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  • 2024 Faculty Mentors

    • Anton Bennett, PhD

      Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Comparative Medicine; Director, Yale Center for Molecular and Systems Metabolism (YMSM); Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)

      Research Interests
      • Neurosciences
      • Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases
      • Musculoskeletal Diseases
      • Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities
      • Cardiovascular Diseases
      • Signal Transduction
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    • Moitrayee Bhattacharyya, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

      The Bhattacharyya Lab studies molecular mechanism of kinase signaling, especially in the context of learning, memory and neuropathological conditions. Dr. Bhattacharyya received her PhD in Computational Biophysics at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore where she used molecular dynamics simulations and graph theory to study allosteric communication in proteins and its complexes with RNA/DNA. She made a transition into experimental biology during her postdoctoral studies at the University of California Berkeley as a Human Frontier Science Program Long Term Fellow. She used structural biology, single-molecule microscopy, and native mass spectrometry along with computational techniques to study the molecular mechanism of regulation in a calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase that is critical for learning and memory. The Bhattacharyya Lab takes an integrative approach to understand the molecular mechanism of cellular signaling using both experimental and computational techniques.
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    • Ranjit S. Bindra, MD, PhD

      Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Professor of Pathology; Vice Chair for Translational Research, Therapeutic Radiology; Scientific Director, Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center; Chief, Pediatrics Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology; Chief, Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Central Nervous System Neoplasms
      • DNA Repair
      • Glioma
      • Genomics
      • Medical Oncology
      • High-Throughput Screening Assays
      • Radiation Oncology
      • Radiology
      • Pediatrics
      • Therapeutics
      Dr. Ranjit Bindra is a physician-scientist at Yale School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital. In the laboratory, his group recently led a team of four major laboratories at Yale, which reported the stunning discovery that IDH1/2-mutant tumors harbor a profound DNA repair defect that renders them exquisitely sensitive to PARP inhibitors. This work was published in Science Translational Medicine, and Nature, and it has received international attention with major clinical implications Dr. Bindra is now translating this work directly into patients, in four phase I/II clinical trials, including an innovative, biomarker-driven trial specifically targeting the Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) cancer patient population. In addition, he is lead co-PI of a 35-site, NCI-sponsored Phase II trial testing the PARP inhibitor, olaparib, in adult IDH1/2-mutant solid tumors (NCT03212274). As a biotech entrepreneur he recently co-founded Cybrexa Therapeutics, a Series B round-funded company focused on developing an entirely new class of small molecule DNA repair inhibitors, which directly target the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Bindra received his undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1998, and both his MD and PhD from the Yale School of Medicine in 2007. He completed his medical internship, radiation oncology residency, and post-doctoral research studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in 2012.Learn more about Dr. Bindra>>
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    • Hal Blumenfeld, MD, PhD

      Mark Loughridge and Michele Williams Professor of Neurology and Professor of Neuroscience and of Neurosurgery; Director, Yale Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC)

      Research Interests
      • Neurology
      • Neurobiology
      • Neuroimaging
      • Neurosurgery
      • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
      • Behavioral Research
      • Attention
      • Electrophysiology
      • Consciousness
      • Consciousness Disorders
      • Epilepsy
      Dr. Blumenfeld's clinical and research work focuses on epilepsy, cognition and brain imaging. He directs Yale's Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC), a new multi-disciplinary core facility for innovative study and treatment of brain disorders. Teaching activities include a textbook titled Neuroanatomy Through Clinical Cases, Sinauer Assoc., Publ. 2002, 2010, 2020.
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    • David A. Braun, MD, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology), Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman Yale Scholar

      Research Interests
      • Tumor Microenvironment
      • Transcriptome
      • Immunotherapy
      • Antigens
      • Cancer Vaccines
      • Carcinoma, Renal Cell
      • Genomics
      David Braun, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and a member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology (CMCO) at Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Braun cares for patients with kidney cancers. He received his PhD in Computational Biology from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science at New York University and his medical degree from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed his residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he received the Dunn Medical Intern Award and served as Chief Medical Resident before completing fellowship training in adult oncology through the Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare program where he was appointed the Emil Frei Fellow and the John R. Svenson Fellow. Dr. Braun joined Yale from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where he was an Instructor in Medicine with clinical and scientific interest in understanding and improving immune therapies for kidney cancer. He has a longstanding interest in integrating experimental and computational approaches to biomedical research and is currently studying mechanisms of response and resistance to immune therapy in kidney cancer, with the goal of developing novel therapies. He continues this work as part of the CMCO, which fosters and mentors physician-scientists as they advance their laboratory-based research programs to bridge fundamental cancer biology with clinical investigation for the translation of basic discoveries into better treatments or diagnosis.
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    • Kristen Brennand, PhD

      Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry; Co-director, Science Fellows Program

      Research Interests
      • Biological Psychiatry
      • Neurodegenerative Diseases
      Kristen Brennand, PhD is the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics at Yale University School of Medicine. She first established her independent laboratory in the Pamela Sklar Division of Psychiatric Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2012, after having completed post-doctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and PhD studies at Harvard University. Dr. Brennand’s research combines expertise in genomic engineering, neuroscience, and stem cells, to identify the mechanisms that underlie brain disease. Her focus lies in resolving the convergence of, and complex interplay between, the many risk variants linked to disease, towards the goal of facilitating the clinical translation of genetic findings.  Dr. Brennand’s work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Brain Research Foundation, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.
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    • Steve W. C. Chang, PhD

      Associate Professor Tenure; Associate Professor, Neuroscience; Member, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Neural Networks, Computer
      • Neural Pathways
      • Neurophysiology
      • Prefrontal Cortex
      • Amygdala
      • Social Behavior
      • Social Cognition
      • Theory of Mind
      Steve Chang is an Associate Professor of Psychology and of Neuroscience at Yale University. He is also a member of the Wu Tsai Institute and the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale. He is the co-Director of Undergraduate Studies of Yale's Neuroscience (NSCI) major. His research aims to understand the neural circuit mechanisms of social cognition and social decision-making. Major research approaches include using naturalistic social interaction paradigms combined with state-of-the-art behavioral and neural technologies. The ultimate goal of the research program is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying social cognition and to learn how these processes may be disrupted in psychiatric conditions with social deficits.
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    • Alicia Y Che, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Psychiatry; Director of Graduate Admissions, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

      Dr. Che joined the faculty of Yale Department of Psychiatry in 2021, after completing her postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Natalia De Marco García at Weill Cornell Medical College and Dr. Gord Fishell at NYU. She earned a Ph.D. in Physiology and Neurobiology in the laboratory of Dr. Joseph LoTurco at the University of Connecticut in 2014. She received a B.S. triple-majoring in Biology, Physics and Physical Chemistry at Pacific Lutheran University in Washington state in 2009.
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    • Joseph N. Contessa, MD, PhD

      Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and of Pharmacology; Co-Leader, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity, Yale Cancer Center; Vice Chair for Basic Science Research, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Chemicals and Drugs
      • Neoplasms
      • Radiobiology
      Joseph N. Contessa, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist, is the director of Yale Medicine’s Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program. He specializes in treating patients with primary tumors of the brain, head and neck, and at the base of the skull.  “Due to Yale's large referral base, I frequently see relatively rare tumors,” he says, including low-grade and malignant gliomas, ependymomas, high-grade meningiomas, hemangiopericytomas, paragangliomas, and schwannomas. His expertise in treating uncommon cancers benefits patients diagnosed with these tumor types.  “I look forward to helping patients have the best possible outcome when they are faced with a challenging diagnosis,” he says.Dr. Contessa is a Professor of therapeutic radiology and of pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine where he is part of a team of physicians and scientists who are actively researching the cellular mechanisms that tumors use to evade or “outsmart” standard cancer therapies in hopes of identifying new approaches that improve treatment.“We are all working together to increase our knowledge, improve our care and beat cancer,” Dr. Contessa says.
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    • Ralph DiLeone, PhD

      Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience; Deputy Director, Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities, Psychiatry

      Research Interests
      • Substance Abuse Detection
      • Psychiatry
      • Natural History
      • Obesity
      • Neurobiology
      • Animal Nutrition Sciences
      • Ethology
      • Feeding and Eating Disorders
      • Exercise
      • Glucose Metabolism Disorders
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    • Emilia Favuzzi, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Cerebral Cortex
      • Inflammation
      • Microglia
      • Microscopy
      • Molecular Biology
      • Neural Inhibition
      • Neurobiology
      • Neurodevelopmental Disorders
      • Neuroimmunomodulation
      • Neuronal Plasticity
      • Psychoneuroimmunology
      • Synapses
      • Transcriptome
      Emilia Favuzzi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Wu Tsai Institute at Yale University. She grew up in Italy and received a B.S. in Biology and a M.S. in Neurobiology from Sapienza University of Rome. She did her doctoral training at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante (Spain) and the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology at King’s College London. Her graduate research focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of inhibitory circuit development and plasticity in the cerebral cortex. In her postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute, she focused on microglia-inhibitory synapse interactions during development and discovered that specialized microglia differentially engage with specific synapse types. Her past work opened a new avenue in understanding neuroimmune crosstalk by showing that neuroimmune interactions within the brain may be as specific as those between neurons. This novel conceptual framework is the foundation of the Favuzzi lab focused on the immune and glial mechanisms underlying brain wiring and function, with an emphasis on (1) interactions among neuronal and non-neuronal cells and (2) brain-body communication. Over the years, Emilia was awarded numerous prizes such as the Beddington Medal from the British Society for Developmental Biology, the Krieg Cortical Kudos Scholar Award from the Cajal Club, the Next Generation Leader by the Allen Institute, and the Gruber International Research Award.
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    • Valentina Greco, PhD

      Carolyn Walch Slayman Professor of Genetics

      Research Interests
      • Stem Cell Niche
      • Stem Cells
      • Regeneration
      • Neoplasms by Histologic Type
      • Genetics
      • Cell Biology
      • Dermatology
      Valentina Greco was born in Palermo, Italy and earned her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Palermo, Italy (1996). She earned her PhD at the EMBL/MPI-CBG, Germany (1998-2002), her post-doc at the Rockefeller University (2003-2009) and is currently a Professor in the Genetics, Cell Biology and Dermatology Departments, and a member of the Yale Stem Cell Center and Yale Cancer Center at Yale University (2009-present). The Greco lab aims to define how tissues maintain themselves throughout the course of our lives in the face of continuous cellular turnover, frequent injuries, and spontaneous mutations. To do so, the Greco lab developed novel tools that integrate imaging of stem cells in their niche in live mice with both genetic and cell biological approaches that empower a better understanding of the complex orchestration of tissue regeneration using the skin as a model system. This has led to a number of discoveries, including but not limited to 1) stem cell position dictates their fate in the hair follicle, 2) a stem cell-mediated phagocytic clearance mechanism regulates the size of the hair follicle stem cell pool and 3) tissue correction preserves skin epithelial homeostasis. These scientific discoveries are driven by the lab's desire to create a stimulating academic environment where the focus is on doing good, collaborative science while promoting inclusivity within the scientific community, prioritizing mentoring of the lab's trainees’ scientific growth, and striving to make science accessible to everyone.Dr. Greco has been the recipient of many awards over her career, most recently the 2021 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Momentum Award, the 2019 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the 2019 Yale Postdoctoral Mentoring Award, the 2018 Yale Graduate Mentor Award in the Natural Sciences, and in 2018 was named the Inaugural Holder of the Carolyn Slayman Endowed Professorship.
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    • Megan C. King, PhD

