Biology
Showing 1-50 of 137 Results
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David Armenta
Lecturer
BioDavid Armenta is a Lecturer in the Department of Biology. He earned his bachelor's degree in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University. Working as an undergraduate intern in the lab of Andrew Murray, he studied mechanisms underlying evolution and adaptation in budding yeast. Next, he earned his PhD in Biology (cells, molecules, and organisms track) from Stanford University, working with Scott Dixon to study how amino acid metabolism regulates sensitivity of cancer cells to the nonapoptotic cell death mechanism of ferroptosis. Next, he taught for 3 years as a Lecturer in the the Civic, Liberal, and Global Education (COLLEGE) program. Now, he is excited to be teaching with the Biology Department!
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Christopher O. Barnes
Assistant Professor of Biology and, by courtesy, of Structural Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in our lab is aimed at defining the structural correlates of broad and potent antibody-mediated neutralization of viruses. We combine biophysical and structural methods (e.g., cryo-EM), protein engineering, and in vivo approaches to understand how enveloped viruses infect host cells and elicit antigen-specific immune responses. We are particularly interested in the co-evolution of HIV-1 and broadly-neutralizing IgG antibodies (bNAbs), which may hold the key to the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine. In addition, we are investigating antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 and related zoonotic coronaviruses (CoV), with the related goal of developing broadly-protective immunotherapies and vaccines against variants of concern and emerging CoV threats.
HIV-1; SARS-CoV-2; coronaviruses; cryo-EM; crystallography; vaccines; directed evolution -
Kathryn Barton
Associate Professor, Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPlants make new leaves and stems from clusters of undifferentiated cells located at the tips of branches. These cell clusters are called apical meristems. We study transcription factors that control growth and development of apical meristems. Our studies include plants growing in environments rich in water and nutrients as well as in poor environments. The deeper knowledge of plant development gained from these studies will ultimately help increase food security in a changing environment.
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Dominique Bergmann
Shirley R. and Leonard W. Ely, Jr. Professor of the School of Humanities and Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe use genetic, genomic and cell biological approaches to study cell fate acquisition, focusing on cases where cell fate is correlated with asymmetric cell division.
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Barbara Block
Charles and Elizabeth Prothro Professor of Marine Sciences, Professor of Oceans and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThermal physiology, open ocean predators, ecological physiology and tuna biology
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Carol Boggs
Bing Director in Human Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in how environmental variation affects life history traits, population structure and dynamics, and species interactions in ecological and evolutionary time, using Lepidoptera.
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Xiaoke Chen
Associate Professor of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur goal is to understand how brain circuits mediate motivated behaviors and how maladaptive changes in these circuits cause mood disorders. To achieve this goal, we focus on studying the neural circuits for pain and addiction, as both trigger highly motivated behaviors, whereas, transitioning from acute to chronic pain or from recreational to compulsive drug use involves maladaptive changes of the underlying neuronal circuitry.
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Lauren Cote
Basic Life Res Scientist
Postdoctoral Scholar, BiologyBioI'm a developmental biologist with a background in planarian regeneration who is studying epithelial cells in Jessica Feldman's lab as a Damon Runyon Fellow supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. I'm interested in understanding better how different kinds of epithelial cells, like the cells that line your gut and the cells that make up your skin, are able to correctly connect to one another and form fully continuous organs.
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Jonas Cremer
Assistant Professor of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe are a highly interdisciplinary research team, joined in our desire to better understand microbial life. To elucidate how bacterial cells accumulate biomass and grow, we work with the model organism Escherichia coli. We further focus on gut bacteria and their interactions with the human host. Our approaches combine quantitative experimentation and mathematical modeling.
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Larry Crowder
Edward Ricketts Provostial Professor, Professor of Oceans, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Environmental Social Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcology, conservation, fisheries, protected species, ecosystem-based management
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Martha S. Cyert
Dr. Nancy Chang Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Cyert lab is identifying signaling networks for calcineurin, the conserved Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase, and target of immunosuppressants FK506 and cyclosporin A, in yeast and mammals. Cell biological investigations of target dephosphorylation reveal calcineurin’s many physiological functions. Roles for short linear peptide motifs, or SLiMs, in substrate recognition, network evolution, and regulation of calcineurin activity are being studied.
