Bio-X
Showing 951-1,000 of 1,082 Results
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Yuri Suzuki
Stanley G. Wojcicki Professor, Professor of Applied Physics, and by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHer interests are focused on novel ground states and functional properties in condensed matter systems synthesized via atomically precise thin film deposition techniques with a recent emphasis has been on highly correlated electronic systems:
• Emergent interfacial electronic & magnetic phenomena through complex oxide heteroepitaxy
• Low dimensional electron gas systems
• Spin current generation, propagation and control in complex oxide-based ferromagnets
• Multifunctional behavior in complex oxide thin films and heterostructures -
Katrin J Svensson
Associate Professor of Pathology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMolecular metabolism
Protein biochemistry
Cell biology and function
Animal physiology -
James Swartz
James H. Clark Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProgram Overview
The world we enjoy, including the oxygen we breathe, has been beneficially created by biological systems. Consequently, we believe that innovative biotechnologies can also serve to help correct a natural world that non-natural technologies have pushed out of balance. We must work together to provide a sustainable world system capable of equitably improving the lives of over 10 billion people.
Toward that objective, our program focuses on human health as well as planet health. To address particularly difficult challenges, we seek to synergistically combine: 1) the design and evolution of complex protein-based nanoparticles and enzymatic systems with 2) innovative, uniquely capable cell-free production technologies.
To advance human health we focus on: a) achieving the 120 year-old dream of producing “magic bullets”; smart nanoparticles that deliver therapeutics or genetic therapies only to specific cells in our bodies; b) precisely designing and efficiently producing vaccines that mimic viruses to stimulate safe and protective immune responses; and c) providing a rapid point-of-care liquid biopsy that will count and harvest circulating tumor cells.
To address planet health we are pursuing biotechnologies to: a) inexpensively use atmospheric CO2 to produce commodity biochemicals as the basis for a new carbon negative chemical industry, and b) mitigate the intermittency challenges of photovoltaic and wind produced electricity by producing hydrogen either from biomass sugars or directly from sunlight.
More than 25 years ago, Professor Swartz began his pioneering work to develop cell-free biotechnologies. The new ability to precisely focus biological systems toward efficiently addressing new, “non-natural” objectives has proven tremendously useful as we seek to address the crucial and very difficult challenges listed above. Another critical feature of the program is the courage (or naivete) to approach important objectives that require the development and integration of several necessary-but- not-sufficient technology advances. -
Karl G. Sylvester
Professor of Surgery (Pediatric Surgery)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsScholarly interests include investigation of molecular markers of human disease that provide diagnostic function, serve as targets for possible therapeutic manipulation, or provide insight into mechanisms of human disease. Specific diseases of interest include common conditions of pregnancy, gut microbial ecology and Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC).
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Daniel Sze, MD, PhD
Professor of Radiology (Interventional Radiology)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTransarterial administration of chemotherapeutics, radioactive microspheres, and biologics for the treatment of unresectable tumors; management of portal hypertension and complications of cirrhosis (TIPS); treatment of complications of organ transplantation; Venous and pulmonary arterial thrombolysis and reconstruction; Stent and Stent-graft treatment of peripheral vascular diseases, aneurysms, aortic dissections
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Christopher N. Ta, MD
Professor of Ophthalmology
BioChristopher N. Ta, MD specializes in the diagnosis and medical treatment of cornea diseases. His areas of expertise are in the treatment of ocular infections, inflammation, dry eyes and ocular surface diseases. He has conducted numerous clinical trials toward the prevention and treatment of ocular infections. Dr. Ta also has extensive clinical experience in the treatment of ocular graft-versus host disease following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
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William Talbot
Mary and Dr. Salim Shelby Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe use genetic and cellular approaches to investigate the molecular basis of glial development and myelination in the zebrafish.
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Longzhi Tan
Assistant Professor of Neurobiology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Tan Lab studies the single-cell 3D genome architectural basis of neurodevelopment and aging by developing the next generation of in vivo multi-omic assays and algorithms, and applying them to the human and mouse cerebellum.