      Associate Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology; Co-Leader, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity, Yale Cancer Center; Associate Cancer Center Director, Basic Science

      Research Interests
      • Nuclear Envelope
      • Mechanotransduction, Cellular
      • Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome
      • Genome
      • Cell Biology
      • Cell Nucleus
      • Chromatin
      • DNA Repair
      Megan received her B.A. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University working with Dr. Susan Lowey and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania working with Dr. Mark Lemmon. During her postdoctoral training with Dr. Günter Blobel at Rockefeller University, she discovered new mechanisms for the targeting and function of integral inner nuclear membrane proteins. Since founding her own group in 2009, Megan has continued to investigate the broad array of biological functions that are integrated at the nuclear envelope, from impacts on DNA repair to nuclear and cellular mechanics. Megan was named a Searle Scholar in 2011, is a recipient of the NIH New Innovator Award and is currently an Allen Distinguished Investigator.
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    • Liza Konnikova, MD, PhD, FAAP

      Associate Professor; CyTOF Core Director, Medicine

      Research Interests
      • Placenta
      • Enterocolitis, Necrotizing
      • Gastrointestinal Microbiome
      • Immunity, Mucosal
      • Infant Nutrition Disorders
      • Infant, Premature
      • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
      Dr. Konnikova's team focuses on the development of early life immunity particularly at barrier sites such as the GI tract and the maternal-fetal interface with a particular focus on T cell biology. Using multi-omic approaches, the group investigates how mucosal homeostasis is developed and what contributes to pathogenesis of diverse diseases such as sepsis, preterm labor, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), very early onset (VEO) and pediatric IBD. The Konnikova lab is further interested in how the microbiome and the associated metabolome regulate immune development and homeostasis at barrier sites. Her group is also interested in how early life events alter circulating immune cells. To this end, in collaboration with the NOuRISH team they are enrolling infants in a longitudinal study of peripheral blood development.
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    • Bluma Lesch, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor of Genetics and of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences

      Research Interests
      • Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly
      • Computational Biology
      • Gene Expression Regulation
      • Embryonic and Fetal Development
      • Evolution, Molecular
      • Heredity
      • Epigenetic Memory
      • Germ Cells
      • Stem Cells
      • Reproduction
      Bluma Lesch works on mechanisms of transcriptional regulation in the context of development, evolution, and disease, with a special interest in the genetics and epigenetics of the mammalian germ line. Her research integrates information across a wide range of biological scales, from molecular mechanism to organismal development to species evolution, using both experimental and computational approaches. Current projects focus on (1) uncovering the rules and mechanisms of gene regulatory evolution, (2) defining transgenerational epigenetic contributions to offspring phenotype, and (3) using the unique regulatory biology of the germ line to discover fundamental gene regulatory mechanisms that go awry in disease. Dr. Lesch earned her B.S. from Yale University in 2003. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2010 from Rockefeller University and her M.D. in 2011 from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, MA, from 2011-2017, where she was awarded an NIH Kirschstein postdoctoral fellowship and also named a Hope Funds for Cancer Research postdoctoral fellow. She received a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists in 2015, and returned to New Haven to join the Yale faculty in 2017. She was names a Searle Scholar in 2019 and a Pew Biomedical Scholar in 2021.
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    • Kathryn Miller-Jensen, PhD

      Professor

      Research Interests
      • Biomedical Engineering
      Dr. Miller-Jensen is working on systems-scale approaches to study immune cell heterogeneity with a focus macrophage innate immune cells. Macrophages are critical for healthy tissue function and are also an important emerging target for cancer immunotherapy. Other areas of interest include the role of cell-to-cell heterogeneity in latent HIV infection in T cells.
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    • Don Nguyen, PhD

      Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical Oncology; Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center

      Research Interests
      • Genomics
      • Epigenomics
      • Inflammation
      • Tumor Microenvironment
      • Pathology
      • Neoplasm Metastasis
      • Neoplasm Micrometastasis
      Don X. Nguyen was born in Montreal, Québec, Canada and obtained his B.Sc. from McGill University in 1998. He then received his Ph.D. degree in 2004 from the University of Rochester, NY, before pursuing his post-doctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, NY. Don joined the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine in 2010 and is currently an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Pathology and Medicine (Medical Oncology). He is also the Co-leader of the Cancer Signaling Networks program at the Yale Cancer Center. His research team has contributed to the development of novel models of metastasis with recognized expertise in the biology of central nervous system metastasis. Recent studies from the Nguyen laboratory have improved our understanding of: 1) the role of cell lineage control during tumor progression, 2) the epigenetic regulation of cell-cell communication in disseminating tumor cells, and 3) the mechanistic link(s) between drug resistance and brain metastasis.
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    • Noah Wolcott Palm, PhD

      Professor

      Research Interests
      • Neuroimmunomodulation
      • Microbiota
      • Inflammation
      • Homeostasis
      • Adaptive Immunity
      • Allergy and Immunology
      • Brain-Gut Axis
      • Gastrointestinal Tract
      Noah W. Palm is a Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. His laboratory focuses on illuminating the myriad interactions between the immune system and the gut microbiota in health and disease. Dr. Palm performed his doctoral work with Ruslan Medzhitov and his postdoctoral work with Richard Flavell, both at Yale University.
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    • Marina Picciotto, PhD

      Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center, of Neuroscience and of Pharmacology; Director Division of Molecular Psychiatry, Psychiatry; Deputy Chair for Basic Science Research, Dept. of Psychiatry; Director, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

      Research Interests
      • Pharmacology
      • Neurosciences
      • Nicotine
      • Opiate Alkaloids
      • Nervous System Diseases
      • Neurobiology
      • Mental Disorders
      • Alcohol Drinking
      • Acetylcholine
      • Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
      • Stress, Psychological
      Dr. Picciotto joined the Yale faculty in 1995, after completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Jean-Pierre Changeux in the Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Neurobiology at The Rockefeller University in New York City in 1992, where she worked in the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience under Paul Greengard. She received a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Stanford University, Stanford, California, in 1985. Dr. Picciotto was Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Neuroscience until January 2023 and is a member of the ACNP Scientific Council. She is 2023-2024 President of the Society for Neuroscience. She served on the Scientific Council of the National Institute on Drug Abuse from 2010-2014, was Treasurer of the Society for Neuroscience from 2014-2015, and President of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco from 2018-2019. She has been a Handling Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, the Journal of Neurochemistry and Neuroscience Letters. In 2000 she was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering by President Clinton and in 2012 she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was Chair of the Neuroscience Section from 2018-2019. Dr. Picciotto has been awarded the Human Frontiers 10th Anniversary Award, the Jacob P. Waletzky Award for addiction research and the Bernice Grafstein Mentorship award from the Society for Neuroscience, the Marion Spencer Fay Award from Drexel University, the Langley Award from SRNT, the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for Innovative Research and the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2024. She is currently the president of the Society for Neuroscience.
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    • Katerina Politi, PhD

      Joseph A. and Lucille K. Madri Professor of Pathology; Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center; Scientific Director, Center for Thoracic Cancers

      Research Interests
      • Pathology
      • Molecular Targeted Therapy
      • Lung Neoplasms
      • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic
      Katerina Politi studied Biology at the University of Pavia in Italy. She then moved to New York, where she obtained her PhD in Genetics and Development working with Argiris Efstratiadis at Columbia University. Following graduate school, she joined Harold Varmus's lab at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and began her work on the molecular basis of lung cancer. She continues this work at Yale as a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Yale Cancer Center.
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    • Albert Powers, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Medical & Associate Director, Yale PRIME Psychosis Risk Clinic, Psychiatry

      Research Interests
      • Patient-Specific Modeling
      • Schizophrenia
      • Psychotic Disorders
      • Resilience, Psychological
      • Risk Assessment
      • Stress Disorders, Traumatic
      • Computational Biology
      • Behavioral Sciences
      • Hallucinations
      Dr. Powers is an Associate Professor at the Yale University Department of Psychiatry and Medical Director and Associate Director of the PRIME Psychosis Risk Clinic at Yale. In addition to treating individuals who suffer from the symptoms of early psychosis, he uses computational approaches to understand how sensory systems might go awry to produce hallucinations and other symptoms of psychosis.
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    • W. Mark Saltzman, PhD

      Goizueta Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and of Chemical Engineering; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Department Chair, Biomedical Engineering

      Research Interests
      • Cell Communication
      • Drug Discovery
      W. Mark Saltzman is an engineer and educator. His research has impacted the fields of drug delivery, biomaterials, nanobiotechnology, and tissue engineering. This work is described in more than 350 research papers and patents. He is also the sole author of three textbooks: Biomedical Engineering, Tissue Engineering, and Drug Delivery. During more than 35 years leading independent research programs at Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and Yale, he has introduced mathematical models for guiding the design of drug delivery systems, developed new methods for drug delivery to brain tumors, produced the first controlled delivery systems for nerve growth factors, the first delivery systems for long-term protection against STDs using antibodies, and new materials for delivery of DNA and RNA. In the course of this work, he has been the primary mentor for 43 doctoral students and 27 postdoctoral associates; many of these scholars are now leading their own independent research programs at top-rate universities. Prof. Saltzman graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in chemical engineering and received MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering and medical engineering from MIT. He was appointed the Goizueta Foundation Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Yale in 2002. He was the founding chair of Yale’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and served in that role for 12 years. From 2016-2022, he was the Head of Jonathan Edwards College, one of Yale’s fourteen residential colleges. Prof. Saltzman is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the US National Academy of Engineering.
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    • Silvia Vilarinho, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor of Medicine (Digestive Diseases) and of Pathology; Associate Director, Yale MD-PhD Program; Director, Internal Medicine Physician Scientist Training Program

      Research Interests
      • Liver
      • Liver Diseases
      • Phenotype
      • Consanguinity
      • Genetic Variation
      • Genotype
      Silvia Vilarinho is a physician-scientist who uses genetics, genomics and human samples to investigate the molecular basis of various liver diseases of unknown etiology. Using these approaches, we have identified five novel genetic liver diseases. Our research goal is to continue to discover new genes important in liver function both in health and disease and to use cell biology and animal models to determine the specific mechanism(s) linking mutant gene to disease as a roadmap to further understand and treat rare and common liver diseases. This research approach provides new knowledge with direct impact in improving patient care and creates an outstanding scientific environment to train future physician-scientists and trainees with particular interest in human disease. Furthermore, I am very committed to make ‘genomic medicine for liver disease’ a reality in clinical practice worldwide.
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  • 2023 Faculty Mentors

