Cancer and Cell Biology

Faculty

• Lauren Veronica Albrecht, l.albrecht@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Discovery of novel molecular pathways driving cell growth and tissue homeostasis in health and in disease.
• Scott Atwood, satwood@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  The Atwood lab is interested in how stem cell heterogeneity drives epidermal homeostasis and disease using models of skin development and cancer.
• Lee Bardwell, bardwell@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  We study cancer signaling pathways and other disease-relevant regulatory pathways, focusing on protein kinases, scaffold proteins, and transcription factors. We also do some computational/mathematical modeling.
• Nick Baker, nebaker@uci.edum Microbiology and Molecular Genetics; Developmental & Cell Biology
  We are interested in how cells interact within tissues, and especially what is the molecular basis of cell competition, how does it select the cells that form and regenerate organs, and how cellular competitiveness is affected by ribosome biogenesis and chromosomal aneuploidy to affect cancer and aging.
• Claudia Benavente, claudia.benavente@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology Identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities in solid malignancies harboring RB1 mutations, with special emphasis on epigenetics.
• Daniela Bota, dbota@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  To understand the biology and to develop new translational approaches for neurologic malignancies and cancer-related cognitive impairments.
• Remi Buisson, rbuisson@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  The ongoing research program in the laboratory focuses on unexplored aspects of cellular transcription and translation regulation associated with viral infections and DNA damage.
• Dongbao Chen, dongbaoc@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  Uterine and placental hemodynamics, perinatal vascular biology, pregnancy complications
• Phang-Lang Chen, plchen@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Dissecting DNA damage response pathway
• Fangyuan Ding, dingfy@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  RNA biology and engineering, synthetic biology, single molecule imaging and quantification
• Aimee Edinger, aedinger@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Understanding endolysosomal trafficking and sphingolipid biology and translating these discoveries into new therapies for cancer, obesity, and other diseases
• Mark Fisher, mfisher@hs.uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  Stroke, vascular neurobiology, blood-brain barrier, cerebral microvascular disease
• Angela Fleischman, agf@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Role of inflammation in the development of hematologic malignancies.
• David Fruman, dfruman@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  The focus of research in the Fruman Lab is targeted therapies to modulate signaling and metabolism in lymphocytes and leukemia cells.
• Anand K. Ganesan, aganesan@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Our work understands how melanocytes respond to environmental cues in the context of skin disease and cancer.
• Steve A. N. Goldstein, sgoldst2@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
  Ion channels in the heart, innate immune system, and nervous system in health and disease
• Chris Halbrook, chris.halbrook@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  My lab is primarily focused on understanding mechanisms that support cancer development and resistance to therapy.
• Christopher C.W. Hughes, cchughes@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  Vascular biology with a focus on microphysiological systems, also called organ-on-chip technology. We work on cancer, neurological diseases, diabetes and vascular malformations
• Mehboob Hussain, m.hussain@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  My laboratory is focused on the biology of endocrine pancreatic cells, which synthesize and secrete the principal hormones that regulate blood sugar levels
• Barbara Jusiak, bjusiak@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
  My lab combines mammalian synthetic biology and fruit fly (Drosophila) models to study cancer-host interactions and to engineer immune cells against cancer.
• Peter Kaiser, pkaiser@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Our lab studies the ubiquitin proteasome pathway, cell cycle, and cancer metabolism, focusing on mechanism of diet/therapeutics interactions and development of mutant p53 reactivation compounds.
• Mei Kong, meik1@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  Nutritional microenvironment in tumor development and drug response, metabolism, epigenetics and cancer stem cells, protein phosphatase regulation in diabetes and obesity.
• Young Jik Kwon, kwonyj@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  Gene therapy, Nanomedicine, Cancer vaccines, Cell therapy
• Devon A. Lawson, dalawson@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
  Cellular, molecular and genomic mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis
• Thomas F. Martinez, t.martinez@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Unannotated microprotein discovery and characterization, proteomics, genomics, cell biology, protein biochemistry
• Selma Masri, smasri@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Research in the Masri lab is aimed at understanding the relationship between disruption of circadian rhythms and tumorigenesis, with a major focus on immunology, metabolism and stem cell biology.
• Dan Mercola, dmercola@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  Current emphasis is prostate cancer and the interaction of cancer cells and the microenvironment as examined by DNA sequencing and gene expression changes. The ethnic differences in tumor and microenvironment interaction are also being examined for European American and African American populations.
• Nicholas Pannunzio, nrpann@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Cancer etiology, cancer genetics, genome integrity, DNA double-strand break repair, and cancer health disparities in underrepresented groups
• Farah Rahmatpanah, frahmatp@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  Prostate cancer disparities, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, bioinformatics, epigenetics
• Olga Razorenova, olgar@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  We focus on kidney and breast cancer. We study tumor suppressors and oncogenes, as well as tumor cell microenvironment (especially hypoxia). We are interested in tumor cell metabolism and metastasis. Our ultimate goal is to find critical molecular targets expressed by cancer cells for therapy design.
• Xiaoyu Shi, xiaoyu.shi@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  We develop super-resolution microscopy and spatial multiomics methods to study aging and cancer at from molecular to organ levels.
• Benita Sjogren, jsjogren@uci.edu Biological Chemistry We study mechanisms that control Regulator of G protein Signaling (RGS) protein function and develop strategies for early drug discovery.
• Wenqi Wang, wenqiw6@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Cancer signaling, oncogene, tumor supressors, organ size control, Hippo pathway, YAP/TAZ