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Hua Tang
Professor of Genetics and, by courtesy, of Statistics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDevelop statistical and computational methods for population genomics analyses; modeling human evolutionary history; genetic association studies in admixed populations.
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Jean Y. Tang MD PhD
Professor of Dermatology
On Partial Leave from 10/07/2024 To 10/06/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research focuses on 2 main areas:
1. Skin cancer:
- New therapeutics to treat and prevent non-melanoma skin cancer, especially by targeting the Hedgehog signaling pathway for BCC tumors
- Genomic analysis of drug-resistant cancers
- Identifying risk factors for skin cancer in the Women's Health Initiative
2. Epidermolysis Bullosa: gene therapy and protein therapy to replace defective/absent Collagen 7 in children and adults with Recessive Dystrophic EB -
Sindy Tang
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Radiology and of Bioengineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe long-term goal of Dr. Tang's research program is to harness mass transport in microfluidic systems to accelerate precision medicine and material design for a future with better health and environmental sustainability.
Current research areas include: (I) Physics of droplets in microfluidic systems, (II) Interfacial mass transport and self-assembly, and (III) Applications in food allergy, single-cell wound repair, and the bottom-up construction of synthetic cell and tissues in close collaboration with clinicians and biochemists at the Stanford School of Medicine, UCSF, and University of Michigan.
For details see https://web.stanford.edu/group/tanglab/ -
William Abraham Tarpeh
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, by courtesy, of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Center Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy and, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioReimagining liquid waste streams as resources can lead to recovery of valuable products and more efficient, less costly approaches to reducing harmful discharges to the environment. Pollutants in effluent streams can be captured and used as valuable inputs to other processes. For example, municipal wastewater contains resources like energy, water, nutrients, and metals. The Tarpeh Lab develops and evaluates novel approaches to resource recovery from “waste” waters at several synergistic scales: molecular mechanisms of chemical transport and transformation; novel unit processes that increase resource efficiency; and systems-level assessments that identify optimization opportunities. We employ understanding of electrochemistry, separations, thermodynamics, kinetics, and reactor design to preferentially recover resources from waste. We leverage these molecular-scale insights to increase the sustainability of engineered processes in terms of energy, environmental impact, and cost.
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Daniel Tartakovsky
Professor of Energy Science Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEnvironmental fluid mechanics, Applied and computational mathematics, Biomedical modeling.
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Peter Tass
Professor of Neurosurgery
BioDr. Peter Tass investigates and develops neuromodulation techniques for understanding and treating neurologic conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, dysfunction following stroke and tinnitus. He creates invasive and non-invasive therapeutic procedures by means of comprehensive computational neuroscience studies and advanced data analysis techniques. The computational neuroscience studies guide experiments that use clinical electrophysiology measures, such as high density EEG recordings and MRI imaging, and various outcome measures. He has pioneered a neuromodulation approach based on thorough computational modelling that employs dynamic self-organization, plasticity and other neuromodulation principles to produce sustained effects after stimulation. To investigate stimulation effects and disease-related brain activity, he focuses on the development of stimulation methods that cause a sustained neural desynchronization by an unlearning of abnormal synaptic interactions. He also performs and contributes to pre-clinical and clinical research in related areas.
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Vivianne Tawfik
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (Adult Pain)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy overall research interest is to understand how the immune system interacts with the nervous system after injury to promote the transition from acute to chronic pain. In my clinical practice I care for patients with persistent pain that often occurs after minor trauma such as fracture or surgery. Using basic science approaches including whole system immune phenotyping with mass cytometry and genetic manipulation of peripheral and central immune cells, we seek to dissect the temporal and tissue-specific contribution of these cells to either promotion or inhibition of healing.
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Joyce Teng, MD, PhD
Professor of Dermatology and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics
BioJoyce Teng, MD, PhD is a professor in dermatology at Stanford University. She is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford and Stanford Hospital and Clinics (SHC). She received her medical degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 12 years. She is one of the 6 pediatric dermatologists practicing at LPCH and one of 72 at SHC who specialize in Dermatology. She sees patients with rare genetic disorders, birthmarks, vascular anomalies and a variety of inflammatory skin diseases. She is also an experienced pediatric dermatological surgeon. Her research interests are drug discovery and novel therapy for skin disorders.