    • Ranjit S. Bindra, MD, PhD

      Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Professor of Pathology; Vice Chair for Translational Research, Therapeutic Radiology; Scientific Director, Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center; Chief, Pediatrics Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology; Chief, Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Central Nervous System Neoplasms
      • DNA Repair
      • Glioma
      • Genomics
      • Medical Oncology
      • High-Throughput Screening Assays
      • Radiation Oncology
      • Radiology
      • Pediatrics
      • Therapeutics
      Dr. Ranjit Bindra is a physician-scientist at Yale School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital. In the laboratory, his group recently led a team of four major laboratories at Yale, which reported the stunning discovery that IDH1/2-mutant tumors harbor a profound DNA repair defect that renders them exquisitely sensitive to PARP inhibitors. This work was published in Science Translational Medicine, and Nature, and it has received international attention with major clinical implications Dr. Bindra is now translating this work directly into patients, in four phase I/II clinical trials, including an innovative, biomarker-driven trial specifically targeting the Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) cancer patient population. In addition, he is lead co-PI of a 35-site, NCI-sponsored Phase II trial testing the PARP inhibitor, olaparib, in adult IDH1/2-mutant solid tumors (NCT03212274). As a biotech entrepreneur he recently co-founded Cybrexa Therapeutics, a Series B round-funded company focused on developing an entirely new class of small molecule DNA repair inhibitors, which directly target the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Bindra received his undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1998, and both his MD and PhD from the Yale School of Medicine in 2007. He completed his medical internship, radiation oncology residency, and post-doctoral research studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in 2012.Learn more about Dr. Bindra>>
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    • David A. Braun, MD, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology), Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman Yale Scholar

      Research Interests
      • Tumor Microenvironment
      • Transcriptome
      • Immunotherapy
      • Antigens
      • Cancer Vaccines
      • Carcinoma, Renal Cell
      • Genomics
      David Braun, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and a member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology (CMCO) at Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Braun cares for patients with kidney cancers. He received his PhD in Computational Biology from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science at New York University and his medical degree from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed his residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he received the Dunn Medical Intern Award and served as Chief Medical Resident before completing fellowship training in adult oncology through the Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare program where he was appointed the Emil Frei Fellow and the John R. Svenson Fellow. Dr. Braun joined Yale from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute where he was an Instructor in Medicine with clinical and scientific interest in understanding and improving immune therapies for kidney cancer. He has a longstanding interest in integrating experimental and computational approaches to biomedical research and is currently studying mechanisms of response and resistance to immune therapy in kidney cancer, with the goal of developing novel therapies. He continues this work as part of the CMCO, which fosters and mentors physician-scientists as they advance their laboratory-based research programs to bridge fundamental cancer biology with clinical investigation for the translation of basic discoveries into better treatments or diagnosis.
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    • Kristen Brennand, PhD

      Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry; Co-director, Science Fellows Program

      Research Interests
      • Biological Psychiatry
      • Neurodegenerative Diseases
      Kristen Brennand, PhD is the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics at Yale University School of Medicine. She first established her independent laboratory in the Pamela Sklar Division of Psychiatric Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2012, after having completed post-doctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and PhD studies at Harvard University. Dr. Brennand’s research combines expertise in genomic engineering, neuroscience, and stem cells, to identify the mechanisms that underlie brain disease. Her focus lies in resolving the convergence of, and complex interplay between, the many risk variants linked to disease, towards the goal of facilitating the clinical translation of genetic findings.  Dr. Brennand’s work is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the New York Stem Cell Foundation, the Brain Research Foundation, and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.
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    • William Cafferty, PhD

      Associate Professor of Neurology and of Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Demyelinating Diseases
      • Brain Diseases
      • Pain
      • Neurodegenerative Diseases
      • Spinal Cord Injuries
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    • Jessica Cardin, PhD

      Professor of Neuroscience; Deputy Chair, Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Schizophrenia
      • Interneurons
      • Neurosciences
      • Neurobiology
      • Electrophysiology
      • Epilepsy
      • Autistic Disorder
      • Cerebral Cortex
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    • Keith Choate, MD, PhD

      Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor and Chair of Dermatology. Professor of Genetics and Pathology. Associate Dean for Physician-Scientist Development

      Research Interests
      • Skin Diseases
      • Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases
      • Cell Biology
      • Genetics
      • Genetics, Medical
      • Ichthyosis
      • Human Genetics
      • Human Genome Project
      • Mosaicism
      Keith Choate M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-scientist who employs tools of human genetics to understand fundamental mechanisms of disease. His laboratory studies rare inherited and mosaic skin disorders to identify novel genes responsible for epidermal differentiation and development.  His laboratory has identified the genetic basis of over 12 disorders and has developed new therapeutic approaches informed by genetic findings.  His laboratory is funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and of Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health.Dr. Choate mentors undergraduate, graduate, and medical students in his laboratory, teaches at Yale Medical School, and trains resident physicians and fellows.
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    • Joseph N. Contessa, MD, PhD

      Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and of Pharmacology; Co-Leader, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity, Yale Cancer Center; Vice Chair for Basic Science Research, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Chemicals and Drugs
      • Neoplasms
      • Radiobiology
      Joseph N. Contessa, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist, is the director of Yale Medicine’s Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program. He specializes in treating patients with primary tumors of the brain, head and neck, and at the base of the skull.  “Due to Yale's large referral base, I frequently see relatively rare tumors,” he says, including low-grade and malignant gliomas, ependymomas, high-grade meningiomas, hemangiopericytomas, paragangliomas, and schwannomas. His expertise in treating uncommon cancers benefits patients diagnosed with these tumor types.  “I look forward to helping patients have the best possible outcome when they are faced with a challenging diagnosis,” he says.Dr. Contessa is a Professor of therapeutic radiology and of pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine where he is part of a team of physicians and scientists who are actively researching the cellular mechanisms that tumors use to evade or “outsmart” standard cancer therapies in hopes of identifying new approaches that improve treatment.“We are all working together to increase our knowledge, improve our care and beat cancer,” Dr. Contessa says.
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    • Nadya Dimitrova, PhD

      Associate Professor on Term of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology

      Research Interests
      • Genetics
      • Genomics
      • Molecular Biology
      • RNA, Untranslated
      Nadya Dimitrova is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University. Her research focuses on the functional characterization of tumor suppressor and oncogenic long non-coding RNAs and their roles in the regulation of the cancer transcriptome. Originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, Nadya graduated with an Sc.B. in Biochemistry from Brown University in 2002. She joined the graduate program at The Rockefeller University and in 2009 received a Ph.D. for her work on the signaling and repair of dysfunctional telomeres in the laboratory of Dr. Titia de Lange. For her graduate work, Nadya was awarded the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. As a postdoctoral fellow, Nadya joined the laboratory of Dr. Tyler Jacks at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT where she developed genetic mouse models to study long non-coding RNAs in cancer biology. Nadya is the recipient of the HHMI Predoctoral Fellowship, the Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, the Lung Cancer Research Foundation 2016 Scientific Merit Award, the V Scholar Award, and the Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research Award.
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    • Vishwa Deep Dixit, DVM, PhD

      Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Pathology and Professor of Immunobiology; Director, Yale Center for Research on Aging (Y-Age), Pathology

      Son of teachers, Deep grew up in Hisar (Northwest India). He studied Veterinary Medicine in India, did PhD Research in University of Hannover Germany and postdoc research in Morehouse School of Medicine and NIH. He currently holds Waldemar Von Zedtwitz endowed chair and is a Professor in the Departments of Pathology, Comparative Medicine and Immunobiology. Dixit is also the director of Yale Center for Research on Aging (Y-Age). Dixit lab studies Immunometabolism and aging. His team help establish NLRP3 inflammasome in causing ‘inflammaging’ and immunosenescence that leads to age-related chronic diseases including metabolic dysfunction. Dixit and his collaborators have identified that switch from glycolysis to ketogenesis deactivates the inflammasome and reduces immunopathology. The ongoing work in his laboratory on caloric restriction (CR) in humans (CALERIE-II trial), which extends lifespan in animal models has revealed that adaptation to negative energy balance in a host can be harnessed to identify immunometabolic CR-mimetics to improve health and potentially lifespan. Dixit lab has identified PLA2G7 and SPARC as the CR-inhibited proteins in humans that control inflammation and healthspan in mouse models.
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    • Luisa Escobar-Hoyos, MSc, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology; Radiobiology Course Director, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
      • Pancreatic Neoplasms
      • RNA Splicing
      Dr. Escobar-Hoyos obtained her master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. As a Fulbright Scholar, she pursued a Ph.D. in Cancer Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Stony Brook University mentored by Dr. Kenneth Shroyer. She then completed her postdoctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center co-mentored by Drs. Steven Leach and Omar Abdel-Wahab. In 2020, Dr. Escobar-Hoyos joined the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale as an Assistant Professor.The overarching goal of Dr. Escobar-Hoyos' lab is to cure pancreatic and lung cancers. Specifically, the team seeks to understand and target somatic mutations, and aberrant RNA processing in these tumors to  develop of novel therapies.
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    • Valentina Greco, PhD

      Carolyn Walch Slayman Professor of Genetics

      Research Interests
      • Stem Cell Niche
      • Stem Cells
      • Regeneration
      • Neoplasms by Histologic Type
      • Genetics
      • Cell Biology
      • Dermatology
      Valentina Greco was born in Palermo, Italy and earned her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Palermo, Italy (1996). She earned her PhD at the EMBL/MPI-CBG, Germany (1998-2002), her post-doc at the Rockefeller University (2003-2009) and is currently a Professor in the Genetics, Cell Biology and Dermatology Departments, and a member of the Yale Stem Cell Center and Yale Cancer Center at Yale University (2009-present). The Greco lab aims to define how tissues maintain themselves throughout the course of our lives in the face of continuous cellular turnover, frequent injuries, and spontaneous mutations. To do so, the Greco lab developed novel tools that integrate imaging of stem cells in their niche in live mice with both genetic and cell biological approaches that empower a better understanding of the complex orchestration of tissue regeneration using the skin as a model system. This has led to a number of discoveries, including but not limited to 1) stem cell position dictates their fate in the hair follicle, 2) a stem cell-mediated phagocytic clearance mechanism regulates the size of the hair follicle stem cell pool and 3) tissue correction preserves skin epithelial homeostasis. These scientific discoveries are driven by the lab's desire to create a stimulating academic environment where the focus is on doing good, collaborative science while promoting inclusivity within the scientific community, prioritizing mentoring of the lab's trainees’ scientific growth, and striving to make science accessible to everyone.Dr. Greco has been the recipient of many awards over her career, most recently the 2021 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Momentum Award, the 2019 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the 2019 Yale Postdoctoral Mentoring Award, the 2018 Yale Graduate Mentor Award in the Natural Sciences, and in 2018 was named the Inaugural Holder of the Carolyn Slayman Endowed Professorship.
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    • Thomas Hayman, MD, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology