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Gretchen C. Daily
Bing Professor of Environmental Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and, by courtesy, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsLand use, biodiversity dynamics, ecosystem services
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Barnabas Daru
Assistant Professor of Biology and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioBarnabas Daru is an Assistant Professor of Biology. He is interested in the ecology and biogeography of plants across ecological scales. He studied botany in Johannesburg, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, where he worked on new uses of herbarium specimens for understanding plant ecology and evolution in the Anthropocene, the epoch of profound human impact on Earth. Current research in the Daru lab addresses the role of phylogeny in: 1) understanding how species are distributed, 2) conserving unique communities, and 3) understanding changing distributions in the Anthropocene.
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Giulio De Leo
Professor of Oceans, of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am a theoretical ecologist mostly interested in investigating factors and processes driving the dynamics of natural and harvested populations and on how to use this knowledge to inform practical management. I have worked broadly on life histories analysis, fishery management, dynamics and control of infectious diseases and environmental impact assessment.
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José R. Dinneny
Professor of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe biology of root systems is governed by both micro-scale and systemic signaling that allows the plant to integrate these complex variables into growth and branching decisions that ultimately determine the efficiency resources are captured. Research in my lab is aimed at understanding the response of roots to water-limiting conditions and is exploring this process at different organizational scales from the individual cell type to the level of the whole plant.
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Rodolfo Dirzo
Associate Dean for Integrative Initiatives in Environmental Justice, Bing Prof in Environmental Science, Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcological and evolutionary aspects of plant-animal interactions, largely but not exclusively, in tropical forest ecosystems.
Conservation biology in tropical ecosystems.
Studies on biodiversity.
Education, at all levels, on scientific practice, ecology and biodiversity conservation. -
Scott Dixon
Professor of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy lab is interested in the relationship between cell death and metabolism. Using techniques drawn from many disciplines my laboratory is investigating how perturbation of intracellular metabolic networks can result in novel forms of cell death, such as ferroptosis. We are interested in applying this knowledge to find new ways to treat diseases characterized by insufficient (e.g. cancer) or excessive (e.g. neurodegeneration) cell death.
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Paul Ehrlich
Professor, Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe role of the social sciences in dealing with global change
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David Epel
Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor of Marine Sciences, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcological Developmental Biology
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Jessica Feldman
Associate Professor of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCell differentiation requires cells to polarize, translating developmental information into cell-type specific arrangements of intracellular structures. The major goal of the research in my laboratory is to understand how cells build these functional intracellular patterns during development, specifically focusing on the molecules and mechanisms that build microtubules at cell-type specific locations and the polarity cues that guide this patterning in epithelial cells.
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Marcus Feldman
Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHuman genetic and cultural evolution, mathematical biology, demography of China
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Russell D. Fernald
Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor of Human Biology, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsIn the course of evolution,two of the strongest selective forces in nature,light and sex, have left their mark on living organisms. I am interested in how the development and function of the nervous system reflects these events. We use the reproductive system to understand how social behavior influences the main system of reproductive action controlled by a collection of cells in the brain containing gonodotropin releasing hormone(GnRH)
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Chris Field
Melvin and Joan Lane Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Director, Woods Institute for the Environment & Professor of Earth System Science, of Biology and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute and at the Precourt Institute
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch
My field is climate-change science, and my research emphasizes human-ecological interactions across many disciplines. Most studies include aspects of ecology, but also aspects of law, sociology, medicine, or engineering. -
Hunter Fraser
Professor of Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study the evolution of complex traits by developing new experimental and computational methods.
Our work brings together quantitative genetics, genomics, epigenetics, and evolutionary biology to achieve a deeper understanding of how genetic variation shapes the phenotypic diversity of life. Our main focus is on the evolution of gene expression, which is the primary fuel for natural selection. Our long-term goal is to be able to introduce complex traits into new species via genome editing. -
Judith Frydman
Donald Kennedy Chair in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor of Genetics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe long term goal of our research is to understand how proteins fold in living cells. My lab uses a multidisciplinary approach to address fundamental questions about molecular chaperones, protein folding and degradation. In addition to basic mechanistic principles, we aim to define how impairment of cellular folding and quality control are linked to disease, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases and examine whether reengineering chaperone networks can provide therapeutic strategies.
