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Faculty/Lab Overviews

David Ginsburg, MD : David Ginsburg investigates the components of the blood-clotting system and how disturbances in their function lead to human bleeding and blood-clotting disorders. A world renowned geneticist, Dr. Ginsburg studies families with bleeding disorders, like hemophilia, to understand the genes and biomolecules that control the blood-clotting response, stroke and heart disease.
Dr. Ginsburg’s Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Patrick J. Hu, MD PhD : Patrick Hu studies a conserved insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling pathway that controls development, metabolism, and aging in the roundworm C. elegans. He seeks to gain insight into how disregulated IGF signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of Type 2 diabetes and cancer by illuminating mechanisms of IGF signaling in C. elegans and extrapolating these findings to mouse models of disease.
Dr. Hu's Lab | Biography

Ken Inoki, PhD : Ken Inoki is investigating the function and regulation of the mTOR signaling pathway. Disregulation of this pathway is involved in development of human disease including cancer and diabetes. By using biochemical and genetic approaches, Dr. Inoki is investingating the function and regulation of mTOR in hopes to elucidate its role in the development and progression of human diseases.
Dr Inoki's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link link

John K. Kim, PhD : John Kim studies the basic regulatory mechanisms and biological functions of microRNAs and other emerging classes of small RNAs in the model organism C. elegans and in mammalian cells. Using a wide-range of approaches, including genetics, biochemistry, and genomics, his work centers on understanding how small, noncoding RNAs control their target gene expression and identifying novel protein factors that execute these processes during normal development and disease states.
Dr. Kim's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Daniel J. Klionsky, PhD : Daniel Klionsky is investigating fundamental aspects of cellular physiology including protein targeting, organelle biogenesis and autophagy. He wants to know how the cell responds to stress conditions, including starvation and organelle damage, and to understand the basic mechanisms involved in membrane dynamics and protein-protein interactions that allow the cell to maintain viability.
Dr. Klionsky’s Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Alexey Kondrashov, PhD : Alexey Kondrashov is investigating evolutionary differences over long stretches of history through the use of high powered computing. Using a comparative genomics approach, Dr. Kondrashov hopes to increase our understanding of how natural selection works in protein and amino acid evolution, and why many species rely on sexual reproduction.
Dr. Kondrashov's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Cheng-Yu Lee, PhD : Cheng-Yu Lee, a member of the UM Center for Stem Cell Biology, uses neural stem cells from the fruit fly Drosophila to study the process of cell self-renewal versus differentiation. By using a combined genetic, biochemical, and genomic approach, Dr. Lee wants to understand the specific mechanism of neural stem cells, with implications for human degenerative diseases like Parkinson's.
Dr. Lee's Lab | Biography

Mi Hee Lim, PhD : Mi Hee Lim's research interests lie in the broad field of inorganic chemistry as it interfaces with biological and medicinal chemistry. Studying the role of oxidative stress and its implications for neurodegenerative diseases, Dr. Lim is developing a special generation of nontoxic, small molecules that may offer a new way to treat Alzheimer's Disease.
Dr. Lim's Lab | Biography

Jiandie Lin, PhD : Jiandie Lin studies the network of genes that manages the storage and consumption of energy in cells and organisms. Dr. Lin uses genetic, genomic, and proteomic tools to better understand the regulatory mechanisms and why they may sometimes become unbalanced. This knowledge may have therapeutic value in the treatment of numerous human diseases including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Lin's Lab | Biography

Ivan Maillard, MD PhD : Ivan Maillard, a member of the UM Center for Stem Cell Biology, investigates the interaction of blood-forming stem cells with their environment. A practicing oncologist, Dr. Maillard's research forcuses on characterizing the mechanisms that regulate the maintenance of stem cells at different stages of development, knowledge that may provide insight into diseases such as leukemia and other cancers.
Dr. Maillard's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Gabrielle (Gabby) Rudenko, PhD : Gabby Rudenko is using a variety of tools to determine the precise three-dimensional shape and function of biological molecules, a key to understanding the disease process and designing of new drugs. Dr. Rudenko's work focuses on a number of proteins that directly mediate synapse formation, maturation and maintenance. She also studies proteins that indirectly control these processes by regulating proteins at synapses. Understanding how the trillions of synapses work in our brain and mediate communication between neurons is likely of vital importance to understanding the molecular bases of many neuro-psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia as well as disorders such as drug addiction.
Dr. Rudenko’s Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Alan R. Saltiel, PhD : Alan Saltiel, Mary Sue Coleman Director of the LSI, investigates the hormone insulin and its role in regulating cellular sugar levels, including how cells send and receive signals. Understanding these processes may shed light on dysfunctioning glucose and lipid metabolism, particularly as it related to Type 2 diabetes. Dr. Saltiel hopes to elucidate the precise function of these pathways, and their roles in the pathogenesis of diabetes, with the goal of developing new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of diabetes and related disorders.
Dr. Saltiel’s Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

