Archive
Donald H. Burke-Agüero
Research Interests The Burke lab explores the many roles of ribonucleic acid, or RNA. This substance has long been known to function in cells to help copy genetic information from DNA, but scientists increasingly recognize many other tasks that RNA carries out. The lab pushes the boundaries of what is possible to achieve with RNA. From using aptamers to target cancer, using ribozymes to explore the RNA origins of life on Earth, and using protein engineering to understand RNA-protein interactions in viral replication, a theme that unifies the lab’s projects is the relationships among macromolecular sequence, function, selection pressures,…
Walter Gassmann
Research Interests The innate immune response triggered by plant immune receptors is very potent at preventing pathogen spread. Consequently, this response also has the potential to be detrimental to the host if not regulated properly. Apart from the regulation of immune receptor expression and accumulation it is still unclear how this fine-tuning of the immune system is achieved. Research in the Gassmann lab addresses this gap in knowledge using genetics, molecular and cell biology, and proteomics. The cultivation of genetically uniform plants over large areas frequently selects for pathogen strains that can overcome innate plant defenses, and large crop losses…
Dong Xu
Research Interests Dr. Xu’s lab focuses on the interface between bioinformatics and deep learning. It works on development of novel computational methods, algorithms, software and information systems, as well as on broad applications of these tools and other informatics resources for various biological and medical problems. Several successful applications of deep learning by the lab in bioinformatics span areas such as single-cell data analysis, protein structure prediction, protein language models, protein localization prediction, predicting sites of protein post-translational modifications, elucidating genotype-phenotype associations, understanding biological pathways through image analysis in published literature, and analyzing tongue images for health evaluations.
Trupti Joshi
Research Interests The Joshi lab has expertise in the areas of bioinformatics and its application to biomedical sciences, plants sciences, animal sciences, and health informatics fields. The lab has three key research pillars: Multiomics Informatics Data Analytics and Framework Development Multiomics Informatics Method Development Multiomics Data Integration Tool Development…
William and Wendy Picking
Research Interests Vaccines are perhaps the greatest public health achievement of our lifetime. They have prevented millions of deaths from childhood and adult diseases to the point that some pathogens have almost been eradicated. Unfortunately, there is much work that still needs to be done to develop more vaccines that can be delivered intranasally and thus prevent some of the vaccine hesitancy exhibited throughout the world. Furthermore, many vaccines can be formulated to be therapeutic and can thus treat a person and vaccinate in one motion, which aids in compliance to the vaccine schedule. The Picking lab aims to…
Susie Dai
Research Interests The Dai lab integrates chemistry and biology to advance biosynthesis, bioremediation, and resource recovery. Current research focuses on: Integrate chemical catalysis (i.e., electrocatalysis) with synthetic biology to produce platform chemicals Develop chem/bio hybrid materials to empower microbiology for pollutant removal and resource recovery…