Faculty – Secondary Affiliation

• Thomas Burke, tpburke@uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  We are developing novel innate immune agonist drugs for cancer therapy. We are investigating tumor microbiomes and microbial-based cancer therapies.
• Dae Seok Eom, dseom@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Long-range cell-to-cell communication via specialized cellular protrusions in development/homeostasis and disease contexts
• Shane Gonen, gonens@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  The Gonen lab studies proteins implicated in disease by cryogenic electron microscopy, biochemistry and computational modelling
• Matthew Griffin, griffin@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  Our lab focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying host-microbiota interactions during cancer progression and treatment.
• Steven Gross, sgross@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  I study how molecular motors function and are regulated, and also a new pathway in the innate immune system to kill bacteria.
• Klemens Hertel, khertel@uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Regulation of gene expression by alternative splicing, bioinformatics, human genetic disease
• Michael Hicks, mrhicks1@hs.uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Stem cell and gene therapies for skeletal muscle regeneration
• Lan Huang, lanhuang@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
  Ubiquitin-proteasome dependent protein degradation, Proteomics, Protein-protein interactions, Structural biology, Biological mass spectrometry, Cancer, Neurodegenerative disorders
• Cholsoon Jang, choljang@uci.edu , Biological Chemistry
  Nutrition metabolism, metabolic diseases, mass spectrometry
• Albert La Spada, alaspada@uci.edu, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  Our research seeks the mechanisms that underlie neurodegeneration and neuron cell death in spinal & bulbar muscular atrophy, spinocerebellar ataxia type 7, Huntington’s Disease, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, and by reproducing molecular pathology in mice and in neurons, astrocytes, and skeletal muscle cells derived from human patient stem cells, we are developing therapies to treat these diseases.
• Arthur Lander, adlander@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  We study the Systems Biology of growth, development, birth defects and cancer. Mathematical and computational approaches are used extensively.
• Pablo Lara-Gonzalez, plaragon@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Molecular pathways that ensure accurate chromosome segregation in mitosis and their intersection with embryonic development; entry and exit from quiescence in response to nutrient signaling.
• Wei Li, wei.li@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Computational Biomedicine: Epigenetics Liquid Biopsy and Alternative Polyadenylation Therapy
• Ray Luo, rluo@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  Our research interests are in the general area of computational structural biology and biophysics. We are particularly interested in computational analysis of solvation-mediated electrostatics and polarization effects in molecular recognition and disordered proteins in cancer biology and biosynthesis.
• Grant R. MacGregor, gmacg@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Function of FNDC3 proteins in development, homeostasis and reproduction; Improved mouse models of late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease.
• Francesco Marangoni, f.marangoni@uci.edu,  Physiology & Biophysics
  Study of immune regulation using functional intravital microscopy
• Matthew Marsden, mdmarsde@hs.uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  My research is primarily focused on HIV cure efforts and involves molecular analysis of latent HIV together with cellular and animal models of HIV infection.
• Michael McClelland, mmcclell@uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  High-throughput genetics, evolution of Salmonella pathogenesis; bacterial therapy for cancer; cancer genomics and prognostic
• Naomi Morrissette, nmorriss@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  Tubulin and microtubules, tubulin targeting drugs in protozoan parasites, tubulin mutations
• Stanley W.K. Ng, stanlewn@uci.edu Biological Chemistry
  The Ng Lab uses multiple spatial and omics sequencing technologies to profile tissue clones and assess their contribution to overall disease state, treatment response, and patient outcomes
• Shivashankar Othy, sothy@uci.edu Physiology & Biophysics
  Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Immune Regulation: Decoding Neuro-Immune Interactions, Vaccine Mechanisms, and Mechanosignaling in Immune System
• Michael J. Parsons, mparson1@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Understanding how the pancreatic progenitors are regulated will inform how insulin-producing β cells are made and reveal transitions that occur during onset of pancreatic cancer.
• Jenn Prescher, jpresche@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  We develop chemical tools and noninvasive imaging strategies to spy on cellular communication
  
• Feng Qiao, qiao@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  Telomeres & telomerase and their roles in cancer and stem cell diseases; Structural, biochemical and molecular genetic analyses of ribonucleoprotein assemblies
• Albert Siryaporn, asirya@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  Bacterial pathogenesis, host-microbe interactions, antimicrobials, and biofilm development
• Christine Suetterlin, suetterc@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  We are studying the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, which causes wide-spread STI, with focus on its developmental cycle and interactions with host cell organelles.
• Ming Tan, mingt@uci.edu, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Infectious Disease and Bacterial Pathogenesis Research on the intracellular bacterium Chlamydia: focus on gene regulation, host-pathogen interactions
• Katherine Thompson-Peer, ktpeer@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  Investigating how neurons respond and recover after injury
• Roberto Tinoco, rtinoco@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  We investigate T cell immune responses against viral infections and cancers.
• Francesco Tombola, ftombola@uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics
  Sensing mechanisms of the cellular microenvironment, ion channel physiology and pharmacology, development of new biosensors
• Lisa Wagar, lwagar@hs.uci.edu, Physiology & Biophysics 
  Translational human immunology, adaptive immunity, organoids, vaccines and infectious diseases
• Rahul Warrior, rwarrior@uci.edu, Developmental & Cell Biology
  The lab uses modern molecular and genetic approaches in Drosophila to study the regulation of proteoglycan synthesis and related questions in developmental and cell biology.
• Gregory Alan Weiss, gweiss@uci.edu, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
  The Weiss Lab invents new technologies to dissect how life’s molecules work and then work to control, improve, and fix them.
• Kyoko Yokomori, kyokomor@uci.edu, Biological Chemistry
  We study the mechanism and function of heterochromatin dynamics in human cells using muscular dystrophy FSHD and DNA damage response as the model systems.