      Dr. Thomas Hayman is an Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology. He received his medical degree from the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, and his PhD in Molecular Medicine as part of the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine/ National Institutes of Health Graduate Partnership Program mentored by Dr. Philip Tofilon. He completed his residency in Radiation Oncology at Yale New Haven Hospital. Dr. Hayman cares for patients with lung, lung, head and neck, and skin cancers, among others. He is trained in stereotactic radiosurgery using Gamma Knife Icon, as well as IMRT for head and neck, central nervous system, prostate, thoracic, gastrointestinal, hematologic, and gynecologic malignancies, and SBRT lung, liver, pancreas, and spinal tumors. During his PhD training and time as a Holman Research Pathway Fellow, Dr. Hayman focused his research on basic and translational radiation oncology with an emphasis on the discovery of determinants of cellular radiosensitivity. As such, the overarching theme of Dr. Hayman's laboratory is to understand mechanisms of resistance to DNA-damage with the goal of developing novel approaches to neutralize the adaptive responses with the ultimate goal of clinical translation.
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    • Ryan B. Jensen, PhD

      Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Pathology

      Research Interests
      • BRCA2 Protein
      • Breast Neoplasms
      • DNA Damage
      • DNA Repair
      • Genomic Instability
      • Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome
      • Homologous Recombination
      • Radiation Oncology
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    • Naftali Kaminski, MD

      Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary); Section Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine

      Research Interests
      • Metalloproteases
      • Lung Diseases
      • Gene Expression
      • Genetics, Medical
      • Genomics
      • Fibrosis
      • Biomarkers, Pharmacological
      • Emphysema
      • MicroRNAs
      • RNA
      Dr. Naftali Kaminski is, as of July 1st, 2013, the Boehringer-Ingelheim Endowed Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, at Yale School of Medicine. Before that he was a tenured professor of Medicine, Pathology, Computational Biology and Human Genetics, and the Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Endowed Chair for Pulmonary Research at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Kaminski was the director of the Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease and the Lung, Blood and Vascular Center for Genomic Medicine at the division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine in University of Pittsburgh. Dr Kaminski received his medical degree from the Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem, Israel, and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Hadassah Mount-Scopus University Hospital in Jerusalem, and a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Sheba Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel. Dr Kaminski received his basic science training in Dean Sheppard's laboratory at the Lung Biology Center at UCSF and in functional genomics and microarray technology at the Functional Genomics laboratory at Roche Bioscience, Palo-Alto. After his fellowship in 2000, Dr. Kaminski was appointed head of Functional Genomics at Sheba Medical Center in Israel, before being recruited to head the Simmons Center at the University of Pittsburgh in 2002.Dr. Kaminski's main research interests involve applying genomic approaches to elucidate basic mechanisms and improve diagnosis and treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a chronic mostly lethal and currently untreatable scarring lung disease and other chronic lung diseases such Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), severe asthma and sarcoidosis. His group pioneered the application of high throughput genome scale transcript profiling in advanced lung disease. Among his key scientific achievements are: The discovery of novel molecules  with significant active roles in pulmonary fibrosis, including matrix metalloproteases (MMP7, MMP19) and phosphatases (SHP2, MKP5) , demonstrating that microRNAs, a family of small non-coding RNAs, are differentially expressed in IPF, and that some of them (let-7, mir-29, mir-33) are mechanistically involved in lung fibrosis, and the discovery that the outcome of patients with IPF can be predicted based on the expression of peripheral blood proteins and genes, a finding with practical implication because of the need for risk stratification and transplant prioritization. More recently Dr. Kaminski's team identified a potential antifibrotic role for thyroid hormone signaling, a novel discovery with significant therapeutic implications, and performed single cell RNA sequencing on >300,000 cells obtained from patients with advanced lung disease and created an online freely available data dissemination tool (www.IPFCellAtlas.com). Dr. Kaminski has a strong interest in integrating high throughput ‘omics’ data, such as genome scale DNA variants, coding and non-coding RNAs, microbiome and metabolome information with clinical information to generate systems biology models of lung diseases and to develop precision medicine approaches that are significantly more precise, predictive and patient-centered than anything that is currently available.Since completing his clinical training, Dr. Kaminski authored more than 340 research papers (including in Nature Medicine, NEJM, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, PNAS, Science Advances, Science Translational Medicine, Circulation, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, ARCCM and ERJ among others) review articles and book chapters and has given numerous invited talks at national and international conferences, review articles and book chapters and has given numerous invited talks at national and International conferences. Since he finished his fellowship in 2000, Dr. Kaminski has been consistently funded by NIH and is the PI of multiple NIH grants. Dr. Kaminski was a recipient of the Marvin I. Schwarz Award for contributions to patient care and research in pulmonary fibrosis from the Coalition for Pulmonary Fibrosis in 2010 and the University of Pittsburgh Innovator Award in 2012. In 2013, Dr. Kaminski received the American Thoracic Society Recognition of Scientific Achievements award, as well the Helmholtz Institute International Fellow. In 2015 he was elected to the Association of American Physicians. In 2016 he was elected as Fellow of the European Respiratory Society (ERS), and won   the European Respiratory Society Gold medal for Interstitial Lung Disease. In 2018, Dr. Kaminski received the Andy Tager Excellence in Mentorship Award from the Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology Assembly of the American Thoracic Society and was elected fellow of the American Thoracic Society and received the Yale Blavatnik Innovation Award. In 2022 Kaminski received the American Thoracic Society Amberson Lecture award.  Dr. Kaminski is active on the ATS and was the editor of “Gene Express”, a column on genomics in the initial days of the ATS Website, a member and chair of the Program Committee of the Assembly on Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology of the ATS, and member of the ATS Research Advocacy Committee, and Chair of the Assembly on Respiratory, Cell, and Molecular Biology at the American Thoracic Society. He was an associate editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical care Medicine, a member of multiple editorial boards and recently the Deputy Editor of Thorax, BMJ. Dr. Kaminski served as the President of the Association of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Division Directors in 2019. Dr. Kaminski is passionate about training physician-scientists for the challenges of 21st century medicine, and especially in the vocabulary, skills and technology of the new fields of genomics, bioinformatics, computational and system biology and their application to understanding the basic mechanisms that govern lung health and disease as well as to designed personalized medicine approaches and has mentored multiple MD and PhD scientists, of them many have productive and well funded independent career. He has most recently recognized for his commitment to mentoring with the American Thoracic Society Andy Tager excellence in mentoring award.Follow Dr. Kaminski on Twitter @kaminskimed Follow Dr. Kaminski on mastodon @kaminskimed@med-mastodon.com<a rel="me" href="https://med-mastodon.com/@Kaminskimed">Mastodon</a>
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    • Mustafa Khokha, MD

      Professor Adjunct

      Research Interests
      • Embryo, Nonmammalian
      • Germ Layers
      • Neural Plate
      • Notochord
      • Organizers, Embryonic
      We are interested in the molecular mechanisms that cause critical illness in infants and children. We enroll patients with birth defects or other critical illness that cannot be explained by an acquired illness and perform exome sequencing in order to identify candidate genes that may explain the child's disease. Then we model the candidate gene in order to understand its function. In the context of birth defects, we employ the high-throughput human disease model, Xenopus tropicalis in which we can knockout desired genes and examine phenotypes in just three days.Traditionally gene discovery in these patients was very challenging, but now not only is candidate gene discovery efficient but we can rapidly model the human disease and understand gene function in model organisms or patient cells.
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    • Liza Konnikova, MD, PhD, FAAP

      Associate Professor; CyTOF Core Director, Medicine

      Research Interests
      • Placenta
      • Enterocolitis, Necrotizing
      • Gastrointestinal Microbiome
      • Immunity, Mucosal
      • Infant Nutrition Disorders
      • Infant, Premature
      • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
      Dr. Konnikova's team focuses on the development of early life immunity particularly at barrier sites such as the GI tract and the maternal-fetal interface with a particular focus on T cell biology. Using multi-omic approaches, the group investigates how mucosal homeostasis is developed and what contributes to pathogenesis of diverse diseases such as sepsis, preterm labor, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), very early onset (VEO) and pediatric IBD. The Konnikova lab is further interested in how the microbiome and the associated metabolome regulate immune development and homeostasis at barrier sites. Her group is also interested in how early life events alter circulating immune cells. To this end, in collaboration with the NOuRISH team they are enrolling infants in a longitudinal study of peripheral blood development.
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    • Maudry Laurent-Rolle, MD, PhD, BS

      Assistant Professor

      Dr. Maudry Laurent-Rolle received her B.S. from Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in Biology in 2001. She then obtained her MD and PhD from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her dissertation research was funded by an NIH pre-doctoral fellowship, which allowed her to examine the molecular mechanisms by which flaviviruses inhibit host innate immune responses. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein/Montefiore Medical Center in 2016 then joined the Infectious Diseases Fellowship program here at Yale University. Her research focuses on understanding how interferon-stimulated genes contribute to host resistance against viral infections and how pathogenic viruses counteract host immune responses. She is originally from the beautiful Caribbean island of Dominica, known for its many rivers, tropical rainforests, and natural hot springs.
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    • Elias Lolis, PhD

      Professor of Pharmacology; Faculty Director, Office for Postdoctoral Affairs

      Research Interests
      • Crystallography, X-Ray
      • Enzymes and Coenzymes
      • Education
      • Immune System Diseases
      • Inflammation
      • High-Throughput Screening Assays
      • Neoplasms
      • Parasitic Diseases
      • Pharmacology
      Elias Lolis received a BA degree in Chemistry at Columbia College and PhD in Chemistry from MIT training in structural biology. His postdoctoral training was in the Laboratory of Medical Biochemistry at Rockefeller University studying the functional interactions between advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and the immune system. He currently studies the mechanism of chemokines, the macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) family of proteins, and their receptors in disease (cancer, inflammation, and infection) using structural biology, Crispr/Cas9 in mouse models of disease, and high throughput screening of small molecules as well as designing biotherapeutics. He received a Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Faculty Development Award in Basic Pharmacology, the Donaghue Young Investigator Award, and the GlaxoWellcome Award in Drug Discovery. He is the founder and co-founder of the Yale Macromolecular X-ray Facility and Yale Keck Bioinformatics Resource, respectively. More than 25 postdoctoral associates, seven PhD students, two postgrads, seven Yale undergraduates, ten under-represented minority summer students (BioStep and PREP), and 22 undergraduates and high school students from other schools were trained by him or his senior staff. He has been involved in the recruitment of under-represented minorities ever since he was an Assistant Professor traveling to various schools and conferences and, more recently, was a member of various committees of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Intersections Science Fellows Symposium. He also serves as the Faculty Director of the Office for Postdoctoral Affairs for the University, his department's Director of Graduate Studies, and his department's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and mentors students and postdocs in his research lab.
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    • Don Nguyen, PhD

      Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical Oncology; Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center

