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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Dave Pagliarini, PhD

Hugo F. and Ina C. Urbauer Professor

Program affiliation
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Molecular Cell Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Computational and Systems Biology

Research summary
We seek to understand the cellular and biochemical underpinnings of mitochondrial dysfunction in human diseases. Our work integrates large-scale methodologies with traditional biochemistry and cell biology to investigate the modulation, adaptation, and basic metabolic function of mitochondria.

Key words
Mitochondria, Protein biochemistry, Genetic screening, Metabolism, Biosynthesis, Orphan protein function, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Kinases and phosphates, Metabolic disease, Systems biochemistry

Stephen Pak, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
High-throughput drug discovery using C. elegans models of protein aggregation disorders

Key words

Himadri Pakrasi, PhD

George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor

Program affiliation
Plant and Microbial Biosciences
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Research summary
Systems and Synthetic Biology of photosynthetic organisms

Key words
Bioenergy, membrane proteins, photosynthesis, redox processes, systems biology, synthetic biology

Ben Palanca, MD, PhD, MSc

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Neurosciences

Research summary
Dr. Palanca has NIH-funded investigations on acute confusion after cardiac surgery and leveraging the anesthetic propofol to modulate sleep to treat depression and cognitive impairment.

Key words
Anesthesia, delirium, sleep, surgery, electroencephalography, imaging, fMRI, consciousness, cognition, encephalopathy, depression, antidepressant

Michael Paley, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Immunology
Computational and Systems Biology
Neurosciences

Research summary
Mechanisms of inflammation in immune-privileged organs

Key words

Hua Pan, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Cancer Biology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Immunology

Research summary
https://sites.wustl.edu/panlab/

Key words
Onco-Nephrology, Cardio-Oncology, Cancer, MRI, Gene/drug delivery, Machine Learning

Sona Pandey, PhD

Assistant Member

Program affiliation
Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Research summary
To understand how plants perceive and respond to abiotic stress

Key words
heterotrimeric G-proteins, abscisic acid, G-proteins, molecular genetics, biochemistry, genomics, proteomics, protein-protein interactions

Thomas Papouin, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Neurosciences

Research summary
Mechanisms or neuron-glia interactions in health and disease

Key words
Astrocytes, Synapses, Neuromodulation, Behavior, Electrophysiology,

Rohit Pappu, PhD

Gene K Beare Distinguished Professor

Program affiliation
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Computational and Systems Biology
Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Research summary
Biophysics of intrinsically disordered proteins

Key words
Huntington`s disease; Polyglutamine Aggregation; Intrinsically Disordered Proteins; Phase transitions in cell biology; Self-assembly; Transcriptional regulation; Small-scale Systems Biology & Interaction Networks;

Yikyung Park, MS/ScD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science
Cancer Biology

Research summary

Key words
Nutrition, Cancer, Epidemiology, Risk prediction, Population health

Bhuvic Patel, MD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Neurosciences
Cancer Biology
Computational and Systems Biology

Research summary
Our lab employs cutting-edge molecular biology techniques to investigate the genetic, epigenetic, and cellular alterations driving the initiation, progression, and therapeutic resistance of brain tumors.

Key words
brain tumors, systems biology, genetics, neurosurgery, neurooncology

Amit Pathak, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Molecular Cell Biology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
We combine experimental measurements and computational modeling to understand how single and grouped respond to physical heterogeneities present in their extracellular microenvironments.

Key words
Mechanobiology; tumor invasion; cell migration; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; cell-matrix interaction; cytoskeleton;

Gary Patti, PhD

Michael and Tana Powell Professor

Program affiliation
Cancer Biology
Computational and Systems Biology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science

Research summary
To understand the metabolic crosstalk between cells and tissues in disease models such as cancer by using isotopes and metabolomics

Key words
metabolism, metabolomics, mass spectrometry, bioinformatics, imaging, cancer, tumor microenvironment, isotope tracing

Slavica Pavlovic Djuranovic, PhD

Assistant Professor

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

Research summary
Identifying new targets and possible therapies to treat malaria

Key words
malaria, mRNA surveillance, drug discovery

Philip Payne, PhD, FACMI

Janet and Bernard Becker Professor

Program affiliation
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science
Computational and Systems Biology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Translational Bioinformatics, Clinical Research Informatics

Key words
Biomedical Informatics, Data Science, Data Analytics, Clinical Research, Translational Research

Jacqueline Payton, MD, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Molecular Genetics and Genomics
Cancer Biology
Biomedical Informatics and Data Science
Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Research summary
Epigenomic aberrations in B cell lymphomas and their impact on gene regulation

Key words
epigenomics, cancer, lymphoma, histone, informatics, genomics, gene regulation

Rachel Penczykowski, PhD

Assistant Professor

Program affiliation
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Plant and Microbial Biosciences

Research summary
The ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, with a focus on wild populations of herbaceous plant hosts and their powdery mildew pathogens.

Key words
host-parasite interactions, disease ecology, plant pathogens, urban ecology, climate change

Guangyong Peng, MD, PhD

Professor

Program affiliation
Immunology
Cancer Biology
Neurosciences

Research summary
Understanding the role of immune system in the pathogenesis of cancer and age-related neurological disorders (Alzheimer’s disease), and then to develop effective strategies for manipulation of immune cell fate and function for disease prevention and immunotherapy.

Key words
Senescent T cells, Regulatory T cells (Tregs), Dendritic cells (DCs), Tumor microenvironment, Alzheimer’s disease, Cell metabolism, Toll-like receptors, Immunotherapy

Susan Perlman, PhD

Associate Professor

Program affiliation
Neurosciences

Research summary

Key words

David Perlmutter, MD

Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor

Program affiliation
Molecular Cell Biology
Immunology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Research summary
Pathobiology of liver disease from accumulation and proteotoxicity of misfolded proteins in α1-antitrypsin deficiency; role of autophagy in biology and treatment of disorders caused by misfolded proteins

Key words
α1-antitrypsin deficiency, protein secretion, protein degradation, autophagy, proteostasis, autophagy enhancer drugs