Cell Biology Faculty

Maor Bar-Peled Associate Professor Plant Biology Molecular cell biology of the wall, Biofuel and BioEnergy, Golgi as model for System biology, Plant Immunity. Website

Pengpeng Bi Assistant 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. Website

Katie Billmyre Assistant Professor, Genetics Department Meiotic chromosome biology using Drosophila as a model system. Website

Haini Cai Associate Professor Cellular Biology; Neuroscience Nuclear and genome organization; Chromatin structure and function; Gene regulation in Drosophila development. Website

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. Website

Kelly Dawe Distinguished Research Professor Genetics; Plant Biology Plant centromere and kinetochore structure and function. Website

Roberto Docampo Professor Cellular Biology Cellular and molecular biology of acidocalcisomes; the role of polyphosphate in trypanosomatids. Website

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. Website

Courtney Ellison Assistant Professor Microbiology Bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, dynamics of bacterial nanomachines, microbial subcellular organization. Website

Ronald D. Etheridge Assistant Professor Cellular Biology Toxoplasma’s Strategies to Manipulate Host Immunity Website

Mark Farmer Professor Cellular Biology Protist systematics, cell evolution, and flagellar development. Website

Jacek Gaertig Professor Cellular Biology Molecular cell biology of the cytoskeleton; molecular genetics of ciliates. Website

David Garfinkel Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Retrovirus-like transposons in budding yeast, control of transposition, restriction factors. Website

Neil J. Grimsey Assistant Professor Pharmaceutical and 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. Website

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. Website

Hitesh Handa Associate Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Translational research in biomaterials (antifouling, antiplatelet, antibacterial, and antiviral) for tissue engineering and medical device applications Website

Gerald W. Hart Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Eminent Scholar in Drug Discovery; Complex Carbohydrate Research Center Nutrient Regulation of Signaling and Transcription: Mechanisms Underlying Diabetes, Neurodegeneration and Cancer Website

Tim Hoover Professor Microbiology Gene regulation in bacteria; regulation of flagellar biogenesis; control of RpoN-dependent transcription in bacteria. Website

Diego Huet Assistant Professor Pharmaceutical and 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. Website

Natalia Ivanova Associate Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Genetics Transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms regulating preimplantation development, pluripotency, differentiation and cellular reprogramming in humans Website

Daichi Kamiyama Assistant 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

Eileen Kennedy Professor Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Chemical biology, kinase signaling, cancer, signal transduction, drug discovery. Website

Edward Kipreos Professor Cellular Biology Regulation of the cell cycle; ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and development. Website

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. Website

Karl Lechtreck Associate Professor Cellular Biology Cell Biology of Cilia; Cilia-related diseases, Intracellular Transport. Website

Xiaorong Lin Professor Microbiology; Plant Biology Human fungal pathogens, sexual reproduction and development in fungal pathogenesis Website

Wolfgang Lukowitz Associate Professor Plant Biology Fertilization, and early cell-fate decisions in plant embryos. Website

Amy Medlock Associate Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Understanding intracellular and intercellular heme transport. Website

Michelle Momany Professor Plant Biology Cellular and molecular biology of polar growth in fungi. Website

Kelley Moremen Distinguished Research Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Biochemistry, molecular, and structural biology of mammalian glycoprotein biosynthesis and catabolism. Website

Silvia Moreno Professor Cellular Biology Metabolism and drug development against protozoan parasites. Calcium signaling and storage in Toxoplasma gondii. Website

Vasant Muralidharan Assistant Professor Cellular Biology Molecular and cellular biology of the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Website

Brad Nelms Assistant Professor Plant Biology Cell differentiation during plant reproduction, genomics and gene regulatory networks, single-cell RNA-sequencing, reprogramming cell fate Website

Rachel Roberts-Galbraith Assistant Professor Cellular Biology; Neuroscience Regeneration and development; understanding cellular/molecular mechanisms that underlie neural regeneration in planarians. Website

Tania Rozario Assistant Professor Genetics Understanding mechanisms that regulate stem cell behavior, regeneration, and reproductive development in tapeworms Website to come

Robert Sabatini Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Molecular and biochemical parasitology: DNA modification, homologous recombination and the regulation of antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei. Website

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. Website

Vincent Starai Associate Professor Infectious Diseases; Microbiology Bacterial modulation of eukaryotic membrane dynamics for intracellular survival; SNARE-dependent membrane fusion biochemistry. Website

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. Website

Michael Terns Distinguished Research Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Genetics; Microbiology We study CRISPR-Cas immune systems that protect prokaryotes from viruses and provide powerful research tools for important biotechnology and biomedical applications. Website

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. Website

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. Website

Zachary Wood Associate Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biology X-ray crystallographic and biochemical studies of nucleotide sugar metabolism. Website

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. Website

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 Website

Nadja Zeltner Assistant 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. Website