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Avnesh Thakor
Associate Professor of Radiology (Pediatric Radiology)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsInterventional Radiologists can access almost any part of the human body without the need for conventional open surgical techniques. As such, they are poised to change the way patients can be treated, given they can locally deliver drug, gene, cell and cell-free therapies directly to affected organs using image-guided endovascular, percutaneous, endoluminal, and even using device implantation approaches
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Suzanne Tharin
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe long-term goal of my research is the repair of damaged corticospinal circuitry. Therapeutic regeneration strategies will be informed by an understanding both of corticospinal motor neuron (CSMN) development and of events occurring in CSMN in the setting of spinal cord injury. MicroRNAs are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate the expression of “suites” of genes. The work in my lab seeks to identify microRNA controls over CSMN development and over the CSMN response to spinal cord injury.
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Hawa Racine Thiam
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and of Microbiology and Immunology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCellular Biophysical Mechanisms of Innate Immune Cells Functions
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Robert Tibshirani
Professor of Biomedical Data Science and of Statistics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research is in applied statistics and biostatistics. I specialize in computer-intensive methods for regression and classification, bootstrap, cross-validation and statistical inference, and signal and image analysis for medical diagnosis.
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Alice Ting
Professor of Genetics, of Biology and, by courtesy, of Chemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe develop chemogenetic and optogenetic technologies for probing and manipulating protein networks, cellular RNA, and the function of mitochondria and the mammalian brain. Our technologies draw from protein engineering, directed evolution, computational design, chemical biology, organic synthesis, microscopy, and genomics.
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Natalie Torok
Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology and Hepatology)
On Leave from 04/21/2025 To 07/14/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab is focused on exploring the role of matrix remodeling in disease progression in metabolic dysfunction steatohepatitis (MASH)-related hepatocellular carcinoma and primary sclerosing cholangitis. Our goal is to uncover how biomechanical characteristics of the ECM affect mechano-sensation, and how these pathways could ultimately be targeted. We are also interested in aging and its effects on metabolic pathways in MASH and HCC.
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Philip S. Tsao, PhD
Professor (Research) of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur primary interests are in the molecular underpinnings of vascular disease as well as assessing disease risk. In addition to targeted investigation of specific signaling molecules, we utilize global genomic analysis to identify gene expression networks and regulatory units. We are particularly interested in the role of microRNAs in gene expression pathways associated with disease.
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Richard Tsien
George D. Smith Professor, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study synaptic communication between brain cells with the goal of understanding neuronal computations and memory mechanisms. Main areas of focus include: presynaptic calcium channels, mechanisms of vesicular fusion and recycling. Modulation of synaptic strength through changes in postsynaptic receptors and dendritic morphology. Signaling that links synaptic activity to nuclear transcription and local protein translation. Techniques include imaging, electrophysiology, molecular biology.
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Jason Tucciarone, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology)
BioJason Tucciarone MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor with Stanford School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. As a neuroscientist, he leads a lab interested in biological mechanisms of mental illness and investigating new therapies for mood disorders and addiction. In particular, he is defining new cell types and evolutionary conserved circuits in emotional processing centers of the brain, with the hope of finding new entry points for novel therapeutics. Working with Dr Robert Malenka, he is using optogenetic, chemogenetic, neuroimaging and behavioral approaches in mouse models of addiction to uncover vulnerable brain circuitry in opioid use disorder. Alongside Dr Alan Schatzberg, he is investigating the efficacy of buprenorphine augmentation to IV ketamine infusion at reducing suicidality in treatment resistant depression.
Clinically, he works collaboratively in the department’s Neuropsychiatry clinic and his clinical focus includes treating patients with diverse and complex presentations at the interface of psychiatry and neurology with particular interest in functional neurological disorders. He sees a small cohort of psychotherapy patients in Individual Psychotherapy Clinic. He also works weekend shifts on Stanford’s inpatient psychiatry units.
