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Major Research Areas

Upstate boasts basic and clinical researchers with diverse expertise in neuroscience, molecular genetics, genomics, epigenetics, structural biology, infectious disease, and behavior disorders. This allows students the opportunity to perform research in a wide range of research areas and easily collaborate when new expertise is needed.

 

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Cancer

Students and faculty contribute to significant, well-funded cancer research at the basic and clinical levels. These research projects reflect a single, goal-oriented approach that cuts across academic departments. In addition to basic science investigations in such areas as tumor cell invasion, oncogenes, immunotherapy and genetic inheritance, our scientists and physicians participate in national cancer trials.

  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • Alaji Bah, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Elucidate the structure, dynamics and functions of intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions (IDPs/IDRs) and their biological regulation by Post-translational modifications.

  • Scott Blystone, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.
  • Dimitra Bourboulia, PhD
    Associate Professor
    • Extracellular kinase signaling
    • Extracellular chaperone function 
    • Targeting extracellular signaling networks in urological cancers
  • Gennady Bratslavsky, MD
    Professor and Chair

    Basic, clinical, and translational prostate, bladder, and kidney research.   

  • Xin Jie Chen, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Mitochondrial biology, stress signaling and aging-related degenerative diseases.

  • Michael Cosgrove, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of chromatin, Mixed Lineage Leukemia, Structural Biology, Enzymology, Biophysical Chemistry, Rational drug design

  • Timothy Damron, MD
    Professor
    Radioprotectant strategies: pediatric growth plate. Treatment of Fractures in Pathology Bone, Reconstructive Alternatives: Limb-Sparing Sarcoma Surgery, Genetics of Pagetoid Osteosarcoma
  • Wenyi Feng, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Chromosomal DNA replication origins (location, timing and regulation), replication fork integrity and checkpoint regulation, genomic instability and chromosome fragility in both the yeast and human genome
  • Steven Hanes, PhD
    Emeritus
    Gene expression in development and disease, RNA pol II regulation, homeobox genes, prolyl isomerases
  • Jason Horton, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor

    Skeletal development, maturation and maintenance;  Mesenchymal stem cell biology;  Radiobiology of skeletal tissues; Radiosensitization of pediatric musculoskeletal sarcoma.

  • Ying Huang, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Oncogenic signaling in cellular transformation and apoptosis; tumor suppressor genes.
  • Tamara Jamaspishvili, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Dr Jamaspishvili is a Director of SUNY UpState PatholOgy REsearch Core & Digital Pathology (SUNY SPORE) located at the Department of Pathology. The Core mission is to provide efficient, high-quality histology and digital pathology services to internal and external researchers, including private sector companies and biopharma.

    Dr Tamara Jamaspishvili is a research pathologist, translational research scientist focusing on developing, evaluating, validating, and applying tissue-based prognostic and predictive biomarkers and models for improved disease prognostication and management of cancer patients. Dr Jamaspishvili conducts multi-disciplinary collaborative translational research projects with the goal to develop innovative strategies to advance biomarker assessment using quantitative digital pathology, computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI).  Dr Jamaspishvili has ongoing research interests in molecular and digital pathology of genitourinary cancers. She is now focusing on improving companion diagnostic biomarker testings for solid cancers in immuno-oncology using computer vision. She has ongoing collaborations with NCI/NIH and other national or international multi-disciplinary research groups. Dr Jamaspishvili and her team are open to academia-industry collaborations. 

  • Patricia Kane, PhD
    Distinguished Teaching Professor
    Vacuolar H+ATPases (structure, function, assembly and regulation), cellular pH homeostasis, cellular stress responses, protein sorting, genomics, yeast as a model system
  • Mobin Karimi, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Immunoreceptor signaling during development, homeostasis, and effector function of T cells and NK cells.
    • T lymphocytes for adoptive cell therapy against hematological cancer.
    • The role of the transcriptional regulator in alternative signal pathways to assess’ T cells cytotoxic function of hematological cancer cells
    • The role of adaptor molecule SLP-76 in hematological malignancies and bone marrow transplantation
    • The role of Tec family tyrosine kinases (ITK) and the activation of PLC-γ, Ca2+ mobilization, and ERK activation
  • William Kerr, PhD
    Professor

    My research is primarily focused on defining the role of SHIP1 in immunity, obesity, stem cell biology and cancer. This research has revealed that SHIP1 is at the nexus of signaling pathways that regulate: (1) hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell homeostasis, (2) terminal differentiation of myeloid cells, (3) acute BM graft rejection, (4) survival of T cells in the small intestine and (5) survival of hematologic cancer cells. More recently we developed SHIP1 and pan-SHIP1/2 inhibitors and showed they can expand stem cells in vivo, reverse obesity, eradicate certain cancers and boost tumor immunity. We are also attempting to better understand what LRBA does in immune cells. LRBA is a scaffold protein that coordinates intracellular vesicle trafficking with receptor signaling.

  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Bruce Knutson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    RNA polymerase I transcription (structure, assembly, regulation), nucleolar biology, macromolecular architecture, crosslinking, proteomics, bioinformatics, modeling, molecular genetics, biochemistry, model systems

  • Leszek Kotula, MD/PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cancer biology, cell signaling, the role of actin cytoskeleton in tumor progression, mouse models of cancer

  • Mira Krendel, PhD
    Professor
    Physiological functions of myosin motors and their roles in diabetic kidney disease and cancer
  • Andrzej Krol, PhD
    Professor

    Development of:

    • Extremely low-dose and high-resolution tomographic reconstruction methods in PET and SPECT
    • Advanced ultrafast PET detector
    • Advanced very high-sensitivity and high-spatial resolution brain PET scanner
    • Ultrafast laser-based betatron microfocal x-ray source for very high-resolution biomedical imaging
    • PET bioprobe for detection and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and other cancers
    • Advanced breast cancer detection methods in mammography
  • Vladimir Kuznetsov, PhD
    Professor

    Cancer systems biology, bioinformatics, big data and survival prediction analyses, predictive and personalized medicine, computational genome and transcriptome biology, non-B DNA structures, RNA:DNA hybrids, R-loops, G-quadruplexes, ncRNAs, clinical biomarker discovery and validation

  • Yamin Li, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Development of lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of small molecule drugs, proteins, and DNA/RNA for gene therapy, cancer immunotherapy, mRNA vaccines, etc.

  • Stewart Loh, PhD
    Professor

    Protein engineering, design, and folding

  • Hong Lu, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Nuclear receptors in regulation of hepatic gene expression and liver diseases
    • Progression of alcoholic/non-alcoholic fatty liver to steatohepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer
    • Development of liver-targeting prodrugs and liver-specific  delivery of genes/proteins
    • Liver-lung-dual-specific mRNA delivery for the treatment of ARDS and sepsis
  • Juntao Luo, PhD
    Professor

    Nanomedicine, drug delivery, cancer imaging and cancer treatment; gene delivery and gene therapy, protein/peptide delivery. biomaterials in tissue engineering; combinatorial chemistry and drug discovery; High throughput screening; microarrays. 

  • Kenneth Mann, PhD
    Professor
    Micro-mechanics of implant interfaces; damage evolution of joint replacements and biomaterials; in vivo models of tumor osteolysis and prediction of fracture risk; general orthopedic biomechanics.
  • Russell Matthews, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Role of glycoproteins in oncogenesis and brain development
  • Mehdi Mollapour, PhD
    Professor

    Role of molecular chaperone Hsp90 in cancers

    Kidney Cancer, Bladder Cancer, Breast Cancer

    Tuberous Sclerosis Complex syndrome (TSC)

    Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD)

     

  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Tarun Podder, PhD
    Professor
  • Jeffrey Pu, MD/PhD
    Clinical Associate Professor

    Pu’s laboratory is currently focusing on clonal bone marrow failure diseases translational research, small cell lymphocytic malignancy diseases combination target therapy research, cellular therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome study.

  • Jessica Ridilla, PhD
    Associate Professor
    • Regulation of actin filament polymerization
    • Mechanisms of actin-microtubule crosstalk
    • Role of actin and microtubules in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
    • Single-molecule super-resolution microscopy techniques (i.e. TIRF, STED, STORM).
     
  • Mark Schmitt, PhD
    Professor
    Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
  • M Saeed Sheikh, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Apoptotic signal transduction and cancer biology.
  • Brittany Simone, DO
    Assistant Professor

    Tumor metabolism and the use of metabolism-based therapies to improve response to radiation therapy in both clinical and preclinical settings.

  • Vladimir Sirotkin, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    Mechanisms of the actin cytoskeleton assembly and role of myosin-1 during endocytosis in fission yeast.
  • Steven Taffet, PhD
    Professor

    Investigate the role of Cx43 gap junctions and hemichannels in immunity

  • Christopher Turner, PhD
    Distinguished Professor
    Regulation of cell migration by focal adhesion adapter proteins and their role in cancer cell metastasis.
  • Richard Veenstra, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
  • Mariano Viapiano, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Brain cancer therapies; tumor microenvironment; tumor invasion; extracellular matrix; nano-therapeutics; immunotherapies

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

  • Stephan Wilkens, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Structure and Mechanism of Membrane Bound Transport Proteins
  • Richard JH Wojcikiewicz, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Intracellular signaling via InsP3 receptors and their regulation by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway and Bcl-2 family proteins.

  • Mark Woodford, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are a subset of molecular chaperones that function in all subcellular compartments both constitutively and in response to stress. The Hsp90 chaperone TRAP1 is primarily localized to mitochondria and controls both cellular metabolic reprogramming and mitochondrial apoptosis. TRAP1 upregulation facilitates growth and progression of many cancers by promoting glycolytic metabolism and antagonizing the mitochondrial permeability transition that precedes cell death. TRAP1 attenuation or inhibition induces apoptosis in cellular models of cancer, identifying TRAP1 as a potential therapeutic target in cancer.