      Research Interests
      • Genomics
      • Epigenomics
      • Inflammation
      • Tumor Microenvironment
      • Pathology
      • Neoplasm Metastasis
      • Neoplasm Micrometastasis
      Don X. Nguyen was born in Montreal, Québec, Canada and obtained his B.Sc. from McGill University in 1998. He then received his Ph.D. degree in 2004 from the University of Rochester, NY, before pursuing his post-doctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, NY. Don joined the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine in 2010 and is currently an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Pathology and Medicine (Medical Oncology). He is also the Co-leader of the Cancer Signaling Networks program at the Yale Cancer Center. His research team has contributed to the development of novel models of metastasis with recognized expertise in the biology of central nervous system metastasis. Recent studies from the Nguyen laboratory have improved our understanding of: 1) the role of cell lineage control during tumor progression, 2) the epigenetic regulation of cell-cell communication in disseminating tumor cells, and 3) the mechanistic link(s) between drug resistance and brain metastasis.
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    • Rachel Jamison Perry, PhD

      Associate Professor Term

      Research Interests
      • Insulin Resistance
      • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
      • Hyperglycemia
      • Hyperinsulinism
      Dr. Rachel Perry is an Associate Professor in Medicine/Endocrinology and Cellular & Molecular Physiology, with secondary appointments in Comparative Medicine and Neuroscience, at the Yale University School of Medicine. Rachel's background is in the use of hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps and stable isotope infusions to assess insulin sensitivity, having earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Ph.D. (with Distinction) in Cellular & Molecular Physiology, and performed her postdoctoral training in Medicine/Endocrinology, all in the laboratory of Dr. Gerald Shulman. She opened her independent laboratory with K99/R00 funding in 2018. The Perry laboratory focuses on applying stable isotope tracer methods to understand obesity- and insulin-associated alterations in metabolic flux pathways. Dr. Perry and her colleagues have recently identified hyperinsulinemia-induced increases in tumor glucose uptake and oxidation as a critical driver of colon cancer in two mouse models of the disease, and mitochondrial uncoupling as a potential therapeutic strategy against the disease, and went on to show that responsiveness to insulin is a metabolic signature of obesity-associated tumor types in vitro. Current work in the Perry lab expands upon these themes to study the intersection between systemic metabolism and immunometabolism in cancer as well as in sepsis and exercise. We have recently been or are currently funded by the NIH (R37, R21), the Melanoma Research Alliance, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Current projects in the Perry lab include: 1. What is the molecular mechanism by which obesity and hyperinsulinemia promote tumor growth? How does insulin alter rates of glycolytic, oxidative, and anaplerotic metabolism? Can we invent better tracer methods than currently exist, allowing us to reliably measure rates of these pathways in vivo? 2. What is the impact of exercise, a classic insulin-sensitizing intervention, on obesity-associated tumor growth - and what is the mechanism? 3. Are alterations in tumor immunometabolism permissive for tumor progression? How does cancer therapy alter substrate preference in immune cells? Can we exploit systemic metabolic changes to enhance anti-cancer immunity? 4. How do tumor metabolism and immunometabolism differ - in rate and regulation - in metastases as compared to primary tumor? 5. What drives the changes in glucose metabolism commonly observed in inflammation that occurs following various stimuli? In addition, Dr. Perry places great value on mentorship and has completed multiple trainings to help her hone these skills. The Perry lab is honored to have trainees at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate level from around the world working with us both remotely and in person.
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    • W. Mark Saltzman, PhD

      Goizueta Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and of Chemical Engineering; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Department Chair, Biomedical Engineering

      Research Interests
      • Cell Communication
      • Drug Discovery
      W. Mark Saltzman is an engineer and educator. His research has impacted the fields of drug delivery, biomaterials, nanobiotechnology, and tissue engineering. This work is described in more than 350 research papers and patents. He is also the sole author of three textbooks: Biomedical Engineering, Tissue Engineering, and Drug Delivery. During more than 35 years leading independent research programs at Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and Yale, he has introduced mathematical models for guiding the design of drug delivery systems, developed new methods for drug delivery to brain tumors, produced the first controlled delivery systems for nerve growth factors, the first delivery systems for long-term protection against STDs using antibodies, and new materials for delivery of DNA and RNA. In the course of this work, he has been the primary mentor for 43 doctoral students and 27 postdoctoral associates; many of these scholars are now leading their own independent research programs at top-rate universities. Prof. Saltzman graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in chemical engineering and received MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering and medical engineering from MIT. He was appointed the Goizueta Foundation Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Yale in 2002. He was the founding chair of Yale’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and served in that role for 12 years. From 2016-2022, he was the Head of Jonathan Edwards College, one of Yale’s fourteen residential colleges. Prof. Saltzman is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the US National Academy of Engineering.
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    • Silvia Vilarinho, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor of Medicine (Digestive Diseases) and of Pathology; Associate Director, Yale MD-PhD Program; Director, Internal Medicine Physician Scientist Training Program

      Research Interests
      • Liver
      • Liver Diseases
      • Phenotype
      • Consanguinity
      • Genetic Variation
      • Genotype
      Silvia Vilarinho is a physician-scientist who uses genetics, genomics and human samples to investigate the molecular basis of various liver diseases of unknown etiology. Using these approaches, we have identified five novel genetic liver diseases. Our research goal is to continue to discover new genes important in liver function both in health and disease and to use cell biology and animal models to determine the specific mechanism(s) linking mutant gene to disease as a roadmap to further understand and treat rare and common liver diseases. This research approach provides new knowledge with direct impact in improving patient care and creates an outstanding scientific environment to train future physician-scientists and trainees with particular interest in human disease. Furthermore, I am very committed to make ‘genomic medicine for liver disease’ a reality in clinical practice worldwide.
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  • 2022 Faculty Mentors

    • Karen Anderson, PhD

      Professor of Pharmacology and of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Co-Leader, Developmental Therapeutics, Yale Cancer Center; Co-Director Therapeutics/Chemotherapy Program

      Research Interests
      • Molecular Biology
      • Pharmacology
      • Anti-Retroviral Agents
      • HIV Reverse Transcriptase
      • Multifunctional Enzymes
      Karen S. Anderson is a Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. She is involved in teaching undergraduates and graduate students about drug discovery and structure-based drug design. She also serves as an undergraduate research mentor and is a fellow at Pierson College at Yale serving as a undergraduate freshman advisor. Dr. Anderson's research utilizes mechanistic enzymology and structure-based drug design. Her work focuses on understanding how enzymes, playing critical roles in such diseases as cancer and infectious diseases, including AIDS, work at a molecular level. She uses that information to develop new drug therapies. She has trained over 50 undergraduates, graduate students, M.D./Ph.D. students and postdoctoral students who have gone on to graduate school and medical school as well as successful careers in academia and industry and who are involved in biomedical research.
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    • Anton Bennett, PhD

      Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Comparative Medicine; Director, Yale Center for Molecular and Systems Metabolism (YMSM); Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)

      Research Interests
      • Neurosciences
      • Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases
      • Musculoskeletal Diseases
      • Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities
      • Cardiovascular Diseases
      • Signal Transduction
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    • Ranjit S. Bindra, MD, PhD

      Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Professor of Pathology; Vice Chair for Translational Research, Therapeutic Radiology; Scientific Director, Chênevert Family Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center; Chief, Pediatrics Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology; Chief, Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Central Nervous System Neoplasms
      • DNA Repair
      • Glioma
      • Genomics
      • Medical Oncology
      • High-Throughput Screening Assays
      • Radiation Oncology
      • Radiology
      • Pediatrics
      • Therapeutics
      Dr. Ranjit Bindra is a physician-scientist at Yale School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital. In the laboratory, his group recently led a team of four major laboratories at Yale, which reported the stunning discovery that IDH1/2-mutant tumors harbor a profound DNA repair defect that renders them exquisitely sensitive to PARP inhibitors. This work was published in Science Translational Medicine, and Nature, and it has received international attention with major clinical implications Dr. Bindra is now translating this work directly into patients, in four phase I/II clinical trials, including an innovative, biomarker-driven trial specifically targeting the Adolescent/Young Adult (AYA) cancer patient population. In addition, he is lead co-PI of a 35-site, NCI-sponsored Phase II trial testing the PARP inhibitor, olaparib, in adult IDH1/2-mutant solid tumors (NCT03212274). As a biotech entrepreneur he recently co-founded Cybrexa Therapeutics, a Series B round-funded company focused on developing an entirely new class of small molecule DNA repair inhibitors, which directly target the tumor microenvironment. Dr. Bindra received his undergraduate degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1998, and both his MD and PhD from the Yale School of Medicine in 2007. He completed his medical internship, radiation oncology residency, and post-doctoral research studies at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in 2012.Learn more about Dr. Bindra>>
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    • Hal Blumenfeld, MD, PhD

      Mark Loughridge and Michele Williams Professor of Neurology and Professor of Neuroscience and of Neurosurgery; Director, Yale Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC)

      Research Interests
      • Neurology
      • Neurobiology
      • Neuroimaging
      • Neurosurgery
      • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
      • Behavioral Research
      • Attention
      • Electrophysiology
      • Consciousness
      • Consciousness Disorders
      • Epilepsy
      Dr. Blumenfeld's clinical and research work focuses on epilepsy, cognition and brain imaging. He directs Yale's Clinical Neuroscience Imaging Center (CNIC), a new multi-disciplinary core facility for innovative study and treatment of brain disorders. Teaching activities include a textbook titled Neuroanatomy Through Clinical Cases, Sinauer Assoc., Publ. 2002, 2010, 2020.
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    • Marcus Bosenberg, MD, PhD

      Anthony N. Brady Professor of Dermatology, Pathology and Immunobiology; Director, Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer; Director, Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology; Co-Leader, Cancer Immunology, Yale Cancer Center

      Research Interests
      • Pathology
      • Neoplasm Metastasis
      • Melanoma
      • Cell Biology
      • Dermatology
      Marcus Bosenberg MD, PhD, is a physician scientist who directs a leading melanoma research laboratory, is Co-Leader of the Cancer Immunology Program of Yale Cancer Center, Director of the Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology, Contact PI of the Yale SPORE in Skin Cancer,  Director of the Center for Precision Cancer Modeling, and is a practicing dermatopathologist at Yale Dermatopathology through Yale Medicine.In his research, Dr. Bosenberg studies factors that regulate anti-cancer immune responses. His laboratory has developed several widely utilized mouse models in order to study how melanoma forms and progresses, to test new cancer therapies, and how the immune system can be stimulated to fight cancer. He works to translate basic scientific findings into improvements in cancer diagnosis and therapy. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and is a member of the Yale Cancer Center Executive Committee.Dr. Bosenberg mentors undergraduate, graduate, medical, and MD-PhD students in his laboratory, teaches at Yale School of Medicine, and trains resident physicians, fellows, and postdoctoral fellows.
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    • Jessica Cardin, PhD

      Professor of Neuroscience; Deputy Chair, Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Schizophrenia
      • Interneurons
      • Neurosciences
      • Neurobiology
      • Electrophysiology
      • Epilepsy
      • Autistic Disorder
      • Cerebral Cortex
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    • Keith Choate, MD, PhD