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Tadashi Fukami
Professor of Biology and of Earth System Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEcological and evolutionary community assembly, with emphasis on understanding historical contingency in community structure, ecosystem functioning, biological invasion and ecological restoration, using experimental, theoretical, and comparative methods involving bacteria, protists, fungi, plants, and animals.
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Benjamin Good
Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and, by courtesy, of Biology
BioBenjamin Good is a theoretical biophysicist with a background in experimental evolution and population genetics. He is interested in the short-term evolutionary dynamics that emerge in rapidly evolving microbial populations like the gut microbiome. Technological advances are revolutionizing our ability to peer into these evolving ecosystems, providing us with an increasingly detailed catalog of their component species, genes, and pathways. Yet a vast gap still remains in understanding the population-level processes that control their emergent structure and function. Our group uses tools from statistical physics, population genetics, and computational biology to understand how microscopic growth processes and genome dynamics at the single cell level give rise to the collective behaviors that can be observed at the population level. Projects range from basic theoretical investigations of non-equilibrium processes in microbial evolution and ecology, to the development of new computational tools for measuring these processes in situ in both natural and experimental microbial communities. Through these specific examples, we seek to uncover unifying theoretical principles that could help us understand, forecast, and eventually control the ecological and evolutionary dynamics that take place in these diverse scenarios.
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Deborah M Gordon
Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProfessor Deborah M Gordon studies the evolutionary ecology of collective behavior. Ant colonies operate without central control, using local interactions to regulate colony behavior.
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Or Gozani
Dr. Morris Herzstein Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study the molecular mechanisms by which chromatin-signaling networks effect nuclear and epigenetic programs, and how dysregulation of these pathways leads to disease. Our work centers on the biology of lysine methylation, a principal chromatin-regulatory mechanism that directs epigenetic processes. We study how lysine methylation events are generated, sensed, and transduced, and how these chemical marks integrate with other nuclear signaling systems to govern diverse cellular functions.
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Arthur Grossman
Visiting Professor (By courtesy), Biology
Professor (By Courtesy), BiologyCurrent Research and Scholarly InterestsHow photosynthetic organisms perceive and respond to their environment
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Elizabeth Hadly
Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology and Professor of Earth System Science, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsElizabeth Hadly and her lab probe how perturbations such as climatic change and human modification of the environment influence the evolution and ecology of animals.
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Philip C. Hanawalt
Dr. Morris Herzstein Professor in Biology, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy current interest includes two principal areas:
1. The molecular basis for diseases in which the pathway of transcription-coupled DNA repair is defective, including Cockyne syndrome (CS) and UV-sensitive syndrome (UVSS). Patients are severely sensitive to sunlight but get no cancers. See Hanawalt & Spivak, 2008, for review.
2. Transcription arrest by guanine-rich DNA sequences and non-canonical secondary structures. Transcription collisions with replication forks. -
H. Craig Heller
Lorry I. Lokey/Business Wire Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNeurobiology of sleep, circadian rhythms, regulation of body temperature, mammalian hibernation, and human exercise physiology. Currently applying background in sleep and circadian neurobiology the understanding and correcting the learning disability of Down Syndrome.
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Luis Hernandez-Nunez
Assistant Professor of Biology
BioLuis Hernandez-Nunez is a tenure-track professor of biology, a Warren Alpert Distinguished Scholar, a Branco Weiss faculty fellow, and a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award faculty fellow at Stanford University, where he leads the Hernandez-Nunez Lab. Luis’ research focuses on the circuit mechanisms underlying heart-brain interactions and on organismal circuits that implement multiorgan coordination and feedback control. Luis did his postdoctoral training with Florian Engert supported by an LSRF fellowship. Luis obtained his Ph.D. in Systems, Synthetic, and Quantitative Biology from Harvard in 2020. He conducted his doctoral research in Aravinthan Samuel’s lab, where he identified molecules, cells, and circuits that mediate thermal homeostasis in larval Drosophila. Before graduate school, Luis was an undergraduate and then a postbac researcher at Thierry Emonet’s lab at Yale University. Before moving to the U.S., Luis studied mechatronics engineering at the National University of Engineering in Peru.