Disorders of the Nervous System

Our research builds on current strengths in three areas: Neurobiology of Behavioral Disorders; Disorders of the Visual System; and Neural Injury, Neurodegeneration and Repair.

We have basic and clinical researchers with expertise in the neurosciences, molecular genetics and epigenetics, behavioral science and brain imaging as they relate to several behavioral disorders. These include ADHD, schizophrenia, autism, VCFS and FASD. Significant research is dedicated to retinal development and function, as well as practical treatments for blinding diseases. Work in neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, is growing.

  • David Auerbach, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Cellular, animal, and clinical approaches to investigate the susceptibility and mechanisms for electrical disturbances in both the brain (seizures) and heart (arrhythmias.)

    CURE Epilepsy Foundation: The Cameron Boyce Foundation and CURE Epilepsy Partner to Fund New SUDEP Research (1/2022)

    ABC News (Washington, DC): Victor and Libby Boyce raise epilepsy awareness in honor of late son Cameron (1/2022)

    Upstate News: Upstate Professor Auerbach receives International CURE Epilepsy award (11/2021)

    Upstate Health Link on Air and Upstate News: Scientist hopes study of electrical disturbances in the heart and brain could lead to new therapies (7/2020)

    Pediheart Podcast # 5: Antiseizure and AntiDepressants in LQTS (2/23/18)

    Eureka Alert: The heart-brain connection: The link between LQTS and seizures (7/29/16)

  • Alaji Bah, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Elucidate the structure, dynamics and functions of intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions (IDPs/IDRs) and their biological regulation by Post-translational modifications.

  • Marie Bechler, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Mechanisms that drive central nervous system myelin sheath formation, and how myelin contributes to CNS function in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disease 

  • William Brunken, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of brain and ocular development; the role of extracellular matrix in ocular development and disease. 

  • Blair Calancie, PhD
    Professor

    CNS plasticity after trauma; intraoperative electrophysiology.

  • Peter Calvert, PhD
    Professor
    Molecular mechanisms of protein transport and localization in retinal neurons; mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases
  • Xin Jie Chen, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Mitochondrial biology, stress signaling and aging-related degenerative diseases.

  • Andrew Craig, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    My research focuses on treatment and relapse of maladaptive behavior, impulsive decision making, and drug self-administration.

  • Stephen Faraone, PhD
    Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair of Research

    Prof. Faraone studies the nature and causes of mental disorders in childhood and has ongoing research in psychiatric genetics, psychopharmacology, with a current focus on applications of data driven computational models (DDCMs) including classical machine learning and deep learning. His ongoing DDCM projects are: 1) predict neuro-developmental disorders and test hypotheses about brain differences in the disorders; 2) predict disorders from genome-wide association data and to test hypotheses about epistasis from such data; 3) predict comorbid psychiatric and somatic conditions among patients with ADHD and 4) to predict response to medications that treat ADHD. He also has a research program to create and disseminate quality measures for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in adults.

    Stephen V. Faraone, PhD CV

  • Bart Farell, PhD
    Research Associate Professor
    Mechanisms of visual perception of 3-D position, motion, color and object shape, investigated by psychophysical methods.
  • George Fulk, PT, PhD, FAPTA
    Professor

    Dr. Fulk’s research focuses on identifying barriers to recovery and interventions to promote locomotor function and mobility poststroke. In particular examining the link between sleep disorders and its impact on recovery after stroke.

  • Stephen Glatt, PhD
    Professor

    Dr. Glatt is Director of the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab). The mission of the PsychGENe Lab is to develop and apply methods for finding the causes of mental health and mental illness. The vision of the lab is that we will discover those causes and use that information to design interventions that treat or prevent these disorders, or foster resilience to them. We are running numerous research projects aimed at finding the genes and environmental risk factors for a wide variety of disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and substance abuse disorders, among others. Our pipeline seeks to identify “risk genes” for these disorders by studying affected individuals and families and then to reveal how such genes alter brain biology leading to a vulnerability to mental illness.

    Stephen Glatt, PhD CV

  • Samuel Herberg, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Ocular tissue engineering to create biomimetic 3D hydrogel models of tissues affected in glaucoma.

  • Brian Howell, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The signal transduction events that regulate the functional organization of neurons in the brain, and the phenotypes caused by defects in the genes that encode these signaling molecules.
  • Huaiyu Hu, PhD
    Professor

    Mechanisms of brain malformations and retinal degeneration.  

  • Patricia Kane, PhD
    Distinguished Teaching Professor
    Vacuolar H+ATPases (structure, function, assembly and regulation), cellular pH homeostasis, cellular stress responses, protein sorting, genomics, yeast as a model system
  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Yamin Li, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Development of lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of small molecule drugs, proteins, and DNA/RNA for gene therapy, cancer immunotherapy, mRNA vaccines, etc.

  • Paul Massa, PhD
    Professor

    Neuroimmunology: Regulation of genes involved in innate immunity and chronic inflammation in the CNS

    Neurovirology: CNS-specific mechanisms involved in viral neurotropis, neuroinvasion, persistence, inflammation and anti-viral state.

    Neurodegeneration: Neuron-specific regulation of apoptotic genes by NF-kappa B and mechanisms regulating CNS-specific mitochondrial bioenergetics.

  • Russell Matthews, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Role of glycoproteins in oncogenesis and brain development
  • Frank Middleton, PhD
    Professor
    • Genetic, epigenetic, and neuroanatomical basis of neurological and psychiatric disorders
    • Basal ganglia and cerebellar circuitry in normal and disease states
    • Neural-immune and gut-brain interactions
    • Machine learning approaches for biomarker discovery
    • Next generation sequencing for multiomic data analysis (genome, transcriptome, microbiome, methylome) 
  • Brad Motter, PhD
    Research Associate Professor Emeritus
    Visual Neurophysiology; Visual Attention; Visual Search Behavior
  • Eric Olson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

    Lissencephaly / neuronal migration disorders; Dendritogenesis and early cortical wiring; Reelin-Dab1 signaling; Adaptor proteins; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;  Intellectual disability

  • Donna Osterhout, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Biology of oligodendroglia and myelin formation during development, remyelination and repair in spinal cord injury and MS

  • Francesca Pignoni, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila

  • Jessica Ridilla, PhD
    Associate Professor
    • Regulation of actin filament polymerization
    • Mechanisms of actin-microtubule crosstalk
    • Role of actin and microtubules in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
    • Single-molecule super-resolution microscopy techniques (i.e. TIRF, STED, STORM).
     
  • Eduardo Solessio, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Photoreceptor electrophysiology and visual behavior.

  • Daniel Tso, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Neuronal mechanisms of visual perception, studied through physiological, anatomical and functional imaging techniques. Adult cortical plasticity.

  • Mary Lou Vallano, PhD
    Professor
    Neuronal survival and development.
  • Richard Veenstra, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
  • Mariano Viapiano, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Brain cancer therapies; tumor microenvironment; tumor invasion; extracellular matrix; nano-therapeutics; immunotherapies

  • Andrea Viczian, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.

  • Cynthia Weickert, PhD
    Professor

    I research the Neurobiology of Mental Illness with a focus on Schizophrenia. My research also involves projects on Primate Neurogenesis, Neuroinflammation, and Molecular Human Brain Development.

  • Thomas Weickert, PhD
    Sr. Research Scientist

    Our Clinical Research Laboratory uses molecular neurobiological findings to guide our research using brain stimulation techniques and the novel application of existing medications as add-on therapy to antipsychotics to improve thinking ability and reduce symptom severity in people with schizophrenia.

  • Stephan Wilkens, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Structure and Mechanism of Membrane Bound Transport Proteins
  • Richard JH Wojcikiewicz, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Intracellular signaling via InsP3 receptors and their regulation by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway and Bcl-2 family proteins.

  • Li-Ru Zhao, PhD
    Professor

    Brain plasticity; molecular, cellular and functional mechanisms of brain repair in traumatic brain injury, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and CADASIL. Pathological mechanisms underlying the development and progression of brain injury, neurodegenerative and genetic diseases.

  • Sijun Zhu, MD, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Genetic mechanisms of Drosophila neural stem cell specification and sub-cellular specific targeting of dendrites.

  • Michael Zuber, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.

Infectious Diseases

Our program focuses on three areas: host-pathogen interactions; global health and emerging pathogens; and animal model development.

Our mission is to share our expertise and resources worldwide to conduct research and develop products to promote global health, such as our work at an NIH-funded clinic in Kenya. On campus, the Center for SCID-hu Mouse Models is a unique facility created to foster interdisciplinary scholarship and research using the humanized severe combined immunodeficient (SCID-hu) mouse.

  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • Joseph Domachowske, MD
    Professor
    Pneumovirus pathogenesis.
  • Thomas Duncan, PhD
    Associate Professor

    F-type ATP synthases; bioenergetics of pathogenic bacteria; enzymology; structural biology, membrane protein function.

  • Timothy Endy, MD, MPH
    Professor Emeritus
    Understanding the epidemiology and pathogenesis of viral hemorrhagic and encephalitic arboviruses and host-vector interactions.
  • William Kerr, PhD
    Professor

    My research is primarily focused on defining the role of SHIP1 in immunity, obesity, stem cell biology and cancer. This research has revealed that SHIP1 is at the nexus of signaling pathways that regulate: (1) hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell homeostasis, (2) terminal differentiation of myeloid cells, (3) acute BM graft rejection, (4) survival of T cells in the small intestine and (5) survival of hematologic cancer cells. More recently we developed SHIP1 and pan-SHIP1/2 inhibitors and showed they can expand stem cells in vivo, reverse obesity, eradicate certain cancers and boost tumor immunity. We are also attempting to better understand what LRBA does in immune cells. LRBA is a scaffold protein that coordinates intracellular vesicle trafficking with receptor signaling.

