Faculty

DBBS mentors and educators are key to our training mission. Those who serve as primary mentors are DBBS Program Members, and others who participate in the educational mission are General Members. Learn about DBBS Faculty Membership »

To provide a supportive learning environment for our trainees, many DBBS-affiliated faculty have completed eight or more hours of CIMER-based mentorship training with a trained facilitator, as indicated below with a profile badge.

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Find faculty of interest by entering a name, program or expertise keyword in the search bar; selecting a PhD program from the drop-down menu; or selecting the last name initial from the A-Z filter.

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Meredith Jackrel, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Molecular Cell Biology
Neurosciences

Research summary
Protein folding and misfolding, and the engineering and application of protein disaggregases to reverse misfolding

Key words
protein folding and misfolding; intrinsically disordered proteins, phase separation, and neurodegenerative disease; protein chaperones; protein engineering; amyloid; yeast models of protein misfolding

Sanjay Jain, MD, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science

Research summary
Interactions between the nervous and genitourinary systems during development, molecular basis for heterogeneity in progenitors and their lineage commitments in the GU tract, injury and regeneration using animal models, mechanisms of malformations using organoids from iPSCs

Key words
cell fate, gene expression, genomics, disease models, growth factor signaling, kidney, bladder, innervation, stem cells, organogenesis, nervous system development, birth defects

Umang Jain, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis
Molecular Cell Biology
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology

Research summary
I am interested in studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which gut mycobiota (fungi) modulates local and systemic health with a goal to develop better biomarkers and therapeutic approaches.

Key words

Aimee James, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Human and Statistical Genetics
Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Research summary
Cancer prevention and control, health disparities and community-based research

Key words

James Janetka, PhD

Professor

Program affiliation
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Cancer Biology
Molecular Cell Biology
Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Research summary
The rational structure-based drug design and synthesis for cancer and infectious disease

Key words
protease, kinase, cancer, infection, lectin, chemistry, synthesis, drug discovery, peptidomimetic, inhibitor

Joanna Jankowsky, PhD

Professor

Program affiliation
Neurosciences
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Molecular Cell Biology

Research summary
Cellular and molecular pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease

Key words
Alzheimer’s disease, neurodegeneration, amyloid, tau, mouse models, risk factors, lysosome, gene therapy

Andrew Janowski, MD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Research summary
Characterization of human diseases associated with novel viral infections

Key words
Virology, microbiology, pathogen discovery, host-virus interactions, viral immunity, astroviruses, encephalitis, myocarditis, viral RNA structures

Silvia Jansen, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Molecular Cell Biology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
we study the molecular mechanisms that regulate the architecture, dimensions and dynamics of actin filament networks, and tune them to support essential cellular functions including cell migration, intracellular trafficking and cytokinesis.

Key words
actin cytoskeleton, microtubule, single molecule, live cell imaging, protein transport, Golgi, confocal microscopy

Ali Javaheri, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Molecular Cell Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Research summary

Key words

Reyka Jayasinghe, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
Using single-cell sequencing and spatial imaging to learn about cancer initiation, progression and treatment.

Key words
scRNA, spatial transcriptomics, computational oncology, sequencing

Joseph Jez, PhD

Spencer T Olin Professor and HHMI Professor

Program affiliation
Plant and Microbial Biosciences
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Exploring regulatory networks in metabolism – structural biology and biochemistry of plants and microbes

Key words
biochemistry, enzymology, plant biology, protein engineering, protein structure, structural biology

Shu (Joy) Jiang, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science
Cancer Biology

Research summary
Development of novel statistical methods for precision medicine

Key words
Biostatistics; Image analysis; Dynamic risk prediction; Multistate models

Peter Jin

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Computational and Systems Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science
Human and Statistical Genetics

Research summary
We use human genetic, functional genomic, and bioinformatic approaches to understand the consequence of genetic variants underlying diseases

Key words
Functional genomics, bioinformatics, human genetics, data science, rare diseases, structural variation

Ramon Jin, MD,PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Molecular Cell Biology
Cancer Biology

Research summary
I am interested in precursor conditions or metaplasias in the stomach and esophagus (i.e Barrett’s esophagus) as these lesions are key to understanding the formation of gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas.

Key words
Intestinal metaplasia, gastroesophageal cancer, Barrett’s esophagus, GI development, Organoids

Tanner Johanns, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Immunology
Cancer Biology

Research summary
Novel immunotherapeutic strategies to treat solid tumors

Key words

Aaron Johnson, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Molecular Cell Biology
Immunology

Research summary
Molecular mechanisms of skeletal and cardiac muscle development and disease

Key words
muscle, congenital disease, organogenesis, gene discovery

Emma Johnson, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
Using statistical and population genomics approaches to better understand the genetic architecture of complex traits, with a focus on substance use disorders.

Key words
behavioral genetics; genomics; statistical genetics; evolutionary genetics; population genetics; substance use disorders; cannabis; schizophrenia; complex traits; psychiatric disorders

Tao Ju, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Developing geometric algorithms for interpreting protein structures from low-resolution density maps produced by cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography

Key words
molecular imaging, geometric algorithms, anatomical modeling, computer graphics, biomedicine

MohammadMehdi Kafashan, PhD,MSc

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
General

Research summary

Key words

Yoon A Kang, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Cancer Biology
Molecular Cell Biology
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Immunology

Research summary
Decoding cell fate decision mechanisms to modulate lineage output for therapeutic purpose

Key words
Hematopoietic stem cells, Multipotent progenitors, Cell fate decision, Lineage specification, Stem cell biology, Cancer (myeloid leukemia), Aging

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