Pruitt, Kevin
WEBSITE
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
Pharmacology RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Cancer Biology, Cancer Genomics, Cell Biology, Cell Signaling, Epigenetics & Chromatin Biology, Immunology, Pharmacology
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Pruitt lab research involves 3 broad areas. Interest in the first area (cancer epigenetics) stemmed from discoveries made during postdoctoral training assessing how tumor progression disrupts epigenetic mechanisms of control. The second area (Wnt pathway regulation) was the result of early screens as an Assistant Professor at LSU Health Sciences Center. We uncovered novel regulators of oncogenic Wnt signaling and published the first observation that epigenetic enzymes regulate a critical mediator of Wnt signaling (Dishevelled). The third project involves elucidating mechanisms of aromatase regulation which emerged from the obsession of early trainees in the lab with understanding mechanisms cancer-associated estrogen biosynthesis. Within the context of these three projects, I have mentored and guided multiple trainees at every level over the course of 17 years.
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Liu, Qingyun
EMAIL
PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM
Genetics & Molecular Biology RESEARCH INTEREST
Bacteriology, Bioinformatics, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Genomics, Microscopy/Imaging, Molecular Biology, Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, Pathogenesis & Infection
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Traditionally, basic science has sought to enter the translational pipeline through what can be referred to as “Bottom-Up” science, that is, studies that start with a hypothesis in the lab and aim to develop clinical relevance of the findings. In some cases, notably in conventional antibiotic development, this has worked well – but it assumes one-size fits all solutions that are only as good as our assumptions about the biology of many infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. By contrast, my research focuses on a “Top-Down” approach, leveraging the power of bacterial population genomics to identify bacterial processes important for Mtb success in people and to then employ cutting-edge experimental techniques to mechanistically dissect these processes with the goal of leveraging them using new translational tools.
In my work to date, I have applied this “Top-Down” strategy to define bacterial determinants of treatment outcomes and transmission success, as evident in first-author/corresponding author publications in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature Ecology Evolution, Cell Host Microbe, Science Advances, Genome Biology, PNAS, etc. My work combines expertise in evolutionary biology and bacterial genomics, cutting-edge bacterial genetics and high-throughput experimental phenotyping.
In my own lab, I will use these tools to (1) define the biological mechanisms that enable Mtb to survive antibiotic treatment; (2) identify bacterial determinants of TB transmission success; and (3) elucidate the evolutionary mechanisms underlying the emergence of new bacterial pathogens.
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Landis, Justin
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Virology
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“I am passionate about developing new tools or models for visualizing and analyzing biological data. I am interested in understanding the pathogenesis of cancer-causing viruses through various NGS technologies.”
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Kenney, Grace
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Genomics
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“I am interested in the application and development of bioinformatic tools for high-throughput genomic data analysis to answer questions in functional genomics. I am particularly interested in multi-omic data integration to understand epigenomic and transcriptomic mechanisms responsible for cell fate decisions. I enjoy taking an interdisciplinary approach to my projects, working in both the wet and dry lab when possible.”
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Huang, Emma
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genetics
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“I would like to focus on developing statistical methods for modeling the effect of genetic variation among immunologic phenotypes in lung diseases, especially asthma.”
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Kavalipati, Archishma
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics
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“My primary interest is understanding the functions of intronic DNA sequences and noncoding RNA. I’m interested in contributing to the development of methods and algorithms to uncover these functions with respect to their role in human disease. Specific areas of interest include cancer development and women’s health.”
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Fisher, Caleb
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Structural Biology
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“Broadly, I have an interest in studying enzymology and structural biology to answer questions related to immune and metabolism diseases such as cancer. I think that advancing our understanding of such diseases requires structure-function studies of large protein families, such as GPCRS, to be driven by bioinformatics paired with fundamental biochemistry. A particular question I’m curious about is how the structure of such enzymes contribute to the big-picture of cellular dynamics? More specifically, how does regulation of enzymes change their structural dynamics and how does this fit into the big-picture phenomena of disease?”
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Almeida, Gabriela
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Evolutionary Biology
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“My main research interest is in evolutionary and computational biology. I am interested in comprehending the evolutionary forces acting upon individuals that impact genetic diversity. The current scientific scenario is prolific due to the availability of large and complex genetic databases. The growing computational methods using statistics and machine learning allow the extraction of relevant information to have a deeper understanding of evolution. I am finalizing my master’s degree in evolutionary biology using computational methods to understand the dynamics of gene duplications.”
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McInerney, Katelyn
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Genomics, Systems Biology
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“I am most interested in what drives variation in human complex traits and diseases. For me, this broadly includes statistical genetics approaches to uncover the environmental, genetic, and gene x environment interactions that contribute to the variability in a disease or trait. I am interested in genomics, statistical, and multi-omics methodologies to both identify the source of this variation as well as how it functions. “
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Kyong-Shin, Ronald
EMAIL
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PHD PROGRAM
RESEARCH INTEREST
Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics
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“I would like to study any topics related to genetic diversity, genetic population structure, drug resistance mechanisms, evolutionary changes mechanisms, host-pathogen immunological interactions, detection of evolutionary pathway in the emergence of drug resistant variants, detection of new biomarkers for infectious diseases, statistic modelling, computational software building for bioinformatics. “
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