  • Yamin Li, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Development of lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of small molecule drugs, proteins, and DNA/RNA for gene therapy, cancer immunotherapy, mRNA vaccines, etc.

  • Stewart Loh, PhD
    Professor

    Protein engineering, design, and folding

  • Paul Massa, PhD
    Professor

    Neuroimmunology: Regulation of genes involved in innate immunity and chronic inflammation in the CNS

    Neurovirology: CNS-specific mechanisms involved in viral neurotropis, neuroinvasion, persistence, inflammation and anti-viral state.

    Neurodegeneration: Neuron-specific regulation of apoptotic genes by NF-kappa B and mechanisms regulating CNS-specific mitochondrial bioenergetics.

  • Jennifer Moffat, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Varicella zoster pathogenesis.
  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Steven Taffet, PhD
    Professor

    Investigate the role of Cx43 gap junctions and hemichannels in immunity

  • Adam Waickman, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    My group is dedicated to understanding how the interactions between infectious organisms and the human immune system result in pathogenesis and/or durable immunity. Our work is primarily focused on viral pathogens, and leverages "next generation" technologies such as single cell RNA sequencing, multi-parametric flow cytometry, and computational modeling.

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

  • Gary Winslow, PhD
    Research Professor Emeritus

    Host defense against intracellular pathogens, B cell responses, immunological memory

Diabetes/Metabolic Disorders/Cardiovascular Diseases

These diseases share basic molecular and cellular mechanisms. Our interdisciplinary approach brings together existing strengths in biochemical signaling, electrical signaling, arrhythmogenesis, high-resolution imaging (both in vitro and in vivo), developmental cell biology and environmental science.

A critical goal is to develop therapeutic approaches to reverse—and prevent—degenerative changes that develop with these diseases. Cell migration, tissue remodeling, immune surveillance, wound repair, angiogenesis and a better understanding of metabolic pathways are vital and under study.

  • Jeffrey Amack, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Genetics and cell biology of organ morphogenesis during embryonic development.
  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • David Auerbach, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Cellular, animal, and clinical approaches to investigate the susceptibility and mechanisms for electrical disturbances in both the brain (seizures) and heart (arrhythmias.)

    CURE Epilepsy Foundation: The Cameron Boyce Foundation and CURE Epilepsy Partner to Fund New SUDEP Research (1/2022)

    ABC News (Washington, DC): Victor and Libby Boyce raise epilepsy awareness in honor of late son Cameron (1/2022)

    Upstate News: Upstate Professor Auerbach receives International CURE Epilepsy award (11/2021)

    Upstate Health Link on Air and Upstate News: Scientist hopes study of electrical disturbances in the heart and brain could lead to new therapies (7/2020)

    Pediheart Podcast # 5: Antiseizure and AntiDepressants in LQTS (2/23/18)

    Eureka Alert: The heart-brain connection: The link between LQTS and seizures (7/29/16)

  • Scott Blystone, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.
  • Xin Jie Chen, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Mitochondrial biology, stress signaling and aging-related degenerative diseases.

  • Jason Horton, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor

    Skeletal development, maturation and maintenance;  Mesenchymal stem cell biology;  Radiobiology of skeletal tissues; Radiosensitization of pediatric musculoskeletal sarcoma.

  • Patricia Kane, PhD
    Distinguished Teaching Professor
    Vacuolar H+ATPases (structure, function, assembly and regulation), cellular pH homeostasis, cellular stress responses, protein sorting, genomics, yeast as a model system
  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Mira Krendel, PhD
    Professor
    Physiological functions of myosin motors and their roles in diabetic kidney disease and cancer
  • Yamin Li, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Development of lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of small molecule drugs, proteins, and DNA/RNA for gene therapy, cancer immunotherapy, mRNA vaccines, etc.

  • Arkadii Perzov, PhD
    Professor
    Biophysical mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias; fluorescence imaging.
  • David Pruyne, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Understanding how muscle cells organize their actin cytoskeleton into efficient contractile units, using a combination of in vitro biochemistry, and analysis of cultured muscle cells and genetic models C. elegans and zebrafish.

  • Jean Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Analysis of the assembly of the actin/myosin cytoskeleton in muscle and non-muscle cells.
  • Joseph Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Cellular analysis of the formation of myofibrils, stress fibers, and cleavage furrows in living cells.
  • Mark Schmitt, PhD
    Professor
    Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
  • Christopher Turner, PhD
    Distinguished Professor
    Regulation of cell migration by focal adhesion adapter proteins and their role in cancer cell metastasis.
  • Norifumi Urao, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Mechanism of wound healing and tissue repair/bone marrow stem cell reactivity to stress and injury/oxidative stress and epigenetic gene regulation

  • Richard Veenstra, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
  • Stephan Wilkens, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Structure and Mechanism of Membrane Bound Transport Proteins
  • Richard JH Wojcikiewicz, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Intracellular signaling via InsP3 receptors and their regulation by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway and Bcl-2 family proteins.

  • Mark Woodford, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are a subset of molecular chaperones that function in all subcellular compartments both constitutively and in response to stress. The Hsp90 chaperone TRAP1 is primarily localized to mitochondria and controls both cellular metabolic reprogramming and mitochondrial apoptosis. TRAP1 upregulation facilitates growth and progression of many cancers by promoting glycolytic metabolism and antagonizing the mitochondrial permeability transition that precedes cell death. TRAP1 attenuation or inhibition induces apoptosis in cellular models of cancer, identifying TRAP1 as a potential therapeutic target in cancer.

Cell Signaling

This research area investigates the signals emitted from a variety of cellular receptors following the binding of ligands. These receptors fall into several classes, controlling various cellular responses including signal transduction, cell migration, and cytoskeletal organization. The regulation and function of cytoskeletal elements and their interaction with cell surface receptors is a primary focus of several laboratories. Other areas of emphasis are the mechanism and consequences of calcium ion mobilization, signaling in neurons, light transduction, organogenesis, apoptosis, ion channels and steroid hormone action.

  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • Alaji Bah, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Elucidate the structure, dynamics and functions of intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions (IDPs/IDRs) and their biological regulation by Post-translational modifications.

  • Marie Bechler, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Mechanisms that drive central nervous system myelin sheath formation, and how myelin contributes to CNS function in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disease 

  • Scott Blystone, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.
  • Dimitra Bourboulia, PhD
    Associate Professor
    • Extracellular kinase signaling
    • Extracellular chaperone function 
    • Targeting extracellular signaling networks in urological cancers
  • William Brunken, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of brain and ocular development; the role of extracellular matrix in ocular development and disease. 

  • Peter Calvert, PhD
    Professor
    Molecular mechanisms of protein transport and localization in retinal neurons; mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases
  • Gary Chan, PhD
    Professor

    Human cytomegalovirus pathogenesis and persistence. 

  • Michael Cosgrove, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of chromatin, Mixed Lineage Leukemia, Structural Biology, Enzymology, Biophysical Chemistry, Rational drug design

  • Brian Howell, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The signal transduction events that regulate the functional organization of neurons in the brain, and the phenotypes caused by defects in the genes that encode these signaling molecules.
  • Huaiyu Hu, PhD
    Professor

    Mechanisms of brain malformations and retinal degeneration.  

  • Ying Huang, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Oncogenic signaling in cellular transformation and apoptosis; tumor suppressor genes.
  • Mobin Karimi, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Immunoreceptor signaling during development, homeostasis, and effector function of T cells and NK cells.
    • T lymphocytes for adoptive cell therapy against hematological cancer.
    • The role of the transcriptional regulator in alternative signal pathways to assess’ T cells cytotoxic function of hematological cancer cells
    • The role of adaptor molecule SLP-76 in hematological malignancies and bone marrow transplantation
    • The role of Tec family tyrosine kinases (ITK) and the activation of PLC-γ, Ca2+ mobilization, and ERK activation
  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Bruce Knutson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    RNA polymerase I transcription (structure, assembly, regulation), nucleolar biology, macromolecular architecture, crosslinking, proteomics, bioinformatics, modeling, molecular genetics, biochemistry, model systems

  • Leszek Kotula, MD/PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cancer biology, cell signaling, the role of actin cytoskeleton in tumor progression, mouse models of cancer

  • Paul Massa, PhD
    Professor

    Neuroimmunology: Regulation of genes involved in innate immunity and chronic inflammation in the CNS

    Neurovirology: CNS-specific mechanisms involved in viral neurotropis, neuroinvasion, persistence, inflammation and anti-viral state.

    Neurodegeneration: Neuron-specific regulation of apoptotic genes by NF-kappa B and mechanisms regulating CNS-specific mitochondrial bioenergetics.

  • Mehdi Mollapour, PhD
    Professor

    Role of molecular chaperone Hsp90 in cancers

    Kidney Cancer, Bladder Cancer, Breast Cancer

    Tuberous Sclerosis Complex syndrome (TSC)

    Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD)

     

  • Eric Olson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

    Lissencephaly / neuronal migration disorders; Dendritogenesis and early cortical wiring; Reelin-Dab1 signaling; Adaptor proteins; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;  Intellectual disability

  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Francesca Pignoni, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila

  • Jeffrey Pu, MD/PhD
    Clinical Associate Professor

    Pu’s laboratory is currently focusing on clonal bone marrow failure diseases translational research, small cell lymphocytic malignancy diseases combination target therapy research, cellular therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome study.

  • Jessica Ridilla, PhD
    Associate Professor
    • Regulation of actin filament polymerization
    • Mechanisms of actin-microtubule crosstalk
    • Role of actin and microtubules in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
    • Single-molecule super-resolution microscopy techniques (i.e. TIRF, STED, STORM).
     
  • Mark Schmitt, PhD
    Professor
    Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
  • M Saeed Sheikh, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Apoptotic signal transduction and cancer biology.
  • Brittany Simone, DO
    Assistant Professor

    Tumor metabolism and the use of metabolism-based therapies to improve response to radiation therapy in both clinical and preclinical settings.