      Aaron B. and Marguerite Lerner Professor and Chair of Dermatology. Professor of Genetics and Pathology. Associate Dean for Physician-Scientist Development

      Research Interests
      • Skin Diseases
      • Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases
      • Cell Biology
      • Genetics
      • Genetics, Medical
      • Ichthyosis
      • Human Genetics
      • Human Genome Project
      • Mosaicism
      Keith Choate M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-scientist who employs tools of human genetics to understand fundamental mechanisms of disease. His laboratory studies rare inherited and mosaic skin disorders to identify novel genes responsible for epidermal differentiation and development.  His laboratory has identified the genetic basis of over 12 disorders and has developed new therapeutic approaches informed by genetic findings.  His laboratory is funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and of Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health.Dr. Choate mentors undergraduate, graduate, and medical students in his laboratory, teaches at Yale Medical School, and trains resident physicians and fellows.
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    • Joseph N. Contessa, MD, PhD

      Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and of Pharmacology; Co-Leader, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity, Yale Cancer Center; Vice Chair for Basic Science Research, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Chemicals and Drugs
      • Neoplasms
      • Radiobiology
      Joseph N. Contessa, MD, PhD, a radiation oncologist, is the director of Yale Medicine’s Central Nervous System Radiotherapy Program. He specializes in treating patients with primary tumors of the brain, head and neck, and at the base of the skull.  “Due to Yale's large referral base, I frequently see relatively rare tumors,” he says, including low-grade and malignant gliomas, ependymomas, high-grade meningiomas, hemangiopericytomas, paragangliomas, and schwannomas. His expertise in treating uncommon cancers benefits patients diagnosed with these tumor types.  “I look forward to helping patients have the best possible outcome when they are faced with a challenging diagnosis,” he says.Dr. Contessa is a Professor of therapeutic radiology and of pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine where he is part of a team of physicians and scientists who are actively researching the cellular mechanisms that tumors use to evade or “outsmart” standard cancer therapies in hopes of identifying new approaches that improve treatment.“We are all working together to increase our knowledge, improve our care and beat cancer,” Dr. Contessa says.
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    • Craig M Crews, PhD

      John C. Malone Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Professor of Chemistry, of Pharmacology, and of Management; Executive Director, Yale Center for Molecular Discovery

      Research Interests
      • Neoplasms
      • Biology
      • Biochemistry
      • Cell Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Drugs, Investigational
      • Pharmacology
      • Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex
      • Proteasome Inhibitors
      Dr. Crews is the John C. Malone Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and holds joint appointments in the departments of Chemistry and Pharmacology at Yale University. He graduated from the U.Virginia with a B.A. in Chemistry and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Biochemistry. Dr. Crews has a foothold in both the academic and biotech arenas; on the faculty at Yale since 1995, his laboratory has pioneered the use of small molecules to control intracellular protein levels. In 2003, he co-founded Proteolix, Inc., whose proteasome inhibitor, Kyprolis™ received FDA approval for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Since Proteolix’s purchase by Onyx Pharmaceuticals in 2009, Dr. Crews has focused on a new drug development technology, which served as the founding intellectual property for his latest New Haven-based biotech venture, Arvinas, Inc. Currently, Dr. Crews serves on several editorial boards and was Editor of Cell Chemical Biology (2008-2018). In addition, he has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2013 CURE Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2014 Ehrlich Award for Medicinal Chemistry, 2015 Yale Cancer Center Translational Research Prize, a NIH R35 Outstanding Investigator Award (2015), the AACR Award for Chemistry in Cancer Research (2017), Khorana Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry (2018), Pierre Fabre Award for Therapeutic Innovation (2018), the Pharmacia-ASPET Award for Experimental Therapeutics (2019), the Heinrich Wieland Prize (2020) and the Scheele Prize (2021). In 2019, he was named an American Cancer Society Professor and received the Connecticut Medal of Technology in 2022, the Gabbay Award for Biotechnology and Medicine in 2023, the Kimberly Prize in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics (2024) and the IUPAC-Richter Prize in Medicinal Chemistry (2024).
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    • Alan Dardik, MD, PhD, FACS, DFSVS, FAHA

      Emeritus Professor of Surgery and of Cellular and Molecular Physiology; Principal Investigator, Dardik Laboratory; Editor-in-Chief, JVS-Vascular Science, Society for Vascular Surgery

      Research Interests
      • Stem Cells
      • Tissue Engineering
      • Vascular Diseases
      • Vascular Fistula
      • Surgically-Created Structures
      • Vascular Remodeling
      • Vascular Surgical Procedures
      • Vena Cava, Inferior
      • Cardiovascular System
      • Carotid Arteries
      • Carotid Stenosis
      • Arterial Occlusive Diseases
      • Arteriosclerosis
      • Arteriovenous Anastomosis
      • Arteriovenous Fistula
      • Arteriovenous Shunt, Surgical
      • Adult Stem Cells
      • Aorta
      • Diabetic Foot
      • Graft Occlusion, Vascular
      • Endothelium
      • Endothelium, Vascular
      • Ephrin-B2
      • Molecular Biology
      • Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
      • Jugular Veins
      • Peripheral Vascular Diseases
      • Research
      • Receptor, EphB4
      Dr. Alan Dardik is a surgeon-scientist who harnesses the power of molecular biology to achieve a modern understanding of vascular disease, and then use the basic science laboratory to ultimately benefit patients with vascular diseases. Dr. Dardik trained at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Johns Hopkins Hospital before his appointment to the Yale faculty in 2001. Dr. Dardik focuses his clinical practice on teaching at the VA Connecticut, where he was formerly the Chief of Vascular Surgery and currently serves as the Chief of Surgery. Dr. Dardik has won the C. Elton Cahow Award for Outstanding Faculty Teaching from Yale’s Department of Surgery and the Faculty Teaching Award from St. Mary’s Hospital. Dr. Dardik has served Yale’s Department of Surgery as a Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs, as well as Interim Division Chief of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. The Dardik laboratory studies the healing and function of blood vessels, fistulae and vessel patches that are used in patients having vascular surgery. The laboratory is trying to understand the fundamental molecular mechanisms by which vein graft adaptation and arteriovenous fistula maturation result in positive remodeling and successful adaptation to the arterial environment, yet often proceed, in the long-term, to neointimal hyperplasia and failure. The laboratory also studies novel methods to deliver stem cells to diabetic wounds. The laboratory is funded from the NIH as well as Yale's Department of Surgery. Dr. Dardik currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the translational science journal JVS-Vascular Science; he is the past President of the New England Society for Vascular Surgery, the Association of VA Surgeons as well as of the International Society for Vascular Surgery. Dr. Dardik has run several national and international meetings, including the Society for Vascular Surgery Vascular Research Initiatives Conference, and has served on numerous peer review committees including review for the NIH, the VA, and Vascular Cures. Dr. Dardik has edited several textbooks including “Vascular Surgery: A Global Perspective” and “Stem cell therapy for vascular diseases.”
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    • Luisa Escobar-Hoyos, MSc, PhD

      Assistant Professor of Therapeutic Radiology; Radiobiology Course Director, Therapeutic Radiology

      Research Interests
      • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
      • Pancreatic Neoplasms
      • RNA Splicing
      Dr. Escobar-Hoyos obtained her master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. As a Fulbright Scholar, she pursued a Ph.D. in Cancer Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Stony Brook University mentored by Dr. Kenneth Shroyer. She then completed her postdoctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center co-mentored by Drs. Steven Leach and Omar Abdel-Wahab. In 2020, Dr. Escobar-Hoyos joined the Department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale as an Assistant Professor.The overarching goal of Dr. Escobar-Hoyos' lab is to cure pancreatic and lung cancers. Specifically, the team seeks to understand and target somatic mutations, and aberrant RNA processing in these tumors to  develop of novel therapies.
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    • Wendy V. Gilbert, PhD

      Maxine F. Singer '57 Ph.D. Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

      Research Interests
      • Genomics
      • Gene Expression Regulation
      • Molecular Biology
      • Biochemistry
      • Transcriptome
      • RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional
      • Protein Biosynthesis
      Wendy Gilbert is a Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Her work focuses on regulatory elements in messenger RNA that control the cellular expression of the information stored in the genetic code. She earned her PhD at UCSF with Christine Guthrie, studying mRNA export and being fascinated by the exquisite mechanisms that couple export-competence to completion of RNA processing. As a postdoc in Jennifer Doudna’s lab at UC Berkeley, she uncovered a non-canonical mechanism of translation initiation. Her lab’s current work ranges widely across RNA biology with the unifying theme of elucidating the molecular mechanisms of RNA regulatory elements controlling mRNA biogenesis, translation and decay. Most recently, this has been in the area of RNA base modification. Notable awards include the RNA Society’s Early Career Award (2017) for her “paradigm-altering contributions to the field of post-transcriptional gene regulation” and the RNA Society Award for Excellence in Inclusive Leadership (2023) for her efforts to promote the training and professional development of underrepresented scientists.
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    • Akiko Iwasaki, PhD

      Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Dermatology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases); Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, (HHMI)

      Research Interests
      • Pneumonia, Viral
      • Pregnancy Complications
      • Sexually Transmitted Diseases
      • RNA Viruses
      • Proviruses
      • Tumor Virus Infections
      • Immunity, Cellular
      • Immunity, Innate
      • Inflammasomes
      • Influenza, Human
      • Molecular Biology
      • Immune System
      • Herpes Simplex
      • Central Nervous System Viral Diseases
      • DNA Viruses
      • Encephalitis, Viral
      • Arboviruses
      • Autophagy
      Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Canada and her postdoctoral training from the National Institutes of Health. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of immune defense against viruses at the mucosal surfaces, and the development of mucosal vaccine strategies. She is the co-Lead Investigator of the Yale COVID-19 Recovery Study, which aims to determine the changes in the immune response of people with long COVID after vaccination. Dr. Iwasaki also leads multiple other studies to interrogate the pathobiology of long COVID, both in patients, and through developing animal models of long COVID. Dr. Iwasaki was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2018, to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, to the European Molecular Biology Organization in 2021, and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.
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    • Ryan B. Jensen, PhD

      Associate Professor of Therapeutic Radiology and Pathology

      Research Interests
      • BRCA2 Protein
      • Breast Neoplasms
      • DNA Damage
      • DNA Repair
      • Genomic Instability
      • Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome
      • Homologous Recombination
      • Radiation Oncology
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    • Barbara Kazmierczak, MD, PhD

      Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation M.D.-Ph.D. Program Director and Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Microbial Pathogenesis; Professor, Microbial Pathogenesis; Director, MD-PhD Program, Yale University

