Faculty

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
Molecular and cell biology of ion pumps and transporters in plasma membrane; cell polarity

Key words
cell membrane, development, Na K-ATPase, excitable tissue, cell volume

Program affiliation
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology

Research summary
Understanding how changes at the molecular and cellular level in skeletal muscle affect muscle structure and function

Key words

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

Research summary
The biology of stem cells

Key words
cancer, Drosophila, regeneration, stem cells

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

Research summary
Axonal degeneration, regulation of myelination, neuronal energetics and mitochondrial function in neuropathy and neurodegenerative disease

Key words
functional genomics, metabolism, mitochondria, diabetic neuropathy, neurodegeneration, transcriptional networks, Alzheimer’s disease, Schwann cell

Program affiliation
Immunology
Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Research summary
Lymphoid tissue dynamics and antigen-presentation during infection, cancer and autoimmunity

Key words
imaging, inflammation, pathogenesis, mathematical modeling, multi-photon microscopy

Program affiliation
Neurosciences
Molecular Cell Biology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Mechanisms of neurodegeneration and targeted therapies for neurodegenerative diseases

Key words
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), SOD1, TDP-43, C9ORF72, miRNA, Tau, Dementia, Neurodegeneration, Antisense oligonucleotides

Program affiliation
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Molecular Cell Biology

Research summary
Differentiation to and maturation of pancreatic insulin-producing β cells from human pluripotent stem cells capable of rapidly reversing diabetes

Key words
stem cell biology, regeneration, developmental biology, microscopy, single-cell RNA-sequencing, differentiation, tissue engineering, diabetes, organoids, transplantation, therapy

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
Dr. Minaya’s research lies at the intersection of stem cell modeling and genomics, elucidating molecular mechanisms of tauopathies, including frontotemporal dementia with tau pathology (FTD-tau) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). He engineers CRISPR-modified iPSCs from ancestrally diverse donors to model pathogenic MAPT mutations, integrating these with postmortem human brain transcriptomics and animal models.

Key words
Tauopathies; Stem Cell Modeling; Functional Genomics

Program affiliation
General

Research summary
Human genetic kidney disease: Insights through mouse models

Key words
cell adhesion, extracellular matrix, integrin biology, kidney, actin cytoskeleton

Program affiliation
Computational and Systems Biology
Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Research summary
Technology development for functional genomics and systems biology

Key words
functional genomics, systems biology, technology development, bioinformatics