  • Vladimir Sirotkin, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    Mechanisms of the actin cytoskeleton assembly and role of myosin-1 during endocytosis in fission yeast.
  • Steven Taffet, PhD
    Professor

    Investigate the role of Cx43 gap junctions and hemichannels in immunity

  • Christopher Turner, PhD
    Distinguished Professor
    Regulation of cell migration by focal adhesion adapter proteins and their role in cancer cell metastasis.
  • Mary Lou Vallano, PhD
    Professor
    Neuronal survival and development.
  • Richard Veenstra, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
  • Mariano Viapiano, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Brain cancer therapies; tumor microenvironment; tumor invasion; extracellular matrix; nano-therapeutics; immunotherapies

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

  • Richard JH Wojcikiewicz, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Intracellular signaling via InsP3 receptors and their regulation by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway and Bcl-2 family proteins.

  • Mark Woodford, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are a subset of molecular chaperones that function in all subcellular compartments both constitutively and in response to stress. The Hsp90 chaperone TRAP1 is primarily localized to mitochondria and controls both cellular metabolic reprogramming and mitochondrial apoptosis. TRAP1 upregulation facilitates growth and progression of many cancers by promoting glycolytic metabolism and antagonizing the mitochondrial permeability transition that precedes cell death. TRAP1 attenuation or inhibition induces apoptosis in cellular models of cancer, identifying TRAP1 as a potential therapeutic target in cancer.

  • Li-Ru Zhao, PhD
    Professor

    Brain plasticity; molecular, cellular and functional mechanisms of brain repair in traumatic brain injury, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and CADASIL. Pathological mechanisms underlying the development and progression of brain injury, neurodegenerative and genetic diseases.

Cytoskeleton

In addition to providing the structural support for cells, dynamic remodeling of the cytoskeleton is required for numerous cellular events including migration, mitosis, exocytosis and endocytosis, adhesion, growth control, and others.

Researchers at Upstate are working to understand the regulation and function of the three primary cytoskeletal networks: intermediate filaments, microtubules, and actin as well as the molecular motors, adaptor proteins, activation pathways, and inherent biochemical properties involved in cytoskeletal regulation and function.

Scientific approaches to cytoskeletal study vary greatly and include molecular cloning and mutagenesis, model organisms, light, video, electron, and fluorescent microscopy, protein biochemistry and numerous in vitro assays of cellular behavior.

  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • Scott Blystone, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.
  • Ying Huang, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Oncogenic signaling in cellular transformation and apoptosis; tumor suppressor genes.
  • Leszek Kotula, MD/PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cancer biology, cell signaling, the role of actin cytoskeleton in tumor progression, mouse models of cancer

  • Mira Krendel, PhD
    Professor
    Physiological functions of myosin motors and their roles in diabetic kidney disease and cancer
  • Eric Olson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

    Lissencephaly / neuronal migration disorders; Dendritogenesis and early cortical wiring; Reelin-Dab1 signaling; Adaptor proteins; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;  Intellectual disability

  • David Pruyne, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Understanding how muscle cells organize their actin cytoskeleton into efficient contractile units, using a combination of in vitro biochemistry, and analysis of cultured muscle cells and genetic models C. elegans and zebrafish.

  • Jessica Ridilla, PhD
    Associate Professor
    • Regulation of actin filament polymerization
    • Mechanisms of actin-microtubule crosstalk
    • Role of actin and microtubules in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
    • Single-molecule super-resolution microscopy techniques (i.e. TIRF, STED, STORM).
     
  • Jean Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Analysis of the assembly of the actin/myosin cytoskeleton in muscle and non-muscle cells.
  • Joseph Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Cellular analysis of the formation of myofibrils, stress fibers, and cleavage furrows in living cells.
  • Vladimir Sirotkin, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    Mechanisms of the actin cytoskeleton assembly and role of myosin-1 during endocytosis in fission yeast.
  • Christopher Turner, PhD
    Distinguished Professor
    Regulation of cell migration by focal adhesion adapter proteins and their role in cancer cell metastasis.

Developmental Biology

The control of developmental events is tightly linked to cell adhesion, cellular receptor signaling, and cytoskeletal organization. Investigators use various systems approaches to understand the contributions of signaling and structural proteins during development, including cultured cells and transgenic animals. Particular strengths include studies of vascular cells and angiogenesis, retinal development, cardiac and skeletal muscle cell differentiation, formation of left-right asymmetry during embryogenesis, and development of the nervous system.

  • Jeffrey Amack, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Genetics and cell biology of organ morphogenesis during embryonic development.
  • Marie Bechler, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Mechanisms that drive central nervous system myelin sheath formation, and how myelin contributes to CNS function in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disease 

  • Scott Blystone, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.
  • William Brunken, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of brain and ocular development; the role of extracellular matrix in ocular development and disease. 

  • Steven Hanes, PhD
    Emeritus
    Gene expression in development and disease, RNA pol II regulation, homeobox genes, prolyl isomerases
  • Jason Horton, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor

    Skeletal development, maturation and maintenance;  Mesenchymal stem cell biology;  Radiobiology of skeletal tissues; Radiosensitization of pediatric musculoskeletal sarcoma.

  • Brian Howell, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The signal transduction events that regulate the functional organization of neurons in the brain, and the phenotypes caused by defects in the genes that encode these signaling molecules.
  • Huaiyu Hu, PhD
    Professor

    Mechanisms of brain malformations and retinal degeneration.  

  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Mira Krendel, PhD
    Professor
    Physiological functions of myosin motors and their roles in diabetic kidney disease and cancer
  • Hong Lu, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Nuclear receptors in regulation of hepatic gene expression and liver diseases
    • Progression of alcoholic/non-alcoholic fatty liver to steatohepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer
    • Development of liver-targeting prodrugs and liver-specific  delivery of genes/proteins
    • Liver-lung-dual-specific mRNA delivery for the treatment of ARDS and sepsis
  • Paul Massa, PhD
    Professor

    Neuroimmunology: Regulation of genes involved in innate immunity and chronic inflammation in the CNS

    Neurovirology: CNS-specific mechanisms involved in viral neurotropis, neuroinvasion, persistence, inflammation and anti-viral state.

    Neurodegeneration: Neuron-specific regulation of apoptotic genes by NF-kappa B and mechanisms regulating CNS-specific mitochondrial bioenergetics.

  • Russell Matthews, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Role of glycoproteins in oncogenesis and brain development
  • Frank Middleton, PhD
    Professor
    • Genetic, epigenetic, and neuroanatomical basis of neurological and psychiatric disorders
    • Basal ganglia and cerebellar circuitry in normal and disease states
    • Neural-immune and gut-brain interactions
    • Machine learning approaches for biomarker discovery
    • Next generation sequencing for multiomic data analysis (genome, transcriptome, microbiome, methylome) 
  • Megan Oest, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Radiation damage to bone and progenitor cells; mechanical regulation of bone cell behavior; osteoclast lineage cells; orthopedic tissue engineering.

  • Eric Olson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

    Lissencephaly / neuronal migration disorders; Dendritogenesis and early cortical wiring; Reelin-Dab1 signaling; Adaptor proteins; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;  Intellectual disability

  • Donna Osterhout, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Biology of oligodendroglia and myelin formation during development, remyelination and repair in spinal cord injury and MS

  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Francesca Pignoni, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila

  • David Pruyne, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Understanding how muscle cells organize their actin cytoskeleton into efficient contractile units, using a combination of in vitro biochemistry, and analysis of cultured muscle cells and genetic models C. elegans and zebrafish.

  • Jeffrey Pu, MD/PhD
    Clinical Associate Professor

    Pu’s laboratory is currently focusing on clonal bone marrow failure diseases translational research, small cell lymphocytic malignancy diseases combination target therapy research, cellular therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome study.

  • Jean Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Analysis of the assembly of the actin/myosin cytoskeleton in muscle and non-muscle cells.
  • Joseph Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Cellular analysis of the formation of myofibrils, stress fibers, and cleavage furrows in living cells.
  • Christopher Turner, PhD
    Distinguished Professor
    Regulation of cell migration by focal adhesion adapter proteins and their role in cancer cell metastasis.
  • Richard Veenstra, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
  • Andrea Viczian, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.

  • Cynthia Weickert, PhD
    Professor

    I research the Neurobiology of Mental Illness with a focus on Schizophrenia. My research also involves projects on Primate Neurogenesis, Neuroinflammation, and Molecular Human Brain Development.

  • Sijun Zhu, MD, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Genetic mechanisms of Drosophila neural stem cell specification and sub-cellular specific targeting of dendrites.

  • Michael Zuber, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.

Genetics of Disease

  • Jeffrey Amack, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Genetics and cell biology of organ morphogenesis during embryonic development.
  • David Auerbach, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Cellular, animal, and clinical approaches to investigate the susceptibility and mechanisms for electrical disturbances in both the brain (seizures) and heart (arrhythmias.)

    CURE Epilepsy Foundation: The Cameron Boyce Foundation and CURE Epilepsy Partner to Fund New SUDEP Research (1/2022)

    ABC News (Washington, DC): Victor and Libby Boyce raise epilepsy awareness in honor of late son Cameron (1/2022)

    Upstate News: Upstate Professor Auerbach receives International CURE Epilepsy award (11/2021)

    Upstate Health Link on Air and Upstate News: Scientist hopes study of electrical disturbances in the heart and brain could lead to new therapies (7/2020)

    Pediheart Podcast # 5: Antiseizure and AntiDepressants in LQTS (2/23/18)

    Eureka Alert: The heart-brain connection: The link between LQTS and seizures (7/29/16)

  • Xin Jie Chen, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Mitochondrial biology, stress signaling and aging-related degenerative diseases.