      Research Interests
      • Infectious Disease Medicine
      • Immunity, Innate
      • Host-Pathogen Interactions
      • Education, Medical, Graduate
      • Biomedical Research
      • Bacterial Infections
      • Pseudomonas
      • Microbiology
      Dr. Kazmierczak received her PhD from Rockefeller University (1993) and her MD from Cornell University Medical College (1994), both in New York City. She completed an Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases fellowship training at the University of California, San Francisco, and joined the Yale faculty in 2001. She is currently a Professor of Medicine and Microbial Pathogenesis, and Director of the MD-PhD program at Yale. Dr. Kazmierczak's research program is broadly focused on bacterial and host factors that allow opportunistic infections to occur. Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a clinically relevant model, her lab addresses fundamental questions of how cell-envelope spanning bacterial machines - the Type 3 secretion system, Type 4 pili and polar flagellum - are assembled, regulated, and used during infection. She has also identified host responses directed at components of these virulence associated structures, in particular those mediated by the NLRC4 inflammasome. Inflammatory responses to bacteria are also a focus of her work on microbiome-host interactions in infants with Cystic Fibrosis, where her lab has used longitudinal data acquired over five years from cohorts of patients and controls to understand gut microbiome composition and the inflammatory and metabolic responses at this site. Dr. Kazmierczak has been recognized as a Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases (2007), a Donaghue Investigator (2002), and a Hellman Family Fellow (2002). She is a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the American Academy for Microbiology.
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    • Mustafa Khokha, MD

      Professor Adjunct

      Research Interests
      • Embryo, Nonmammalian
      • Germ Layers
      • Neural Plate
      • Notochord
      • Organizers, Embryonic
      We are interested in the molecular mechanisms that cause critical illness in infants and children. We enroll patients with birth defects or other critical illness that cannot be explained by an acquired illness and perform exome sequencing in order to identify candidate genes that may explain the child's disease. Then we model the candidate gene in order to understand its function. In the context of birth defects, we employ the high-throughput human disease model, Xenopus tropicalis in which we can knockout desired genes and examine phenotypes in just three days.Traditionally gene discovery in these patients was very challenging, but now not only is candidate gene discovery efficient but we can rapidly model the human disease and understand gene function in model organisms or patient cells.
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    • Liza Konnikova, MD, PhD, FAAP

      Associate Professor; CyTOF Core Director, Medicine

      Research Interests
      • Placenta
      • Enterocolitis, Necrotizing
      • Gastrointestinal Microbiome
      • Immunity, Mucosal
      • Infant Nutrition Disorders
      • Infant, Premature
      • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
      Dr. Konnikova's team focuses on the development of early life immunity particularly at barrier sites such as the GI tract and the maternal-fetal interface with a particular focus on T cell biology. Using multi-omic approaches, the group investigates how mucosal homeostasis is developed and what contributes to pathogenesis of diverse diseases such as sepsis, preterm labor, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), very early onset (VEO) and pediatric IBD. The Konnikova lab is further interested in how the microbiome and the associated metabolome regulate immune development and homeostasis at barrier sites. Her group is also interested in how early life events alter circulating immune cells. To this end, in collaboration with the NOuRISH team they are enrolling infants in a longitudinal study of peripheral blood development.
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    • Themis Kyriakides, PhD

      Professor of Pathology; Director, Graduate Programs, Pathology

      Research Interests
      • Nanomedicine
      • Pathology
      • Translational Research, Biomedical
      • Wound Healing
      • Education, Medical
      • Cell Fusion
      • Animal Experimentation
      • Extracellular Matrix
      • Foreign Bodies
      • Inflammation
      Dr. Kyriakides completed a PhD at Washington State University in 1993. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington and has expertise in the areas of extracellular matrix, inflammation, angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in relation to tissue repair. The Kyriakides lab is investigating the regulation and function of matricellular proteins that modulate cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Our overall goal is to create novel engineering strategies based on biological observations to enhance tissue repair. Dr. Kyriakides is Director of Graduate Studies for the Experimental Pathology PhD program. He also serves as a mentor for students from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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    • Maudry Laurent-Rolle, MD, PhD, BS

      Assistant Professor

      Dr. Maudry Laurent-Rolle received her B.S. from Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in Biology in 2001. She then obtained her MD and PhD from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her dissertation research was funded by an NIH pre-doctoral fellowship, which allowed her to examine the molecular mechanisms by which flaviviruses inhibit host innate immune responses. She completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein/Montefiore Medical Center in 2016 then joined the Infectious Diseases Fellowship program here at Yale University. Her research focuses on understanding how interferon-stimulated genes contribute to host resistance against viral infections and how pathogenic viruses counteract host immune responses. She is originally from the beautiful Caribbean island of Dominica, known for its many rivers, tropical rainforests, and natural hot springs.
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    • Rachel Jamison Perry, PhD

      Associate Professor Term

      Research Interests
      • Insulin Resistance
      • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
      • Hyperglycemia
      • Hyperinsulinism
      Dr. Rachel Perry is an Associate Professor in Medicine/Endocrinology and Cellular & Molecular Physiology, with secondary appointments in Comparative Medicine and Neuroscience, at the Yale University School of Medicine. Rachel's background is in the use of hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps and stable isotope infusions to assess insulin sensitivity, having earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Ph.D. (with Distinction) in Cellular & Molecular Physiology, and performed her postdoctoral training in Medicine/Endocrinology, all in the laboratory of Dr. Gerald Shulman. She opened her independent laboratory with K99/R00 funding in 2018. The Perry laboratory focuses on applying stable isotope tracer methods to understand obesity- and insulin-associated alterations in metabolic flux pathways. Dr. Perry and her colleagues have recently identified hyperinsulinemia-induced increases in tumor glucose uptake and oxidation as a critical driver of colon cancer in two mouse models of the disease, and mitochondrial uncoupling as a potential therapeutic strategy against the disease, and went on to show that responsiveness to insulin is a metabolic signature of obesity-associated tumor types in vitro. Current work in the Perry lab expands upon these themes to study the intersection between systemic metabolism and immunometabolism in cancer as well as in sepsis and exercise. We have recently been or are currently funded by the NIH (R37, R21), the Melanoma Research Alliance, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Current projects in the Perry lab include: 1. What is the molecular mechanism by which obesity and hyperinsulinemia promote tumor growth? How does insulin alter rates of glycolytic, oxidative, and anaplerotic metabolism? Can we invent better tracer methods than currently exist, allowing us to reliably measure rates of these pathways in vivo? 2. What is the impact of exercise, a classic insulin-sensitizing intervention, on obesity-associated tumor growth - and what is the mechanism? 3. Are alterations in tumor immunometabolism permissive for tumor progression? How does cancer therapy alter substrate preference in immune cells? Can we exploit systemic metabolic changes to enhance anti-cancer immunity? 4. How do tumor metabolism and immunometabolism differ - in rate and regulation - in metastases as compared to primary tumor? 5. What drives the changes in glucose metabolism commonly observed in inflammation that occurs following various stimuli? In addition, Dr. Perry places great value on mentorship and has completed multiple trainings to help her hone these skills. The Perry lab is honored to have trainees at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate level from around the world working with us both remotely and in person.
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    • Katerina Politi, PhD

      Joseph A. and Lucille K. Madri Professor of Pathology; Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center; Scientific Director, Center for Thoracic Cancers

      Research Interests
      • Pathology
      • Molecular Targeted Therapy
      • Lung Neoplasms
      • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic
      Katerina Politi studied Biology at the University of Pavia in Italy. She then moved to New York, where she obtained her PhD in Genetics and Development working with Argiris Efstratiadis at Columbia University. Following graduate school, she joined Harold Varmus's lab at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and began her work on the molecular basis of lung cancer. She continues this work at Yale as a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Yale Cancer Center.
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    • David G. Schatz, PhD

      Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Chair, Immunobiology

      Research Interests
      • Antibody Diversity
      • Antibody Formation
      • Biological Evolution
      • Developmental Biology
      • Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte
      • Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte
      • Genes, Immunoglobulin
      • Molecular Biology
      • Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin
      • Leukemia, Lymphoid
      • Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin
      Dr. Schatz has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms that assemble and diversify antigen receptor genes that encode antibodies and T cell receptors.  He is best known for the discovery of RAG1 and RAG2, subsequent biochemical insights into RAG function and evolutionary origins, and the discovery of two distinct levels of regulation of somatic hypermutation. Schatz has co-authored over 180 articles, many in prestigious journals, and has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Rhodes Scholarship, the Snow Prize (Yale University's top award to a graduating senior), the National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellows Award, the American Association of Immunologists-BD Biosciences Investigator Award, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, and election to the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine. He has been active as an editor and reviewer, serving as Co-Editor of the journal Immunity, as a member of the editorial board of a number of journals, and as a member and Chair of the NIH study section Cellular and Molecular Immunology-A.  Schatz has also been very interested in graduate education, serving for many years as the Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Admissions for Immunobiology and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Program.  He remains strongly committed to enhancing predoctoral and postdoctoral training programs in his current role as Chair of the Department of Immunobiology. Schatz received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1980, and a M.A. degree in Philosophy and Politics from Oxford University in 1982. His Ph.D. degree (1990) and postdoctoral training were done with Dr. David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
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    • Albert C Shaw, MD, PhD

      Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

      Research Interests
      • DNA Repair
      • Aging
      • Infectious Disease Medicine
      • Immunity, Innate
      • Influenza Vaccines
      • Immune System
      • Toll-Like Receptors
      Dr. Shaw is a graduate of Harvard College who completed his M.D. training at Harvard Medical School and his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Philip Leder. After completing his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Fred Alt. Dr. Shaw joined the faculty at Yale in 2001, and is currently Professor of Medicine in the Section of Infectious Diseases. His research focuses on the immunology of aging, and his laboratory has interests in age-associated alterations in innate immune function and vaccine response in humans, as well as circadian regulation of immune response and mechanisms of inflammatory dysregulation in medication-associated treatment of opioid use disorder.  He was a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Physician Research Fellow, Brookdale National Fellow, and T. Franklin Williams Scholar, and he is a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America and member of the Interurban Clinical Club.
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    • Jeffrey Townsend, PhD

      Elihu Professor of Biostatistics and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Co-Leader, Genomics, Genetics, & Epigenetics Research Program

