GEMS Faculty Listing in Molecular and Structural Biology

Molecular and Structural Biology Research Concentration Leadership:

• Nava Segev (Director of Graduate Students)
• Andrei Karginov
• Vadim Gaponenko

Molecular and Structural Biology Research Concentration

The Molecular and Structural Biology Research Concentration is a multidisciplinary effort across several departments in the UI College of Medicine including Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine, and Physiology and Biophysics.

The overall goal of this concentration is to provide students with an integrative, modern perspective on molecular mechanisms underlying normal development, disease, and disease treatments.

Faculty associated with this training area study a wide-range of topics including signal transduction pathways, metabolomics, regulation of gene expression, proteomics, membrane biology, cellular recycling pathways, drug discovery and optimization, protein turnover by ubiquitin-proteasome system, protein engineering, biomolecule structures, interactions and dynamics, and synthetic biology.  A general unifying principle in this concentration is the use of cutting-edge technologies and multi-disciplinary approaches employing model systems from cells, yeast, drosophila, and mice to mouse and human organoid culture and patient samples to address major biological questions and health issues.  Students in this program have ready access and training via outstanding shared resources, and will utilize cutting edge genomic technologies, metabolomics and proteomics, drug screening, imaging, and advanced methods to determine protein structures and molecular interactions.

Additional MSB Faculty, Fall 2021

Konstantinos Chronis, PhD, Assistant Professor:  Molecular mechanisms controlling stem cell identity and function

Maxim Frolov, PhD, Professor:  Transcriptional programs controlled by the Retinoblastoma and Hippo pathways

Nissim Hay, PhD, Professor:  Metabolomics and signaling

Jiyeon Kim, PhD, Assistant Professor:  Metabolic reprogramming in disease

Pradip Raychaudhuri, PhD, Professor:  Forkhead box family of transcription factors in human disease

Angela Tyner, PhD, Professor:  Tyrosine kinase signaling in normal tissues and disease