  • Wenyi Feng, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Chromosomal DNA replication origins (location, timing and regulation), replication fork integrity and checkpoint regulation, genomic instability and chromosome fragility in both the yeast and human genome
  • Stephen Glatt, PhD
    Professor

    Dr. Glatt is Director of the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab). The mission of the PsychGENe Lab is to develop and apply methods for finding the causes of mental health and mental illness. The vision of the lab is that we will discover those causes and use that information to design interventions that treat or prevent these disorders, or foster resilience to them. We are running numerous research projects aimed at finding the genes and environmental risk factors for a wide variety of disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and substance abuse disorders, among others. Our pipeline seeks to identify “risk genes” for these disorders by studying affected individuals and families and then to reveal how such genes alter brain biology leading to a vulnerability to mental illness.

    Stephen Glatt, PhD CV

  • Steven Hanes, PhD
    Emeritus
    Gene expression in development and disease, RNA pol II regulation, homeobox genes, prolyl isomerases
  • Jason Horton, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor

    Skeletal development, maturation and maintenance;  Mesenchymal stem cell biology;  Radiobiology of skeletal tissues; Radiosensitization of pediatric musculoskeletal sarcoma.

  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Bruce Knutson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    RNA polymerase I transcription (structure, assembly, regulation), nucleolar biology, macromolecular architecture, crosslinking, proteomics, bioinformatics, modeling, molecular genetics, biochemistry, model systems

  • Vladimir Kuznetsov, PhD
    Professor

    Cancer systems biology, bioinformatics, big data and survival prediction analyses, predictive and personalized medicine, computational genome and transcriptome biology, non-B DNA structures, RNA:DNA hybrids, R-loops, G-quadruplexes, ncRNAs, clinical biomarker discovery and validation

  • Chunyu Liu, PhD
    Professor

    Dr. Liu’s laboratory is studying how genetic variants impact gene expression, protein abundance and various levels of regulatory networks, ultimate influence the risks of developing major psychiatric disorders, treatment responses, as well as related psychological, behavioral traits. Funded by NIH, his current projects are about regulatory networks in genomics, epigenomics, and proteomics of postmortem brains. Multiple advanced sequencing-based technologies, cell biology and bioinformatics methods are commonly used in this lab to facilitate discovery of risk genes and pathways.

    Chunyu Liu , PhD CV

  • Frank Middleton, PhD
    Professor
    • Genetic, epigenetic, and neuroanatomical basis of neurological and psychiatric disorders
    • Basal ganglia and cerebellar circuitry in normal and disease states
    • Neural-immune and gut-brain interactions
    • Machine learning approaches for biomarker discovery
    • Next generation sequencing for multiomic data analysis (genome, transcriptome, microbiome, methylome) 
  • Eric Olson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

    Lissencephaly / neuronal migration disorders; Dendritogenesis and early cortical wiring; Reelin-Dab1 signaling; Adaptor proteins; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;  Intellectual disability

  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Francesca Pignoni, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila

  • Jeffrey Pu, MD/PhD
    Clinical Associate Professor

    Pu’s laboratory is currently focusing on clonal bone marrow failure diseases translational research, small cell lymphocytic malignancy diseases combination target therapy research, cellular therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome study.

  • Mark Schmitt, PhD
    Professor
    Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
  • M Saeed Sheikh, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Apoptotic signal transduction and cancer biology.
  • Andrea Viczian, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics

With the genomes of many model organisms as well as humans completely sequenced, the challenge of the future is to relate sequence information to biological function and develop new ways to manipulate genomes for both investigative and therapeutic purposes. To stay at the forefront of this second renaissance in genetics, SUNY Upstate has collected necessary expertise and equipment, including: state-of-the-art facilities for whole genome genetic interaction analysis, protein microarrays and sensitive mass-spectrometry for protein complex analysis, DNA microarrays for gene expression and human linkage analysis, and the computer core facilities and bioinformatics expertise to analyze the resulting large datasets. As a result, our investigators are internationally recognized for contributions in the areas of transgenic animals, gene expression systems and gene replacement strategies, gene function discovery, human gene disease mapping and discovery, and genetic network discovery. Approaches include site-specific recombinases, viral gene delivery vectors, microarray analysis, proteomics, whole genome protein interaction analysis, and mass spectrometry.
  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • Alaji Bah, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Elucidate the structure, dynamics and functions of intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions (IDPs/IDRs) and their biological regulation by Post-translational modifications.

  • Wenyi Feng, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Chromosomal DNA replication origins (location, timing and regulation), replication fork integrity and checkpoint regulation, genomic instability and chromosome fragility in both the yeast and human genome
  • Diana Gilligan, MD/PhD
    Associate Professor

    My research includes studies of the role of microRNA in development of leukemia.

  • Stephen Glatt, PhD
    Professor

    Dr. Glatt is Director of the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab). The mission of the PsychGENe Lab is to develop and apply methods for finding the causes of mental health and mental illness. The vision of the lab is that we will discover those causes and use that information to design interventions that treat or prevent these disorders, or foster resilience to them. We are running numerous research projects aimed at finding the genes and environmental risk factors for a wide variety of disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and substance abuse disorders, among others. Our pipeline seeks to identify “risk genes” for these disorders by studying affected individuals and families and then to reveal how such genes alter brain biology leading to a vulnerability to mental illness.

    Stephen Glatt, PhD CV

  • Steven Hanes, PhD
    Emeritus
    Gene expression in development and disease, RNA pol II regulation, homeobox genes, prolyl isomerases
  • Ying Huang, MD, PhD
    Professor
    Oncogenic signaling in cellular transformation and apoptosis; tumor suppressor genes.
  • Patricia Kane, PhD
    Distinguished Teaching Professor
    Vacuolar H+ATPases (structure, function, assembly and regulation), cellular pH homeostasis, cellular stress responses, protein sorting, genomics, yeast as a model system
  • Mobin Karimi, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Immunoreceptor signaling during development, homeostasis, and effector function of T cells and NK cells.
    • T lymphocytes for adoptive cell therapy against hematological cancer.
    • The role of the transcriptional regulator in alternative signal pathways to assess’ T cells cytotoxic function of hematological cancer cells
    • The role of adaptor molecule SLP-76 in hematological malignancies and bone marrow transplantation
    • The role of Tec family tyrosine kinases (ITK) and the activation of PLC-γ, Ca2+ mobilization, and ERK activation
  • Bruce Knutson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    RNA polymerase I transcription (structure, assembly, regulation), nucleolar biology, macromolecular architecture, crosslinking, proteomics, bioinformatics, modeling, molecular genetics, biochemistry, model systems

  • Vladimir Kuznetsov, PhD
    Professor

    Cancer systems biology, bioinformatics, big data and survival prediction analyses, predictive and personalized medicine, computational genome and transcriptome biology, non-B DNA structures, RNA:DNA hybrids, R-loops, G-quadruplexes, ncRNAs, clinical biomarker discovery and validation

  • Chunyu Liu, PhD
    Professor

    Dr. Liu’s laboratory is studying how genetic variants impact gene expression, protein abundance and various levels of regulatory networks, ultimate influence the risks of developing major psychiatric disorders, treatment responses, as well as related psychological, behavioral traits. Funded by NIH, his current projects are about regulatory networks in genomics, epigenomics, and proteomics of postmortem brains. Multiple advanced sequencing-based technologies, cell biology and bioinformatics methods are commonly used in this lab to facilitate discovery of risk genes and pathways.

    Chunyu Liu , PhD CV

  • Stewart Loh, PhD
    Professor

    Protein engineering, design, and folding

  • Hong Lu, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Nuclear receptors in regulation of hepatic gene expression and liver diseases
    • Progression of alcoholic/non-alcoholic fatty liver to steatohepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and liver cancer
    • Development of liver-targeting prodrugs and liver-specific  delivery of genes/proteins
    • Liver-lung-dual-specific mRNA delivery for the treatment of ARDS and sepsis
  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Arkadii Perzov, PhD
    Professor
    Biophysical mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias; fluorescence imaging.
  • Jeffrey Pu, MD/PhD
    Clinical Associate Professor

    Pu’s laboratory is currently focusing on clonal bone marrow failure diseases translational research, small cell lymphocytic malignancy diseases combination target therapy research, cellular therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome study.

  • Mark Schmitt, PhD
    Professor
    Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

  • Cynthia Weickert, PhD
    Professor

    I research the Neurobiology of Mental Illness with a focus on Schizophrenia. My research also involves projects on Primate Neurogenesis, Neuroinflammation, and Molecular Human Brain Development.

  • Richard JH Wojcikiewicz, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Intracellular signaling via InsP3 receptors and their regulation by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway and Bcl-2 family proteins.

  • Michael Zuber, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.

Immunology

Immunology research at SUNY Upstate covers a broad range of topics, with the central theme being the understanding of how the immune system prevents or causes disease pathogenesis. Studies include how cells of the immune system fight pathogens; how microbes evade immunity; how the immune system becomes activated and destroys self tissues (autoimmunity); and how dioxin and estrogen affect cellular development of the immune system. Investigators use animal models and humans to study T cells, B cells, and macrophages in human diseases.

  • Scott Blystone, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.
  • Gary Chan, PhD
    Professor

    Human cytomegalovirus pathogenesis and persistence. 

