Research Interest: Molecular Mechanisms of Disease
| Name | PhD Program | Research Interest | Publications |
|---|---|---|
| Miller, Colette WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
Our research investigates the effects of air pollutants on maternal health, paternal health, and the health of their children. Through the use of genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics, we investigate the molecular underpinnings of diseases following exposures to pollutants during sensitive life stages. We have broad interests across many tissue systems and diseases relevant to fertility and pregnancy. Our work also explores the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis, investigating risks of metabolic diseases in offspring following maternal or paternal exposures to pollutants. |
| Haendel, Melissa WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
The Translational and Integrative Sciences Laboratory (TISLab) aims to weave together healthcare systems, basic science research, and patient generated data through development of data integration technologies and innovative data capture strategies. Our research focuses on the development of semantic technologies for data harmonization and analytics, such as ontologies, knowledge graphs, and data models. We leverage these semantic resources to standardize phenotypic information coming from clinical encounters, model and veterinary species, and directly from patients. As part of a longstanding international consortium called the Monarch Initiative, we utilize structured phenotype data to integrate of genotype-phenotype data across species to improve rare disease diagnosis, mechanism discovery, and to identify treatments. We work with a number of rare disease communities around the world with the goal of making our data standards available for everyone and translated into different languages so that everyone can have access to the same knowledge and have the same chance for a diagnosis. We are passionate about environmental health and understanding new ways of making environmental and nutrition data computable alongside clinical data. For example, we have integrated patient nutrition survey data together with basic research knowledge to reveal dietary risk factors of women’s reproductive disorders. We recently obtained funding to create an atlas for toxicological experiments and phenotypic outcomes in the zebrafish. TISLab has also recently created a veterinary One Health program, which focuses on understanding health influences affecting veterinary species together with their pet parents. During Covid, we led a national initiative to harmonize Electronic Health Record data to aid discovery analytics, called the National Covid Cohort Collaborative (N3C). The N3C is now the largest publicly available HIPAA-limited dataset in US history, and has ~5,000 users. We have studied long-Covid, advised the White House and governor’s offices, and have won the NIH/FASEB DataWorks! Grand prize for our work on N3C. We also lead the Center for Linkage and Aquisition of Data (CLAD) for the All of Us Research Program. The CLAD aims to link passive data streams such as insurance claims, mortality, and environmental data to program participants to provide a more comprehensive picture of their health trajectories. We have produced several global standards, such as the Human Phenotype Ontology, Phenopackets (Global Alliance for Genomics and Health and ISO certified), Mondo, and LinkML. We regularly attend the American Medical Informatics Association, the American Association of Human Genetics, the International Biocuration Society, and the Bioinformatics Open Source at ISMB conferences. TISLab members come from a wide variety of of scientific backgrounds and interests, making us effective partners in translational science and collaborative analytics. |
| Sparkenbaugh, Erica WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
The broad goal in my laboratory is to investigate crosstalk between coagulation and inflammation in animal models of disease. My primary interest is sickle cell disease, a blood disorder caused by a hemoglobin mutation that results in sickling of red blood cells. The primary complications of sickle cell disease are anemia and vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC), as well as chronic inflammation and coagulation activation. VOC is caused by the formation of multicellular aggregates between neutrophils, platelets, sickle red blood cells and the endothelium that is due, in part, to thrombin-dependent activation of protease activated receptor 1 (PAR-1). We are currently investigating how biased agonism of PAR1 with activated protein C (APC) can beneficially influence vaso-occlusive crisis and other pathologies in sickle cell disease. We use a variety of tools, such as transgenic mice, clinically relevant pharmacologic inhibitors, and molecular and cellular biology techniques to study the role of coagulation proteases and protease activated receptors in health and disease. |
| Hsueh, Ming-Feng WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
Dr. Hsueh’s research is at the forefront of translational musculoskeletal and aging biology, utilizing cutting-edge multi-omic technologies to pioneer new therapeutic strategies for regenerating damaged joint tissue, with a particular focus on osteoarthritis (OA). Our lab employs advanced in vitro cell culture and cartilage explant models to delve into the mechanisms driving OA pathogenesis and to evaluate the potential of novel drug therapies. A key area of our research investigates the role of noncoding RNAs in human musculoskeletal tissues. We aim to uncover the intricate signaling pathways and downstream gene networks influenced by these noncoding RNAs. Our ultimate goal is to harness this knowledge to enhance the body’s natural repair mechanisms, providing innovative solutions to combat the progression of OA and restore joint function |
| McCoy, Sydney |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
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| Schrank, Travis PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
I am a surgeon-scientist specialized in head and neck cancers. My goal is to address translationalquestions with genomic data and bioinformatic methods, as well as benchtop experimentation. My clinical practice as a head and neck cancer surgeon also influences my research by helping me seek solutions to problems that will directly inform gaps in the current treatment protocols. I have developed a strong interest in HPV genomics as well as HPV/host genome integrations, as these factors are intrinsically related to transcriptional diversity and patient outcomes in HPV-associated head and neck cancers. Our work has helped to demonstrate that a novel mechanism of HPV-mediated oncogenesis requiring NF-kB activation is present in nearly 50% of oropharyngeal tumors. In this vein, we are aggressively investigating the cellular interplay between the NF-kB pathway and persistent HPV infection, tumor radiation response, NRF2 signaling, and more. Another outgrowth of this work has been investigating APOBEC3B and its non-canonical roles in regulating transcription. Our preliminary work has demonstrated that APOBEC3B has surprisingly strong transcriptional effects in HPV+ HNSCC cells and may promote oncogenesis and tumor maintenance by suppressing the innate immune response and influencing the HPV viral lifecycle. Our group also have a strong interest in translational genomic studies. Our group is working to develop methods that will make gene expression-based biomarkers more successful in the clinic, as well as studying many aspects of genomic alterations that contribute to the development of squamous cell carcinomas. |
| Cho, Rae WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
We study proteases that induce rapid changes in cell morphology, behavior, and identity. We are particularly interested in ones that play a role in myotube formation, muscular dystrophies, rhabdomyosarcoma, and cachexia. Our model systems include C2C12 cells, primary myoblasts, patient-derived iPSCs, and zebrafish. In addition to standard cell biology approaches, we make use of chemical biology and advanced microscopy techniques. Ultimately, we seek to identify a combination of protease inhibitors/activators that can cure musculoskeletal diseases. |
| Corteselli, Elizabeth PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
Dr. Corteselli’s research aims to uncover the mechanisms by which exposure to air pollutants causes lung injury. Her lab uses advanced in vitro models, including lung organoids and precision cut lung slices, to investigate the effects of inhaled toxicants on airway epithelial cell function, with a focus on redox homeostasis and signaling. |
| Graves, Christina WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
Fundamentally, our research is focused on how the nervous and immune systems are developmentally educated by infectious and non-infectious stressors across the “gum-to-gut” axis. One current major focus of the lab is to elucidate how early life stress impacts the developing gut and dentition using zebrafish as an ideal — and translational — model organism. We utilize a combination of advanced imaging, next-generation sequencing, and genetic approaches to achieve a greater understanding of how early life events dictate health outcomes across the lifespan and generations. In addition to these primary research interests, we maintain active collaborations with other groups within the Adams School of Dentistry and across campus. |
| Liu, Qingyun WEBSITE PUBLICATIONS |
PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST |
Infectious diseases due to highly pathogenic microbes continue to pose a persistent and evolving threat to humans. In this laboratory, we study the evolutionary mechanisms underlying drug resistance and transmissibility in bacterial pathogens, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium abscessus, among others. |