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Faculty
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Core Faculty
Catherine Freudenreich
Professor and Department Chair
Genetics and Molecular Biology. Genome instability, particularly at sites of repetitive and structure-forming DNA.
George Ellmore
Associate Professor and Department Associate Chair
Ecology, Behavior and Evolution and Global Change Biology
Lauren Crowe
Lecturer
Frank David
Professor of the Practice
Biopharma strategy, regulation, & policy
Robert de Bruijn
Lecturer
Stress Physiology, Animal Behavior, Wildlife Endocrinology, Conservation Physiology, Active Learning Strategies, Evidence-Based Pedagogy & Best Practices
Erik Dopman
Associate Professor
Evolution and Genetics of Natural Populations
Scott Frost
Research Assistant Professor
Sarah Hengel
Assistant Professor
Our research is interested in understanding how environmental toxicants human beings experience in our environment change our DNA. We are also interested in how the damaged DNA is repaired by proteins in our nucleus. We are also interested and focused on the intersection of female reproductive diseases (endometriosis, primary ovarian insufficiency, and polycystic ovary syndrome) and female cancers (cervical, endometrial, uterine, and ovarian cancer).
Alfredo Hernandez
Assistant Professor
Enzymology of DNA replication, mitochondrial DNA, nucleic acid biochemistry, and non-canonical DNA structures.
Fatima Hussain
Assistant Professor
Vaginal Microbiome Microbial Ecology and Evolution Phage-Bacteria Interactions Bacterial Immunity
Mimi Kao
Associate Professor
Neural basis of vocal communication
Michael Levin
Vannevar Bush Professor
Morphological and behavioral information processing in living systems
Katherine Mattaini
Lecturer
Helen McCreery
Lecturer
Kelly McLaughlin
Associate Professor
Molecular Development (Organogenesis: Development, Remodeling, Regeneration)
Mitch McVey
Professor
DNA repair, DNA damage tolerance, molecular biology, Drosophila genetics, aging, mutagenesis
Ekaterina Mirkin
Senior Lecturer
Genetics
Sergei Mirkin
Professor and White Family Chair in Biology
Genetics and Molecular Biology
Colin Orians
Professor and Director of Environmental Studies
Agroecology, climate change, climate adaptation, plant-herbivore interactions
Michael Reed
Professor
Avian ecology and conservation biology
Michael Romero
Professor
Stress Physiology and Field Endocrinology
Philip Starks
Associate Professor
Animal Behavior: Recognition systems, evolution of sociality, parasite and host relationships, behavioral & chemical communication, invasion genetics
Barry Trimmer
Henry Bromfield Pearson Professor of Natural Science
Currently we are pursuing the following major projects: Current Projects 1) Modulation of Nociception. — The ability to sense and respond to harmful events (nociception) is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom and in many animals results in a longer lasting sensation called pain. Nociception is a distinct sensory modality that promotes the avoidance of damaging interactions using molecular mechanisms that are well-conserved from single cell organisms to humans. Nociception typically elicits strong responses, such as aggressive or avoidance movements, but these must be chosen appropriately and enhanced (hyperalgesia) or suppressed (hypoalgesia), depending on the circumstances. Our laboratory uses an insect, the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta, as a model system to study the neurobiology of nociception and its modulation. 2) Neuromechanics of Locomotion — Animal locomotion is an intricate interplay between neural processes and biomechanics. These components have co-evolved to form "neuromechanical" control systems in which neural commands organize actions and the structures and materials of the body translate these commands into movements. In some cases structures are able to accomplish movements with relatively little or no command input, but most behaviors in natural environments require intricate neural patterning. In animals that have stiff skeletons (such as vertebrates and adult stage arthropods), these motor programs rely on the constraints imposed by joints to reduce the degrees of freedom and simplify control. In contrast to animals with skeletons, soft animals do not have the same limits on movements; they can deform in complex ways and have virtually unlimited degrees of freedom. One of our major research goals is to identify how soft animals control their movements in a computationally efficient manner using the principles of embodiment and morphological computation. 3) SoftWorm Robots — a soft machine development platform — Based on extensive neuromechanical studies of soft bodied locomotion in animals, we have developed a family of actuated modules that are being used as development platforms for soft robots. These robots are about 10-15 cm long and weigh between 4g and 30g. Earlier designs were fabricated by vacuum casting silicone elastomers into 3D-printed molds, our current methods include printing the devices in a soft rubbery polymer using a multi-material 3D printer. These devices are actuated with shape-memory alloy (SMA) microcoils that can be controlled with current pulses. We have also constructed similar robots with back-drivable Maxon motors coupled to the body using flexible "tendons". The body shapes can be changed to any desired form, but most of our current prototypes resemble caterpillars or worms. They can crawl, inch or roll and even climb steep inclines. 4) Tissue Engineering of Novel Devices — One of our long-term goals is to "grow" robotic devices using a combination of biosynthetic materials, cellular modulation, and tissue engineering. In collaboration with Professors Kaplan and Levin we are exploring both invertebrate and vertebrate cell culture and regeneration systems to structure muscles and supporting tissues on scaffolds of biomaterials. These scaffolds could be degradable or allowed to remain as part of an operational biorobot. Such biological devices will be controlled using the simulation tools developed for synthetic soft robots and will exploit recent advances in soft material electronics. For these cell-based systems, we are generating bundles of contractile skeletal muscle tissue using insect muscle cells. These constructs will be engineered to contract in a controlled, coordinated fashion for eventual use as motors in soft robots. Insect cells offer novel features, such as high force, low oxygen demand, and low sterility requirements that are particularly advantageous. This work is also being applied in the field of Cellular Agriculture to develop sustainable ethical food production.
Eric Tytell
Associate Professor
Biomechanics and Neural Control of Locomotion
Lawrence Uricchio
Youniss Family Assistant Professor of Innovation
Population genetics, evolution, ecology, computational biology
Benjamin Wolfe
Associate Professor
Ecology and evolution of microbial communities
Affiliate Faculty
Elizabeth Crone
Affiliate
Population ecology and dynamics
Julia Gouvea
Associate Professor
David Kaplan
Distinguished Professor, Stern Family Professor of Engineering
biopolymer engineering, biomaterials, material science, tissue engineering, bioengineering, cellular agriculture
Zarin Machanda
Usen Family Career Development Assistant Professor
wild chimpanzee health and behavior, primate conservation, evolution of leadership
Daniel Promislow
Senior Scientist, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging
Part-time Faculty
Dany Adams
Lecturer
Anjali Bhardwaj
Instructor
Monir Ejemel
Part-time Lecturer
Hannah Gavin
Lecturer
molecular microbiology; microbial ecology; bacteria; bacteriophage
Christopher Richardson
Lecturer
Ganapathy Sriram
Lecturer
Emeriti Faculty
June Aprille
Professor Emerita
Harry Bernheim
Associate Professor Emeritus
Francie Chew
Professor Emerita
Susan Ernst
Professor Emerita
Ross Feldberg
Associate Professor Emeritus
Juliet Fuhrman
Associate Professor Emerita
Immunology and Infectious Disease
Michelle Gaudette
Senior Lecturer Emerita
Sara Lewis
Professor Emerita
Insect behavior, ecology and evolution; firefly conservation
Jan Pechenik
Professor Emeritus
Marine Biology and Invertebrate Development
Eli Siegel
Professor Emeritus