  • Joseph Domachowske, MD
    Professor
    Pneumovirus pathogenesis.
  • Mobin Karimi, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Immunoreceptor signaling during development, homeostasis, and effector function of T cells and NK cells.
    • T lymphocytes for adoptive cell therapy against hematological cancer.
    • The role of the transcriptional regulator in alternative signal pathways to assess’ T cells cytotoxic function of hematological cancer cells
    • The role of adaptor molecule SLP-76 in hematological malignancies and bone marrow transplantation
    • The role of Tec family tyrosine kinases (ITK) and the activation of PLC-γ, Ca2+ mobilization, and ERK activation
  • William Kerr, PhD
    Professor

    My research is primarily focused on defining the role of SHIP1 in immunity, obesity, stem cell biology and cancer. This research has revealed that SHIP1 is at the nexus of signaling pathways that regulate: (1) hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell homeostasis, (2) terminal differentiation of myeloid cells, (3) acute BM graft rejection, (4) survival of T cells in the small intestine and (5) survival of hematologic cancer cells. More recently we developed SHIP1 and pan-SHIP1/2 inhibitors and showed they can expand stem cells in vivo, reverse obesity, eradicate certain cancers and boost tumor immunity. We are also attempting to better understand what LRBA does in immune cells. LRBA is a scaffold protein that coordinates intracellular vesicle trafficking with receptor signaling.

  • Yamin Li, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Development of lipid nanoparticles for the delivery of small molecule drugs, proteins, and DNA/RNA for gene therapy, cancer immunotherapy, mRNA vaccines, etc.

  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Jeffrey Pu, MD/PhD
    Clinical Associate Professor

    Pu’s laboratory is currently focusing on clonal bone marrow failure diseases translational research, small cell lymphocytic malignancy diseases combination target therapy research, cellular therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome study.

  • Steven Taffet, PhD
    Professor

    Investigate the role of Cx43 gap junctions and hemichannels in immunity

  • Norifumi Urao, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Mechanism of wound healing and tissue repair/bone marrow stem cell reactivity to stress and injury/oxidative stress and epigenetic gene regulation

  • Adam Waickman, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    My group is dedicated to understanding how the interactions between infectious organisms and the human immune system result in pathogenesis and/or durable immunity. Our work is primarily focused on viral pathogens, and leverages "next generation" technologies such as single cell RNA sequencing, multi-parametric flow cytometry, and computational modeling.

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

  • Cynthia Weickert, PhD
    Professor

    I research the Neurobiology of Mental Illness with a focus on Schizophrenia. My research also involves projects on Primate Neurogenesis, Neuroinflammation, and Molecular Human Brain Development.

  • Gary Winslow, PhD
    Research Professor Emeritus

    Host defense against intracellular pathogens, B cell responses, immunological memory

Membrane Biology and Biophysics

Membranes and membrane proteins play central roles in signaling, compartmentalization, motility, and energy conversion in all cells, and many diseases are linked to dysfunction of membrane proteins. SUNY Upstate boasts some of the leaders in the field of proton pumps, energy conversion and cell motility. Approaches range from high-resolution structural studies of membrane proteins through X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy to in vivo genetic approaches in model systems such as E. coli and yeast.

Microbiology and Virology

This group of researchers works on a broad range of microorganisms. Interests include: infectivity; gene regulation; DNA replication and pathogenesis of human viruses such as HTLV, HSV, EBV, KSHV, VZV, and DENV; as well as microbes such as tuberculosis and the sexually transmitted Trichomonads and Chlamydia. Both in vitro and in vivo models are applied. Investigators are engaged in fundamental studies at the molecular, biochemical and genetic levels, as well as studies aimed toward the development of viral gene therapy delivery vectors and vaccines and toward the treatment of disease.

  • Gary Chan, PhD
    Professor

    Human cytomegalovirus pathogenesis and persistence. 

  • Joseph Domachowske, MD
    Professor
    Pneumovirus pathogenesis.
  • Timothy Endy, MD, MPH
    Professor Emeritus
    Understanding the epidemiology and pathogenesis of viral hemorrhagic and encephalitic arboviruses and host-vector interactions.
  • Paul Massa, PhD
    Professor

    Neuroimmunology: Regulation of genes involved in innate immunity and chronic inflammation in the CNS

    Neurovirology: CNS-specific mechanisms involved in viral neurotropis, neuroinvasion, persistence, inflammation and anti-viral state.

    Neurodegeneration: Neuron-specific regulation of apoptotic genes by NF-kappa B and mechanisms regulating CNS-specific mitochondrial bioenergetics.

  • Jennifer Moffat, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Varicella zoster pathogenesis.
  • Andras Perl, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Genes and Viruses Predisposing to Autoimmunity, Genetics, Apoptosis, Endogenous Retroviruses, Transaldolase

  • Adam Waickman, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    My group is dedicated to understanding how the interactions between infectious organisms and the human immune system result in pathogenesis and/or durable immunity. Our work is primarily focused on viral pathogens, and leverages "next generation" technologies such as single cell RNA sequencing, multi-parametric flow cytometry, and computational modeling.

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

Model Systems

Studies in classical model systems such as yeast, E. coli and fruit flies have formed the basis for many seminal biomedical discoveries of the last 30 years through combined use of classical genetics and modern molecular biology. The richness of resources available in some of these systems continues to grow at a rapid pace. Researchers at SUNY Upstate continue to utilize these and other classic model systems in the study of both basic molecular processes and complex diseases. Systems in use include the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the Zebra fish Danio rerio, the frog Xenopus laevis, the flagellate Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and transgenic mice in their laboratories.

  • Jeffrey Amack, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Genetics and cell biology of organ morphogenesis during embryonic development.
  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • David Auerbach, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Cellular, animal, and clinical approaches to investigate the susceptibility and mechanisms for electrical disturbances in both the brain (seizures) and heart (arrhythmias.)

    CURE Epilepsy Foundation: The Cameron Boyce Foundation and CURE Epilepsy Partner to Fund New SUDEP Research (1/2022)

    ABC News (Washington, DC): Victor and Libby Boyce raise epilepsy awareness in honor of late son Cameron (1/2022)

    Upstate News: Upstate Professor Auerbach receives International CURE Epilepsy award (11/2021)

    Upstate Health Link on Air and Upstate News: Scientist hopes study of electrical disturbances in the heart and brain could lead to new therapies (7/2020)

    Pediheart Podcast # 5: Antiseizure and AntiDepressants in LQTS (2/23/18)

    Eureka Alert: The heart-brain connection: The link between LQTS and seizures (7/29/16)

  • Xin Jie Chen, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Mitochondrial biology, stress signaling and aging-related degenerative diseases.

  • Andrew Craig, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    My research focuses on treatment and relapse of maladaptive behavior, impulsive decision making, and drug self-administration.

  • Thomas Duncan, PhD
    Associate Professor

    F-type ATP synthases; bioenergetics of pathogenic bacteria; enzymology; structural biology, membrane protein function.

  • Wenyi Feng, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Chromosomal DNA replication origins (location, timing and regulation), replication fork integrity and checkpoint regulation, genomic instability and chromosome fragility in both the yeast and human genome
  • Steven Hanes, PhD
    Emeritus
    Gene expression in development and disease, RNA pol II regulation, homeobox genes, prolyl isomerases
  • Samuel Herberg, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Ocular tissue engineering to create biomimetic 3D hydrogel models of tissues affected in glaucoma.

  • Patricia Kane, PhD
    Distinguished Teaching Professor
    Vacuolar H+ATPases (structure, function, assembly and regulation), cellular pH homeostasis, cellular stress responses, protein sorting, genomics, yeast as a model system
  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Bruce Knutson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    RNA polymerase I transcription (structure, assembly, regulation), nucleolar biology, macromolecular architecture, crosslinking, proteomics, bioinformatics, modeling, molecular genetics, biochemistry, model systems

  • Mark Schmitt, PhD
    Professor
    Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
  • Vladimir Sirotkin, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    Mechanisms of the actin cytoskeleton assembly and role of myosin-1 during endocytosis in fission yeast.
  • Andrea Viczian, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

  • Cynthia Weickert, PhD
    Professor

    I research the Neurobiology of Mental Illness with a focus on Schizophrenia. My research also involves projects on Primate Neurogenesis, Neuroinflammation, and Molecular Human Brain Development.

  • Michael Zuber, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.

Musculoskeletal Science

Faculty in the Musculoskeletal Science Research Center conduct basic and applied research in bone biology and skeletal biomechanics. Current areas of funded research include cellular and molecular biology of the growth plate, novel therapies for bone tumors, and strategies for enhancing the longevity of total joint replacement implants.

  • Timothy Damron, MD
    Professor
    Radioprotectant strategies: pediatric growth plate. Treatment of Fractures in Pathology Bone, Reconstructive Alternatives: Limb-Sparing Sarcoma Surgery, Genetics of Pagetoid Osteosarcoma
  • Jason Horton, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor

    Skeletal development, maturation and maintenance;  Mesenchymal stem cell biology;  Radiobiology of skeletal tissues; Radiosensitization of pediatric musculoskeletal sarcoma.

  • Kenneth Mann, PhD
    Professor
    Micro-mechanics of implant interfaces; damage evolution of joint replacements and biomaterials; in vivo models of tumor osteolysis and prediction of fracture risk; general orthopedic biomechanics.
  • Megan Oest, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Radiation damage to bone and progenitor cells; mechanical regulation of bone cell behavior; osteoclast lineage cells; orthopedic tissue engineering.

  • David Pruyne, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Understanding how muscle cells organize their actin cytoskeleton into efficient contractile units, using a combination of in vitro biochemistry, and analysis of cultured muscle cells and genetic models C. elegans and zebrafish.

  • Jean Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Analysis of the assembly of the actin/myosin cytoskeleton in muscle and non-muscle cells.
  • Joseph Sanger, PhD
    Professor
    Cellular analysis of the formation of myofibrils, stress fibers, and cleavage furrows in living cells.

Neuroscience

The Nervous system regulates virtually every organ in the body. It is responsible for our perceptions, thoughts, and responses to the world around us. Using molecular, cellular, and systems-level approaches, neuroscientists at SUNY Upstate aim to improve our understanding of normal and abnormal nervous system function. Major research areas include the mechanisms of nervous system development and regeneration, the organization and plasticity of neuronal connections, the genetic bases of neurological and psychiatric disorders, neural processing in the living nervous system, and the neurobiology of disease.