Prior to training in psychiatry at Stanford’s research residency track Jason received his bachelor’s degree in biology and philosophy from Union College. He spent three years as a Post-Baccalaureate IRTA fellow at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke investigating and developing MRI reportable contrast agents to map neuronal connectivity. Following this he entered the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) at the State University of NY Stony Brook University. There he completed a doctoral dissertation in neuroscience under the mentorship Dr. Josh Huang at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. His thesis work employed mouse genetic dissections of excitatory and inhibitory cortical circuits with a focus on the circuitry of chandelier inhibitory interneurons in prefrontal cortex.
In addition to his research and clinical work, Jason is passionate about teaching, mentorship, and resident clinical supervision. He joined a working group early in his clinical residency to restructure trainee’s neuroscience education. He teaches introductory lectures in the neuroscience of addiction, PTSD, psychosis, and mood disorders. He also leads resident group supervision in their introductory psychodynamic psychotherapy clinical experience. He supervises medical students, residents, and clinical fellows in Neuropsychiatry clinic. Finally, committed to the Stanford clinical community, he leads a support group for Internal Medicine interns and residents. -
Shripad Tuljapurkar
The Dean and Virginia Morrison Professor of Population Studies
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsStochastic dynamics of human and natural populations; prehistoric societies; probability forecasts including sex ratios, mortality, aging and fiscal balance; life history evolution.
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Minang (Mintu) Turakhia
Clinical Professor, Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Turakhia has an active clinical research program, with funding from AHA, VA, NIH, the medical device industry, and foundations. His research program aims to improve the treatment of heart rhythm disorders, with an emphasis on atrial fibrillation, by evaluating quality and variation of care, comparative and cost-effectiveness of therapies, and risk prediction. Dr. Turakhia has extensive expertise in using large administrative and claims databases for this work. His TREAT-AF retrospective study of over 500,000 patients with newly-diagnosed AF is the largest known research cohort of AF patients. He has served as study PI or chairman of several prominent single- and multicenter trials in atrial fibrillation, investigational devices for electrophysiology procedures, digital health interventions, and sensor technologies.
His other research interests include technology assessment of new device-based therapies and the impact of changing health policy and reform on the delivery of arrhythmia care. Dr. Turakhia is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and Heart Rhythm Society. -
Madeleine Udell
Assistant Professor of Management Science and Engineering and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProfessor Udell develops new techniques to accelerate and automate data science,
with a focus on large-scale optimization and on data preprocessing,
and with applications in medical informatics, engineering system design, and automated machine learning. -
Alexander Eckehart Urban
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator) and of Genetics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsComplex behavioral and neuropsychiatric phenotypes often have a strong genetic component. This genetic component is often extremely complex and difficult to dissect. The current revolution in genome technology means that we can avail ourselves to tools that make it possible for the first time to begin understanding the complex genetic and epigenetic interactions at the basis of the human mind.
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PJ Utz
Professor of Medicine (Immunology and Rheumatology)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe long-term research goal of the Utz laboratory is to understand autoimmunity, autoantibodies, and how tolerance is broken and can be reestablished.
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Tulio Valdez, MD, MSc
Professor of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics
BioDr. Tulio A Valdez is a surgeon scientist born and raised in Colombia with a subspecialty interest in Pediatric Otolaryngology. He attended medical school at Universidad Javeriana in Bogota Colombia before undertaking his residency in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in Boston. He completed his Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital (2007), Houston and obtained his Master’s in Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Connecticut.
Clinically, Dr. Valdez has an interest in pediatric sleep apnea. He has a special interest in the management of sinus disease in cystic fibrosis. Dr. Valdez has co-authored one textbook and numerous book chapters and scientific manuscripts. Dr. Valdez continues his clinical research in these areas, particularly with a focus on aerodigestive disorders.