David H. Sherman, PhD : David Sherman, Director of the Center for Chemical Genomics, explores the biochemical pathways of marine microoganisms with the goal of finding new drug candidates for infectious diseases and cancers. Diving off the coast of Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea, Dr. Sherman harnesses the capabilitues of unique natural chemical products using a diverse set of tools, including molecular genetics, metabolic engineering and combinatorial biosynthesis.
Dr. Sherman’s Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Georgios Skiniotis, PhD : Georgios Skiniotis is employing molecular electron microscopy techniques including cryo-electron microscopy to study the architecture and conformational dynamics of complex protein assemblies. Complemented by a variety of biochemical and biophysical methods, he aims to address structural and mechanistic issues in important biological processes, which could lead to better understanding of human health problems and improved pharmacological target designs.
Dr. Skiniotis's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Janet L. Smith, PhD : Janet Smith, Director of the Center for Structural Biology, focuses on understanding the complexity of protein structure and function using X-ray crystallography as a three-dimensional tool. Part of her research is in examining the structures of infectious pathogens including the RNA viruses that cause West Nile disease, yellow fever, and dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Dr. Smith’s Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Daniel Southworth, Ph.D.: Dan Southworth studies how molecular chaperones and co-regulatory proteins function at the interface of protein folding, activation and degradation pathways. Using cryo-electron microscopy and in vitro biochemical methods Dan’s lab is focused on the structure and function of Hsp90 and Hsp70 chaperone assemblies involved in the triage of key signaling substrate proteins such as the p53 tumor suppressor. This work aims to advance fundamental understanding of protein folding and regulation mechanisms central to cellular homeostasis and the progression of diseases including Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.
Dr. Southworth’s Lab | Biography

John Tesmer, PhD : John Tesmer is a structural biologist who investigates a particular class of protein molecules that carry signals transduced across the membranes of cells, called G proteins. This mechanism of cell-to-cell communication is required for the sensations of sight and smell, for regulation of blood pressure and heart rate, and for many other physiological events.
Dr. Tesmer's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Lois Weisman, PhD : 

Lois Weisman, PhD: Weisman studies intracellular motility and signaling. These processes are key features of ordinary cell division and embryonic development. Defects in these processes cause many diseases, including neurodegeneration, cancer and diabetes. The overall goals of the laboratory are to determine the mechanisms of myosin V based transport, and phosphoinositide signaling, with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapies for relevant diseases.

Dr. Weisman's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Stephen J. Weiss, MD PhD: Dr. Weiss' research efforts focus on the mechanisms used by cancer cells, immune cells, stromal cells and the vascular network to remodel tissue structure during events ranging from cancer and inflammation to angiogenesis and metastasis. By applying new insights into the molecular machinery that controls tissue remodeling programs, novel targets and therapeutics are being designed as potential interventions in disease states ranging from cancer and obesity to rheumatoid arthritis and cancer.
Dr. Weiss's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

X. Z. Shawn Xu, PhD : Dr. Xu's laboratory is interested in understanding some of the fundamental questions in neuroscience: How are sensory inputs perceived by the nervous system? How do neural circuits process information to generate behavior? How do genes and drugs of abuse regulate these processes? To address these questions, Dr. Xu uses the genetic model organism C. elegans because of its simple and well characterized nervous system. He takes a multidisciplinary approach combining molecular genetics, cell biology, behavioral analysis, functional imaging, and electrophysiology.
Dr. Xu’s Lab | Biography

Zhaohui Xu, PhD : Zhaohui Xu uses structural biology to study molecular "chaperones" that help proteins fold into the proper shape and get to the right place inside the cell. Dr. Xu's lab is interested in understanding the structural basis of molecular interactions that govern the regulation of protein folding and protein trafficking inside the cell. His work has therapeutic implications for everything diabetes, high cholesterol, mad cow disease, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's.
Dr. Xu’s Lab | Biography | biomed expert link

Yukiko Yamashita, PhD Yukiko Yamahshita, a member of the UM Center for Stem Cell Biology, uses the fruit fly Drosophila to better understand stem cell division, specifically how adult stem cells decide upon their fate to maintain tissue homeostasis. Drosophila male germ line stem cells divide asymmetrically to give rise to one stem cell and one differentiating cell to maintain tissue homeostasis. Dr. Yamashita is interested in how this process is monitored, and how it changes during aging.
Dr. Yamashita's Lab | Biography

Bing Ye PhD: Bing Ye is interested in how dendrites and axons, two major compartments that ensure the directional flow of information in a neuron, develop differently, and how dendrites become further compartmentalized into distinct functional domains. In studying these aspects of the nervous system Dr. Ye hopes to provide a greater understanding of disorders of the nervous system.
Dr. Ye's Lab | Biography | biomed expert link