  • David Auerbach, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Cellular, animal, and clinical approaches to investigate the susceptibility and mechanisms for electrical disturbances in both the brain (seizures) and heart (arrhythmias.)

    CURE Epilepsy Foundation: The Cameron Boyce Foundation and CURE Epilepsy Partner to Fund New SUDEP Research (1/2022)

    ABC News (Washington, DC): Victor and Libby Boyce raise epilepsy awareness in honor of late son Cameron (1/2022)

    Upstate News: Upstate Professor Auerbach receives International CURE Epilepsy award (11/2021)

    Upstate Health Link on Air and Upstate News: Scientist hopes study of electrical disturbances in the heart and brain could lead to new therapies (7/2020)

    Pediheart Podcast # 5: Antiseizure and AntiDepressants in LQTS (2/23/18)

    Eureka Alert: The heart-brain connection: The link between LQTS and seizures (7/29/16)

  • Marie Bechler, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Mechanisms that drive central nervous system myelin sheath formation, and how myelin contributes to CNS function in neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disease 

  • Karen Boschen, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Developmental neurobiology

    Molecular mechanisms of prenatal alcohol exposure

    Genetics and epigenetics in prenatal drug sensitivity

    Mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders

     

  • William Brunken, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of brain and ocular development; the role of extracellular matrix in ocular development and disease. 

  • Blair Calancie, PhD
    Professor

    CNS plasticity after trauma; intraoperative electrophysiology.

  • Peter Calvert, PhD
    Professor
    Molecular mechanisms of protein transport and localization in retinal neurons; mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases
  • Andrew Craig, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    My research focuses on treatment and relapse of maladaptive behavior, impulsive decision making, and drug self-administration.

  • Bart Farell, PhD
    Research Associate Professor
    Mechanisms of visual perception of 3-D position, motion, color and object shape, investigated by psychophysical methods.
  • George Fulk, PT, PhD, FAPTA
    Professor

    Dr. Fulk’s research focuses on identifying barriers to recovery and interventions to promote locomotor function and mobility poststroke. In particular examining the link between sleep disorders and its impact on recovery after stroke.

  • Stephen Glatt, PhD
    Professor

    Dr. Glatt is Director of the Psychiatric Genetic Epidemiology & Neurobiology Laboratory (PsychGENe Lab). The mission of the PsychGENe Lab is to develop and apply methods for finding the causes of mental health and mental illness. The vision of the lab is that we will discover those causes and use that information to design interventions that treat or prevent these disorders, or foster resilience to them. We are running numerous research projects aimed at finding the genes and environmental risk factors for a wide variety of disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and substance abuse disorders, among others. Our pipeline seeks to identify “risk genes” for these disorders by studying affected individuals and families and then to reveal how such genes alter brain biology leading to a vulnerability to mental illness.

    Stephen Glatt, PhD CV

  • Samuel Herberg, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Ocular tissue engineering to create biomimetic 3D hydrogel models of tissues affected in glaucoma.

  • Jonathan Hess, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    I direct a computational neuro-genomics laboratory, focused on pioneering and using innovative methods to discover genes and pathways that play a pivotal role in neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. Our goal is to identify genes contributing to susceptibility to disease, along with identifying factors of resilience that act as moderators against disease risk. Towards this goal, our lab developed the Brain Gene Expression and Network Imputation Engine (BrainGENIE) to allow researchers to noninvasively profile gene activity in the brain of living individuals based on gene activity measured in blood. Our BrainGENIE method, which is available as an open-source tool (https://github.com/hessJ/BrainGENIE), endeavors to fill a critical knowledge gap by providing a means to gain insight into molecular intricacies of the living human brain. Its primary aim is to identify and track molecular changes linked with brain health and disease, aging, as well as interventions. My lab was founded on three guiding principles: Our Mission (“We will decode the biological basis of risk and resilience for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.”), Our Vision (“Our scientific discoveries will provide a path toward reducing the burden of brain disease and achieving health equity.”), and Our Values (“We are at the forefront of scientific advancement, hence it is our responsibility to uphold the highest standards of integrity, accuracy, reliability, and transparency in our work. We conduct ourselves professionally with honesty and fairness. We treat others with courtesy, respect, and dignity.”).


    Jonathan L. Hess CV

  • Brian Howell, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The signal transduction events that regulate the functional organization of neurons in the brain, and the phenotypes caused by defects in the genes that encode these signaling molecules.
  • Huaiyu Hu, PhD
    Professor

    Mechanisms of brain malformations and retinal degeneration.  

  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Andrzej Krol, PhD
    Professor

    Development of:

    • Extremely low-dose and high-resolution tomographic reconstruction methods in PET and SPECT
    • Advanced ultrafast PET detector
    • Advanced very high-sensitivity and high-spatial resolution brain PET scanner
    • Ultrafast laser-based betatron microfocal x-ray source for very high-resolution biomedical imaging
    • PET bioprobe for detection and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and other cancers
    • Advanced breast cancer detection methods in mammography
  • Hui-Hao Lin, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Neural circuit mechanisms of feeding regulation in Drosophila

  • Chunyu Liu, PhD
    Professor

    Dr. Liu’s laboratory is studying how genetic variants impact gene expression, protein abundance and various levels of regulatory networks, ultimate influence the risks of developing major psychiatric disorders, treatment responses, as well as related psychological, behavioral traits. Funded by NIH, his current projects are about regulatory networks in genomics, epigenomics, and proteomics of postmortem brains. Multiple advanced sequencing-based technologies, cell biology and bioinformatics methods are commonly used in this lab to facilitate discovery of risk genes and pathways.

    Chunyu Liu , PhD CV

  • Paul Massa, PhD
    Professor

    Neuroimmunology: Regulation of genes involved in innate immunity and chronic inflammation in the CNS

    Neurovirology: CNS-specific mechanisms involved in viral neurotropis, neuroinvasion, persistence, inflammation and anti-viral state.

    Neurodegeneration: Neuron-specific regulation of apoptotic genes by NF-kappa B and mechanisms regulating CNS-specific mitochondrial bioenergetics.

  • Russell Matthews, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Role of glycoproteins in oncogenesis and brain development
  • Frank Middleton, PhD
    Professor
    • Genetic, epigenetic, and neuroanatomical basis of neurological and psychiatric disorders
    • Basal ganglia and cerebellar circuitry in normal and disease states
    • Neural-immune and gut-brain interactions
    • Machine learning approaches for biomarker discovery
    • Next generation sequencing for multiomic data analysis (genome, transcriptome, microbiome, methylome) 
  • Brad Motter, PhD
    Research Associate Professor Emeritus
    Visual Neurophysiology; Visual Attention; Visual Search Behavior
  • Eric Olson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

    Lissencephaly / neuronal migration disorders; Dendritogenesis and early cortical wiring; Reelin-Dab1 signaling; Adaptor proteins; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;  Intellectual disability

  • Donna Osterhout, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Biology of oligodendroglia and myelin formation during development, remyelination and repair in spinal cord injury and MS

  • Francesca Pignoni, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila

  • Eduardo Solessio, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Photoreceptor electrophysiology and visual behavior.

  • Daniel Tso, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Neuronal mechanisms of visual perception, studied through physiological, anatomical and functional imaging techniques. Adult cortical plasticity.

  • Mary Lou Vallano, PhD
    Professor
    Neuronal survival and development.
  • Richard Veenstra, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of connexin-specific-gap-junctions; gap junction channel biophysics.
  • Mariano Viapiano, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Brain cancer therapies; tumor microenvironment; tumor invasion; extracellular matrix; nano-therapeutics; immunotherapies

  • Andrea Viczian, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.

  • Cynthia Weickert, PhD
    Professor

    I research the Neurobiology of Mental Illness with a focus on Schizophrenia. My research also involves projects on Primate Neurogenesis, Neuroinflammation, and Molecular Human Brain Development.

  • Richard JH Wojcikiewicz, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Intracellular signaling via InsP3 receptors and their regulation by the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway and Bcl-2 family proteins.

  • Ma-Li Wong, MD, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    The long-term goals of Dr. Wong's research are to develop a translational research program that spans the bench and the clinic to understand the molecular, cellular and circuit bases of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, particularly those comorbid with metabolic disorders. Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic consequences of obesity are associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety and dementia. The ongoing focus on Dr. Wong's lab include: Characterization of novel biomarkers in major depression and the role of specific genes or pathways in depression, including the inflammasome signaling, epigenetic markers, alternative splicing, and the gut microbiome.

    We have 4 current projects: 

    1) To determine the specific role(s) of PHF21B (plant homeodomain finger protein 21B) in neuronal function relevant to social recognition impairment; this is relevant because social cognitive impairments are a central feature of several neurodegenerative, neuropsychiatric, neurodevelopmental (e.g., autism spectrum and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) conditions, and also occur following acute brain damage after traumatic brain injury and stroke.

    2) A innovative research line focused on investigating the interface between neuroinflammation and serotonin signaling in chronic stress.

    3) A line of research focusing on the role of pre-mRNA splicing in the pathophysiology of chronic stress.

    4) A line of research focused on the role of alternative splicing in the cognitive decline of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and aging.

  • Wei-Dong Yao, PhD
    Distinguished Professor

    Dopamine; synaptic plasticity and remodeling; prefrontal cortex; neural mechanisms of addiction and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

     

    Wei-Dong Yao, PhD CV

  • Li-Ru Zhao, PhD
    Professor

    Brain plasticity; molecular, cellular and functional mechanisms of brain repair in traumatic brain injury, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and CADASIL. Pathological mechanisms underlying the development and progression of brain injury, neurodegenerative and genetic diseases.

  • Sijun Zhu, MD, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Genetic mechanisms of Drosophila neural stem cell specification and sub-cellular specific targeting of dendrites.

  • Michael Zuber, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.