Scientifically, Dr. Valdez has developed various imaging methods to diagnose otitis media and cholesteatoma a middle ear condition that can lead to hearing loss. He was part of the Laser Biomedical Research Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research includes novel imaging modalities to better diagnose ear infections one of the most common pediatric problems. His research has now expanded to include better intraoperative imaging modalities in pediatric patients to improve surgical outcomes without the need for radiation exposure.
Dr. Valdez believes in multi-disciplinary collaborations to tackle medical problems and has co-invented various medical devices and surgical simulation models. -
Gregory Valiant
Associate Professor of Computer Science
On Leave from 10/01/2024 To 06/30/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy primary research interests lie at the intersection of algorithms, learning, applied probability, and statistics. I am particularly interested in understanding the algorithmic and information theoretic possibilities and limitations for many fundamental information extraction tasks that underly real-world machine learning and data-centric applications.
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Matt van de Rijn
Sabine Kohler, MD, Professor of Pathology, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research focuses on molecular analysis of human soft tissue tumors (sarcomas) with an emphasis on leiomyosarcoma and desmoid tumors. In addition we study the role of macrophages in range of malignant tumors.
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Capucine Van Rechem
Assistant Professor of Pathology (Pathology Research)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy long-term interest lies in understanding the impact chromatin modifiers have on disease development and progression so that more optimal therapeutic opportunities can be achieved. My laboratory explores the direct molecular impact of chromatin-modifying enzymes during cell cycle progression, and characterizes the unappreciated and unconventional roles that these chromatin factors have on cytoplasmic function such as protein synthesis.
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Benjamin Van Roy
Professor of Electrical Engineering, of Management Science and Engineering and, by courtesy, of Computer Science
On Partial Leave from 10/01/2024 To 06/30/2025BioBenjamin Van Roy is a Professor at Stanford University, where he has served on the faculty since 1998. His current research focuses on reinforcement learning. Beyond academia, he leads a DeepMind Research team in Mountain View, and has also led research programs at Unica (acquired by IBM), Enuvis (acquired by SiRF), and Morgan Stanley.
He is a Fellow of INFORMS and IEEE and has served on the editorial boards of Machine Learning, Mathematics of Operations Research, for which he co-edited the Learning Theory Area, Operations Research, for which he edited the Financial Engineering Area, and the INFORMS Journal on Optimization. He received the SB in Computer Science and Engineering and the SM and PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, all from MIT, where his doctoral research was advised by John N. Tstitsiklis. He has been a recipient of the MIT George C. Newton Undergraduate Laboratory Project Award, the MIT Morris J. Levin Memorial Master's Thesis Award, the MIT George M. Sprowls Doctoral Dissertation Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Stanford Tau Beta Pi Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the Management Science and Engineering Department's Graduate Teaching Award, and the Lanchester Prize. He was the plenary speaker at the 2019 Allerton Conference on Communications, Control, and Computing. He has held visiting positions as the Wolfgang and Helga Gaul Visiting Professor at the University of Karlsruhe, the Chin Sophonpanich Foundation Professor and the InTouch Professor at Chulalongkorn University, a Visiting Professor at the National University of Singapore, and a Visiting Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. -
Shreyas Vasanawala, MD/PhD
William R. Brody Professor of Pediatric Radiology and Child Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur group is focused on developing new fast and quantitative MRI techniques.
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Anand Veeravagu, MD, FAANS, FACS
Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and, by courtesy, of Orthopaedic Surgery
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe focus of my laboratory is to utilize precision medicine techniques to improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurologic conditions. From traumatic brain injury to spinal scoliosis, the ability to capture detailed data regarding clinical symptoms and treatment outcomes has empowered us to do better for patients. Utilize data to do better for patients, that’s what we do.
Stanford Neurosurgical Ai and Machine Learning Lab
http://med.stanford.edu/neurosurgery/research/AILab.html -
Alexander Michael Vezeridis, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology (Interventional Radiology)
BioAlexander Vezeridis MD, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at Stanford University School of Medicine, and a physician-scientist specializing in Interventional Radiology. His clinical expertise includes interventional oncology, biliary disease and endoscopy, venous disease, portal hypertension, urologic interventions, women’s and men’s health interventions, and general vascular/interventional radiology.
