James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience; T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center Leadership Chair; Director, T&C Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center
Neural mechanisms for planning, decision making, neural prosthetics, and brain repair
Seymour Benzer Professor of Biology; Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience Leadership Chair; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Director, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience
Genetic dissection of neural circuits controlling emotional behaviors
Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
We are interested in biophysical principles and molecular mechanisms relevant to cilia biology and diseases. We also have other exciting projects on leveraging cellular cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) and AlphaFold2-assisted modeling to address various biology questions. Our guiding principle is: if you do not know what that protein is or how it functions inside the cell, just look at the thing at high resolutions.
Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering; Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair, Richard N. Merkin Institute for Translational Research; Director, Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience; Director, Richard N. Merkin Institute for Translational Research, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (selected 2024)
Neurotechnologies to understand and repair nervous systems
Ethel Wilson Bowles and Robert Bowles Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Merkin Institute Professor; Director of the Jacobs Institute for Molecular Engineering for Medicine
Global health; Microbial communities and biophysics of the gut microbiome; Diagnostics and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST); Microfluidics and single-molecule and single-cell analyses; Complex networks of reactions, cells and organisms.
Gordon and Carol Treweek Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering; William H. Hurt Scholar
Dr. Karthikeyan's research interests lie at the interface of microbial ecology, computational biology and engineering. Her overarching objectives are to develop integrated wet-lab and multi-omic (DNA-,RNA- and metabolome-level) approaches to provide a systems-level understanding of complex microbial communities and how these can be translated to microbiome biomarkers for environmental and human health.
Bren Professor of Biology and Chemistry; Merkin Institute Professor
Mayo's focus has been the coupling of theoretical, computational, and experimental approaches for the study of structural biology. In particular, he has placed a major emphasis on developing quantitative methods for protein design with the goal of developing a fully systematic design strategy.
Research Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
Our laboratory explores the mechanisms that maintain stem/progenitor cells and regulate their differentiation to mature cell types of the kidney. By combining genetic and genomic approaches with high resolution imaging, we are aiming to obtain a deeper understanding of stem cell biology and to develop novel therapeutic strategies for regenerative medicine.
Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences
My goal is to understand how large circuits of neurons work. By "circuit" I mean a brain structure with many neurons that has some anatomical and functional identity, and exchanges signals with other brain circuits. "Understanding" such a neural circuit will require answers to the following:
What does the circuit do? Find the function that relates the inputs to the outputs of this part of the brain.
How does it do that thing? Spell out the mechanism behind this computation in terms of signals flowing through neurons and synapses.
Why does the circuit do that? Explain how the functions of this circuit fit into the larger brain and relate its role to the animal's behavior.
For some time the lab's focus was on circuits for visual processing, in particular retina and superior colliculus. We have also worked on circuits for olfaction. I maintain an interest in these sensory areas, but our current research has turned toward problems that are comparatively less well understood: (1) Mechanisms of rapid learning: Animals can learn a complex sequence of actions after just one or a few successful episodes. (2) Task control: Many behaviors require a rapid switching between different tasks. How is that coordinated?
In all these pursuits, we try to use the full toolkit of modern neuroscience: electrophysiology, optophysiology, molecular genetics, psychophysics, theory and modeling.
Gordon M. Binder/Amgen Professor of Biology and Geobiology; Merkin Institute Professor
Bioenergetics and cell biology of metabolically diverse, genetically-tractable bacteria. Biofilm biology in the context of human chronic infections and crop rhizospheres.
Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
How do cells in multicellular organisms collectively coordinate and execute their developmental programs amidst the dynamic challenges of complex environments? The transition from cell division to rapid cellular growth represents a pivotal, cue-integrating process. The Nolan lab investigates the molecular underpinnings of the spatiotemporal shift between proliferation and differentiation and the cell-cell communication required for organ development. This regulation is of broad significance, as unrestrained proliferation is linked to cancer, whereas impaired tissue-level coordination yields developmental anomalies. While cells are known to gauge their size to balance proliferation and growth, we don’t yet understand how these processes operate within a developing multicellular organ. Leveraging the structured organization of the Arabidopsis root, where each cell lineage represents a developmental timeline, we seek to answer fundamental questions: What initiates the transition between proliferation and differentiation, and are these signals universal or cell-type-specific? How are cell division frequency and final size genetically controlled? And how do cells perceive and react to the growth of their neighbors? To address these questions, we leverage cutting-edge technologies, such as single-cell genomics, spatial transcriptomics, and large-scale CRISPR screening. Our findings provide mechanistic insights into plant development and facilitate precise engineering of root structure and function.
James Irvine Professor of Environmental Science and Geobiology; Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair, Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions; Director, Center for Environmental Microbial Interactions
Bren Professor of Computational Biology and Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Computational and experimental methods for genomics. Currently focused on the development of single cell sequencing based technologies and their application to RNA biology.
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Bioengineering; Executive Officer for Biology and Biological Engineering
Biological engineering, chemical engineering, computational mathematics, molecular programming, chemical biology, synthetic biology.
Professor of Computer Science, Computation and Neural Systems, and Bioengineering
Biomolecular computation, DNA-based computation, algorithmic self-assembly, in vitro biochemical circuits, noise- and fault-tolerance, DNA and RNA folding, evolution.
Bren Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering
Developmental Biology, Mouse and Human Embryos, Self-Organization of Stem Cells into Embryos In Vitro, Developmental Timing, Control of Cell Size and Shape, Cell Competition.
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