Stem Cells

Stem cells must divide and maintain flexible lineage-options, options that become increasingly restricted during development. As lineage-options change, cells respond in different ways to the same signaling cues. Our research investigates intrinsic and extrinsic factors that regulate development and differentiation of neural stem cells of the brain and the eye. These studies include teratology of alcohol, retinal cell determination, and glycobiology of neural stem cells. Research results are directly tested using in vivo and in vitro models of neurodegenerative disease and cell replacement therapies.

  • Michael Cosgrove, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of chromatin, Mixed Lineage Leukemia, Structural Biology, Enzymology, Biophysical Chemistry, Rational drug design

  • Jason Horton, Ph.D.
    Assistant Professor

    Skeletal development, maturation and maintenance;  Mesenchymal stem cell biology;  Radiobiology of skeletal tissues; Radiosensitization of pediatric musculoskeletal sarcoma.

  • Huaiyu Hu, PhD
    Professor

    Mechanisms of brain malformations and retinal degeneration.  

  • Mobin Karimi, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor
    • Immunoreceptor signaling during development, homeostasis, and effector function of T cells and NK cells.
    • T lymphocytes for adoptive cell therapy against hematological cancer.
    • The role of the transcriptional regulator in alternative signal pathways to assess’ T cells cytotoxic function of hematological cancer cells
    • The role of adaptor molecule SLP-76 in hematological malignancies and bone marrow transplantation
    • The role of Tec family tyrosine kinases (ITK) and the activation of PLC-γ, Ca2+ mobilization, and ERK activation
  • William Kerr, PhD
    Professor

    My research is primarily focused on defining the role of SHIP1 in immunity, obesity, stem cell biology and cancer. This research has revealed that SHIP1 is at the nexus of signaling pathways that regulate: (1) hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cell homeostasis, (2) terminal differentiation of myeloid cells, (3) acute BM graft rejection, (4) survival of T cells in the small intestine and (5) survival of hematologic cancer cells. More recently we developed SHIP1 and pan-SHIP1/2 inhibitors and showed they can expand stem cells in vivo, reverse obesity, eradicate certain cancers and boost tumor immunity. We are also attempting to better understand what LRBA does in immune cells. LRBA is a scaffold protein that coordinates intracellular vesicle trafficking with receptor signaling.

  • Russell Matthews, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Role of glycoproteins in oncogenesis and brain development
  • Frank Middleton, PhD
    Professor
    • Genetic, epigenetic, and neuroanatomical basis of neurological and psychiatric disorders
    • Basal ganglia and cerebellar circuitry in normal and disease states
    • Neural-immune and gut-brain interactions
    • Machine learning approaches for biomarker discovery
    • Next generation sequencing for multiomic data analysis (genome, transcriptome, microbiome, methylome) 
  • Megan Oest, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Radiation damage to bone and progenitor cells; mechanical regulation of bone cell behavior; osteoclast lineage cells; orthopedic tissue engineering.

  • Eric Olson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cerebral cortex development.

    Lissencephaly / neuronal migration disorders; Dendritogenesis and early cortical wiring; Reelin-Dab1 signaling; Adaptor proteins; Fetal Alcohol Syndrome;  Intellectual disability

  • Jeffrey Pu, MD/PhD
    Clinical Associate Professor

    Pu’s laboratory is currently focusing on clonal bone marrow failure diseases translational research, small cell lymphocytic malignancy diseases combination target therapy research, cellular therapy, and hematopoietic stem cell transplant outcome study.

  • Norifumi Urao, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Mechanism of wound healing and tissue repair/bone marrow stem cell reactivity to stress and injury/oxidative stress and epigenetic gene regulation

  • Mariano Viapiano, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Brain cancer therapies; tumor microenvironment; tumor invasion; extracellular matrix; nano-therapeutics; immunotherapies

  • Andrea Viczian, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.

  • Guirong Wang, PhD
    Professor

    Innate immunology; host defense; inflammatory regulation; Surfactant Protein expression, regulation and function; humanized transgenic mice;  Bacterial and SARS-CoV-2 induced pneumonia and sepsis; acute lung injury and ARDS; lung stem cell and differentiation; PM2.5 induced pulmonary disease 

  • Cynthia Weickert, PhD
    Professor

    I research the Neurobiology of Mental Illness with a focus on Schizophrenia. My research also involves projects on Primate Neurogenesis, Neuroinflammation, and Molecular Human Brain Development.

  • Li-Ru Zhao, PhD
    Professor

    Brain plasticity; molecular, cellular and functional mechanisms of brain repair in traumatic brain injury, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and CADASIL. Pathological mechanisms underlying the development and progression of brain injury, neurodegenerative and genetic diseases.

  • Sijun Zhu, MD, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Genetic mechanisms of Drosophila neural stem cell specification and sub-cellular specific targeting of dendrites.

  • Michael Zuber, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.

Structural Biology

Relating protein structure and macromolecular complexes to their function in living cells is a major area of interest for many faculty. These groups encompass research on the structure of nucleic acids, membrane proteins, protein folding, assembly of macromolecular complexes, chromatin structure, and cytoskeletal architecture. Various tools employed are X-ray crystallography, NMR, cryo-electron microscopy, UV-spectroscopy, confocal microscopy, mass spectrometry, and computational analysis.

  • David Amberg, PhD
    Professor
    Regulation of actin dynamics and analysis of genomic influences on actin function.
  • Alaji Bah, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Elucidate the structure, dynamics and functions of intrinsically disordered proteins and protein regions (IDPs/IDRs) and their biological regulation by Post-translational modifications.

  • Scott Blystone, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Actin Cytoskeletal Dynamics in the leukocyte inflammatory phenotype.
  • Michael Cosgrove, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of chromatin, Mixed Lineage Leukemia, Structural Biology, Enzymology, Biophysical Chemistry, Rational drug design

  • Thomas Duncan, PhD
    Associate Professor

    F-type ATP synthases; bioenergetics of pathogenic bacteria; enzymology; structural biology, membrane protein function.

  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Bruce Knutson, PhD
    Associate Professor

    RNA polymerase I transcription (structure, assembly, regulation), nucleolar biology, macromolecular architecture, crosslinking, proteomics, bioinformatics, modeling, molecular genetics, biochemistry, model systems

  • Stewart Loh, PhD
    Professor

    Protein engineering, design, and folding

  • Arkadii Perzov, PhD
    Professor
    Biophysical mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias; fluorescence imaging.
  • Mark Schmitt, PhD
    Professor
    Ribonucleoprotein assembly and biogenesis; mitochondrial RNA import, mRNA degradation, cell cycle control
  • Christopher Turner, PhD
    Distinguished Professor
    Regulation of cell migration by focal adhesion adapter proteins and their role in cancer cell metastasis.
  • Stephan Wilkens, PhD
    Associate Professor
    Structure and Mechanism of Membrane Bound Transport Proteins

Vision Research

The Center for Vision Research is dedicated to discovery science focused on a fundamental understanding of the biology and pathobiology of the visual system, including the ocular surface, the retina, and visual centers in the brain. Our ultimate goal is to understand the mechanisms of disease and develop therapeutics that eliminates blindness. To achieve this goal, we have created a collaborative and diverse research team that informs our research and enhances our mission. Our faculty and staff scientists have come to Syracuse from the world over  Italy, Japan, Argentina, California, Iowa, Puerto Rico and even Queens, New York. Our students are similarly diverse, drawn from the best schools in the Northeast as well as from China, India, and South America. Our research is nearly as diverse as our researchers themselves, there are projects in all ocular tissues (cornea, retina, and vasculature) using state-of-the-art biophysical, anatomical, molecular and genetic technologies and approaches. Our model systems are equally diverse. What unites us is a common passion for science and our drive to perform research that heals.
  • Audrey Bernstein, PhD
    Professor

    Fibrosis; Scarring; Protein degradation; ubiquitin; integrins; cytoskeleton; patient-derived model systems

  • William Brunken, PhD
    Professor

    Epigenetic regulation of brain and ocular development; the role of extracellular matrix in ocular development and disease. 

  • Peter Calvert, PhD
    Professor
    Molecular mechanisms of protein transport and localization in retinal neurons; mechanisms of retinal degenerative diseases
  • Robert Fechtner, MD
    Professor and Chair

    Glaucoma; pharmacology, diagnostic technology, clinical trials, minimally invasive glaucoma surgery

  • Preethi Ganapathy, MD/PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Astrocyte mechanosensation and glial signaling pathways as they relate to neuronal strain in glaucoma

  • Samuel Herberg, PhD
    Assistant Professor

    Ocular tissue engineering to create biomimetic 3D hydrogel models of tissues affected in glaucoma.

  • Huaiyu Hu, PhD
    Professor

    Mechanisms of brain malformations and retinal degeneration.  

  • Barry Knox, PhD
    Professor
    Visual transduction, Gene Expression, Membrane proteins
  • Brad Motter, PhD
    Research Associate Professor Emeritus
    Visual Neurophysiology; Visual Attention; Visual Search Behavior
  • Francesca Pignoni, PhD
    Professor and Chair

    Neurogenesis; Retinal Progenitor Cells Specification and Proliferation; Genetic Control of Stem Cell Identity and Maintenance; Disease Genes Analysis in Drosophila

  • Eduardo Solessio, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Photoreceptor electrophysiology and visual behavior.

  • Daniel Tso, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Neuronal mechanisms of visual perception, studied through physiological, anatomical and functional imaging techniques. Adult cortical plasticity.

  • Andrea Viczian, PhD
    Associate Professor

    Mammalian retinal stem cells formation; molecular mechanism of retinal cell fate decisions; vascular development in the CNS; using cell replacement therapy to heal the blinded eye.

  • Michael Zuber, PhD
    Associate Professor
    The molecular basis of retinal stem cell formation; regulating retinal stem/progenitor cell proliferation; using retinal stem/progenitor cells to heal the injured or degenerating retina.
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