Dr. Vezeridis is an active researcher with expertise in translational techniques in engineering to make image-guided interventions safer and more effective for patients.
Dr. Vezeridis obtained his undergraduate, MD, and PhD degrees from Boston University. He completed a two year post-doctoral training at UC San Diego in ultrasound molecular imaging under the auspices of the Cancer Researchers in Nanotechnology (CRIN) R25T, followed by residency and fellowship at UC San Diego.
Dr. Vezeridis is highly committed to training the next generation, including students, residents, fellows, and engineering graduate students through co-directing Bio301B.
Dr. Vezeridis has a strong interest in medical device development and commercialization, and completed the Stanford Biodesign Faculty Fellowship. -
José Vilches-Moure, DVM, PhD
Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine
BioDr. José G. Vilches-Moure, DVM, PhD, Associate Professor, received his DVM degree from Purdue University in Indiana in 2007. He completed his residency training in Anatomic Pathology (with emphasis in pathology of laboratory animal species) and his PhD in Comparative Pathology at the University of California-Davis. He joined Stanford in 2015, is the founder and current Faculty Director for Comparative and Experimental Pathology Post-doctoral Fellowship, the current Faculty Director of the Master of Laboratory Animal Science (MLAS) Graduate Program, and is the past Director of the Animal Histology Services (AHS; 2015-2022). Dr. Vilches-Moure is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists, and his collaborative research interests include refinement of animal models, cancer biology and early cancer detection techniques, cardiac development and pathology, developmental pathology, and host-pathogen interactions. His teaching interests include comparative anatomy/histology, general pathology, comparative pathology, and pathology of laboratory animal species.
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Anne Villeneuve
Berthold and Belle N. Guggenhime Professor and Professor of Developmental Biology and of Genetics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMechanisms underlying homologous chromosome pairing, DNA recombination and chromosome remodeling during meiosis, using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an experimental system. High-resolution 3-D imaging of dynamic reorganization of chromosome architecture. Role of protease inhibitors in regulating sperm activation.
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Hannes Vogel MD
Professor of Pathology and of Pediatrics (Pediatric Genetics) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Neurological Sciences and of Comparative Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research interests include nerve and muscle pathology, mitochondrial diseases, pediatric neurooncology, and transgenic mouse pathology.
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Douglas Vollrath
Professor of Genetics and, by courtesy, of Ophthalmology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Vollrath lab works to uncover molecular mechanisms relevant to the health and pathology of the outer retina. We study metabolic and other cellular interactions between the glial-like retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and adjacent photoreceptors, with the goals of understanding the pathogenesis of photoreceptor degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, and developing therapies.
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Ayelet Voskoboynik
Assistant Professor (Research) of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study the mechanisms by which animals differentiate between self and non-self, and how stem cells and immune cells coordinate to form tissues during development, regeneration, transplantation, and aging. By leveraging the natural stem cell-mediated development, regeneration, and chimerism in the colonial chordate Botryllus schlosseri, we investigate stem cell competition and the decline in regenerative capacity during aging.
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Jelena Vuckovic
Jensen Huang Professor of Global Leadership, Professor of Electrical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Applied Physics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsJelena Vuckovic’s research interests are broadly in the areas of nanophotonics, quantum and nonlinear optics. Her lab develops semiconductor-based photonic chip-scale systems with goals to probe new regimes of light-matter interaction, as well as to enable platforms for future classical and quantum information processing technologies. She also works on transforming conventional photonics with the concept of inverse design, where optimal photonic devices are designed from scratch using computer algorithms with little to no human input. Her current projects include quantum and nonlinear optics, cavity QED, and quantum information processing with color centers in diamond and in silicon carbide, heterogeneously integrated chip-scale photonic systems, and on-chip laser driven particle accelerators.
