
Associate Professor
Genetics; Bioinformatics
Nutritional Genomics; Human Genetics; Population and Quantitative Genomics;
Gene-Diet Interaction during human evolution and in metabolic diseases;
Xiaoqin Ye
Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology; Toxicology
Molecular mechanism of embryo implantation. Endocrine disruptors on puberty and early pregnancy.
Bin Yi
Associate Research Scientist
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Developing novel therapeutic strategies for colon and breast cancer, both in vitro and in vivo; Identifying and characterizing novel molecules in the tumor microenvironment that influence cancer progression; Studying exosomal miRNAs and their role in cancer metastasis.
Hang Yin
Assistant professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Stem cell biology, brown fat development and induction, non-coding
RNA, development of novel therapies for human obesity and type 2 diabetes
Jason Zastre
Associate Professor
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences; Toxicology
Transport, micronutrient, hypoxia, cancer.
Nadja Zeltner
Associate Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Cellular Biology; Neuroscience
Effects of pathological stress on cells of the peripheral nervous system and the adrenal gland. In vitro disease modeling using human pluripotent stem cells.
Hui (Iris) Zhang
Associate Professor
Physiology & Pharmacology; Center for Neurological Diseases Research
Pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease.
Shaying Zhao
Professor
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Bioinformatics
Cancer genomics; human junk DNA; genomic instability.
Y. George Zheng
Professor
Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar
Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences
Drug Development, Chemical Biology, Cancer Disease Mechanism, Epigenetics and Genetics, Histone Modifications, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Enzymology, and Biophysics.