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Anthony Wagner
Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCognitive neuroscience of memory and cognitive/executive control in young and older adults. Research interests include encoding and retrieval mechanisms; interactions between declarative, nondeclarative, and working memory; forms of cognitive control; neurocognitive aging; functional organization of prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, and the medial temporal lobe; assessed by functional MRI, scalp and intracranial EEG, and transcranial magnetic stimulation.
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Soichi Wakatsuki
Professor of Photon Science and of Structural Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsUbiquitin signaling: structure, function, and therapeutics
Ubiquitin is a small protein modifier that is ubiquitously produced in the cells and takes part in the regulation of a wide range of cellular activities such as gene transcription and protein turnover. The key to the diversity of the ubiquitin roles in cells is that it is capable of interacting with other cellular proteins either as a single molecule or as different types of chains. Ubiquitin chains are produced through polymerization of ubiquitin molecules via any of their seven internal lysine residues or the N-terminal methionine residue. Covalent interaction of ubiquitin with other proteins is known as ubiquitination which is carried out through an enzymatic cascade composed of the ubiquitin-activating (E1), ubiquitin-conjugating (E2), and ubiquitin ligase (E3) enzymes. The ubiquitin signals are decoded by the ubiquitin-binding domains (UBDs). These domains often specifically recognize and non-covalently bind to the different ubiquitin species, resulting in distinct signaling outcomes.
We apply a combination of the structural (including protein crystallography, small angle x-ray scattering, cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) etc.), biocomputational and biochemical techniques to study the ubiquitylation and deubiquitination processes, and recognition of the ubiquitin chains by the proteins harboring ubiquitin-binding domains. Current research interests including SARS-COV2 proteases and their interactions with polyubiquitin chains and ubiquitin pathways in host cell responses, with an ultimate goal of providing strategies for effective therapeutics with reduced levels of side effects.
Protein self-assembly processes and applications.
The Surface layers (S-layers) are crystalline protein coats surrounding microbial cells. S-layer proteins (SLPs) regulate their extracellular, self-assembly by crystallizing when exposed to an environmental trigger. We have demonstrated that the Caulobacter crescentus SLP readily crystallizes into sheets both in vivo and in vitro via a calcium-triggered multistep assembly pathway. Observing crystallization using a time course of Cryo-EM imaging has revealed a crystalline intermediate wherein N-terminal nucleation domains exhibit motional dynamics with respect to rigid lattice-forming crystallization domains. Rate enhancement of protein crystallization by a discrete nucleation domain may enable engineering of kinetically controllable self-assembling 2D macromolecular nanomaterials. In particular, this is inspiring designing robust novel platform for nano-scale protein scaffolds for structure-based drug design and nano-bioreactor design for the carbon-cycling enzyme pathway enzymes. Current research focuses on development of nano-scaffolds for high throughput in vitro assays and structure determination of small and flexible proteins and their interaction partners using Cryo-EM, and applying them to cancer and anti-viral therapeutics.
Multiscale imaging and technology developments.
Multimodal, multiscale imaging modalities will be developed and integrated to understand how molecular level events of key enzymes and protein network are connected to cellular and multi-cellular functions through intra-cellular organization and interactions of the key machineries in the cell. Larger scale organization of these proteins will be studied by solution X-ray scattering and Cryo-EM. Their spatio-temporal arrangements in the cell organelles, membranes, and cytosol will be further studied by X-ray fluorescence imaging and correlated with cryoEM and super-resolution optical microscopy. We apply these multiscale integrative imaging approaches to biomedical, and environmental and bioenergy research questions with Stanford, DOE national labs, and other domestic and international collaborators. -
Virginia Walbot
Professor of Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur current focus is on maize anther development to understand how cell fate is specified. We discovered that hypoxia triggers specification of the archesporial (pre-meiotic) cells, and that these cells secrete a small protein MAC1 that patterns the adjacent soma to differentiate as endothecial and secondary parietal cell types. We also discovered a novel class of small RNA: 21-nt and 24-nt phasiRNAs that are exceptionally abundant in anthers and exhibit strict spatiotemporal dynamics.