      Research Interests
      • Nonlinear Dynamics
      • Organisms
      • Mycoses
      • Molecular Epidemiology
      • Nature
      • Neoplasm Metastasis
      • Neoplasms
      • Microarray Analysis
      • Microbiological Phenomena
      • Models, Genetic
      • Models, Statistical
      • Models, Theoretical
      • Likelihood Functions
      • Logistic Models
      • Mathematical Concepts
      • Sequence Analysis, DNA
      • Sequence Analysis, Protein
      • Viruses
      • Phenomena and Processes
      • Phylogeny
      • Polymerase Chain Reaction
      • Public Health Informatics
      • Host-Pathogen Interactions
      • Fungi
      • Gene Expression Profiling
      • Gene Transfer Techniques
      • Genetic Engineering
      • Genetic Phenomena
      • Genetic Speciation
      • Evolution, Molecular
      • Bread
      • Biological Evolution
      • Algorithms
      • Bacteria
      • Bacterial Infections and Mycoses
      • Beer
      • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic
      • Coccidioidomycosis
      • Computing Methodologies
      • Crops, Agricultural
      • Wine
      Professor Townsend received his Ph.D. in 2002 in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University, under the advisement of Daniel Hartl. His Ph.D. was entitled "Population genetic variation in genome-wide gene expression: modeling, measurement, and analysis", and constituted the first population genetic analysis of genome-wide gene expression variation. After making use of the model budding yeast S. cerevisiae for his Ph.D. research, Dr. Townsend accepted an appointment as a Miller Fellow at the University of California-Berkeley in the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, where he worked to develop molecular tools, techniques, and analysis methodologies for functional genomics studies with the filamentous fungal model species Neurospora crassa, co-advised by Berkeley fungal evolutionary biologist John Taylor and molecular mycologist Louise Glass. In 2004, he accepted his first appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Connecticut. In 2006 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. In 2013 he began to work on statistical approaches to fit mathematical models of disease spread and emergence, and to work on the somatic evolution of cancer, and was appointed as an Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. In 2017 he was named Elihu Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and in 2018 he was appointed Elihu Professor of Biostatistics and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. In 2019 he was appointed a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, in recognition of the development of innovative approaches to population biology, including the evolution of antimicrobial resistance, disease evolution and transmission, and evolution of tumorigenesis; and research that has enabled curtailment of pathogen evolution, outbreak mitigation, and informed therapeutic approaches to cancer metastasis and evolution of therapeutic resistance in cancer. In 2021 he was selected as the Co-Chair-Elect of the Cancer Evolution Working Group of the American Association for Cancer Research. In 2022 he was appointed Co-Director of the Genetics, Genomics, and Epigenetics Program of the Yale Cancer Center. In 2023 he was elevated to Co-Chair of the Cancer Evolution Working Group of the American Association for Cancer Research.
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    • Andrew Wang, MD, PhD, AB

      Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (Rheumatology)

      Research Interests
      • Inflammation
      • Psychoneuroimmunology
      • Metabolism
      • Neuroimmunomodulation
      I obtained my AB from Harvard University and my MD, PhD degrees in 2011 from University of Texas Southwestern with additional training done at the University of Paris. As a part of his MD/PhD training in the laboratories of Drs. Edward Wakeland and Chandra Mohan, I identified a key role for the CXCR4/SDF-1 axis in end-organ targeting (in mouse and man), an important insight in the pathogenesis of SLE. I then did my Internal Medicine internship and residency training at Yale and joined the ABIM Short Track Pathway into the Rheumatology fellowship. I joined the laboratory of Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov in July 2014 for my postdoctoral training.  There, based on my clinical experience as a house officer, I shifted my focus to understanding how inflammation and metabolism are coordinated on an organismal level.  My work in Dr. Medzhitov's laboratory led to the discovery that different inflammatory states are coordinated with different metabolic programs, an important insight into the pathogenesis of many inflammatory diseases.  I joined the faculty as Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine (Rheumatology) in August 2017 and the Immunobiology faculty in July 2019.My lab is generally interested in trying to understand how the environment interacts with the host to affect disease trajectories. We utilize a broad range of techniques spanning disciplines spanning physiology, metabolism, inflammation, neurobiology, and immunology coupled with patient samples. On-going interests:1. Identifying and dissecting environmental determinants of inflammatory diseases. 2. Understanding inflammatory physiology3. Understanding placebo and nocebo physiology.4. Understanding the "moonlighting" functions of the immune system.5. Understanding energy allocation in host defense. (Collaboration with Dr. Rachel Perry)6. Understanding the relationship between cell death and inflammation. (Collaboration with Dr. Aaron Ring)In the clinic, I see patients with inflammatory conditions, many of the times with no clear diagnosis, as well as patients with rheumatologic diseases.
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    • Z. Jimmy Zhou, PhD

      Marvin L. Sears Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and Professor of Neuroscience; Vice Chairman and Director of Research, Ophthalmology and Visual Science

      Research Interests
      • Neurobiology
      • Ophthalmology
      • Physiology
      • Retina
      • Retinal Diseases
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  • 2021 Faculty Mentors

    • William Cafferty, PhD

      Associate Professor of Neurology and of Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Demyelinating Diseases
      • Brain Diseases
      • Pain
      • Neurodegenerative Diseases
      • Spinal Cord Injuries
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    • Jessica Cardin, PhD

      Professor of Neuroscience; Deputy Chair, Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Schizophrenia
      • Interneurons
      • Neurosciences
      • Neurobiology
      • Electrophysiology
      • Epilepsy
      • Autistic Disorder
      • Cerebral Cortex
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    • Steve W. C. Chang, PhD

      Associate Professor Tenure; Associate Professor, Neuroscience; Member, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Neural Networks, Computer
      • Neural Pathways
      • Neurophysiology
      • Prefrontal Cortex
      • Amygdala
      • Social Behavior
      • Social Cognition
      • Theory of Mind
      Steve Chang is an Associate Professor of Psychology and of Neuroscience at Yale University. He is also a member of the Wu Tsai Institute and the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at Yale. He is the co-Director of Undergraduate Studies of Yale's Neuroscience (NSCI) major. His research aims to understand the neural circuit mechanisms of social cognition and social decision-making. Major research approaches include using naturalistic social interaction paradigms combined with state-of-the-art behavioral and neural technologies. The ultimate goal of the research program is to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying social cognition and to learn how these processes may be disrupted in psychiatric conditions with social deficits.
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    • Daniel Alfonso Colón-Ramos, PhD

      Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology

      Research Interests
      • Brain
      • Behavior
      • Cell Biology
      • Neurons
      Daniel Colón-Ramos was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He completed his B.A. at Harvard University, his PhD in the lab of Dr. Sally Kornbluth at Duke University and was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Kang Shen at Stanford University. The Colón-Ramos lab is interested in how synapses are precisely assembled to build the neuronal architecture that underlies behavior. To address this, they developed tools in the thermotaxis circuit of C. elegans. Their system enables unbiased genetic screens to identify novel pathways that instruct synaptogenesis in vivo, and single-cell manipulation of these pathways to understand how they influence behavior. As mechanisms underlying synapse structure and function are conserved, the research program seeks to enhance our understanding of synaptic cell biology in higher organisms, which may be important for disease.
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    • Wendy V. Gilbert, PhD

      Maxine F. Singer '57 Ph.D. Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

      Research Interests
      • Genomics
      • Gene Expression Regulation
      • Molecular Biology
      • Biochemistry
      • Transcriptome
      • RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional
      • Protein Biosynthesis
      Wendy Gilbert is a Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Her work focuses on regulatory elements in messenger RNA that control the cellular expression of the information stored in the genetic code. She earned her PhD at UCSF with Christine Guthrie, studying mRNA export and being fascinated by the exquisite mechanisms that couple export-competence to completion of RNA processing. As a postdoc in Jennifer Doudna’s lab at UC Berkeley, she uncovered a non-canonical mechanism of translation initiation. Her lab’s current work ranges widely across RNA biology with the unifying theme of elucidating the molecular mechanisms of RNA regulatory elements controlling mRNA biogenesis, translation and decay. Most recently, this has been in the area of RNA base modification. Notable awards include the RNA Society’s Early Career Award (2017) for her “paradigm-altering contributions to the field of post-transcriptional gene regulation” and the RNA Society Award for Excellence in Inclusive Leadership (2023) for her efforts to promote the training and professional development of underrepresented scientists.
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    • Valentina Greco, PhD

      Carolyn Walch Slayman Professor of Genetics

      Research Interests
      • Stem Cell Niche
      • Stem Cells
      • Regeneration
      • Neoplasms by Histologic Type
      • Genetics
      • Cell Biology
      • Dermatology
      Valentina Greco was born in Palermo, Italy and earned her undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Palermo, Italy (1996). She earned her PhD at the EMBL/MPI-CBG, Germany (1998-2002), her post-doc at the Rockefeller University (2003-2009) and is currently a Professor in the Genetics, Cell Biology and Dermatology Departments, and a member of the Yale Stem Cell Center and Yale Cancer Center at Yale University (2009-present). The Greco lab aims to define how tissues maintain themselves throughout the course of our lives in the face of continuous cellular turnover, frequent injuries, and spontaneous mutations. To do so, the Greco lab developed novel tools that integrate imaging of stem cells in their niche in live mice with both genetic and cell biological approaches that empower a better understanding of the complex orchestration of tissue regeneration using the skin as a model system. This has led to a number of discoveries, including but not limited to 1) stem cell position dictates their fate in the hair follicle, 2) a stem cell-mediated phagocytic clearance mechanism regulates the size of the hair follicle stem cell pool and 3) tissue correction preserves skin epithelial homeostasis. These scientific discoveries are driven by the lab's desire to create a stimulating academic environment where the focus is on doing good, collaborative science while promoting inclusivity within the scientific community, prioritizing mentoring of the lab's trainees’ scientific growth, and striving to make science accessible to everyone.Dr. Greco has been the recipient of many awards over her career, most recently the 2021 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Momentum Award, the 2019 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the 2019 Yale Postdoctoral Mentoring Award, the 2018 Yale Graduate Mentor Award in the Natural Sciences, and in 2018 was named the Inaugural Holder of the Carolyn Slayman Endowed Professorship.
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    • Michael J Higley, MD, PhD

      Professor of Neuroscience and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and of Psychiatry; Member, Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair (CNNR); Associate Director, MD-PhD Program

      Research Interests
      • Neurobiology
      • Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton
      • Behavior
      • Autistic Disorder
      • Dendrites
      • Electrophysiology
      Dr. Higley studied behavioral neuroscience at Cornell University. He then completed his MD and PhD in the MSTP Program and the laboratory of Dr. Diego Contreras at the University of Pennsylvania. He continued his scientific training as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard Medical School. In 2010, Dr. Higley joined the faculty of the Yale Department of Neuroscience and the Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, and Repair (CNNR). He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2020. He has received numerous honors for his research, including a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Klingenstein Fellowship, and most recently the NIH Director's Pioneer Award. Dr. Higley has a secondary appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and is a member of the Wu Tsai Institute. He also serves as an Associate Director for the Yale MD-PhD Program.
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    • Elizabeth Jonas, MD

      Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology) and Professor of Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Synaptic Transmission
      • Mitochondria
      • Nervous System
      • Neurobiology
      • Apoptosis
      • Endocrinology
      Elizabeth Jonas received training in Neurology and Internal Medicine. She developed an interest in Neuroscience while studying as a medical student with Dr. Rodolfo Llinas at N.Y.U. and at the Marine Biological Laboratory. With Dr. Llinas she developed an interest in calcium control of synaptic transmission. She pursued this interest as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Leonard Kaczmarek, Yale Pharmacology. Dr. Jonas developed a technique for recording from ion channels on intracellular membranes and has used this and other techniques to study mitochondria. Mitochondria are necessary for life and death of neurons and other cells. Regulation of mitochondrial metabolism is also key to energy efficiency in the nervous system. Dr. Jonas is now studying the role of mitochondria and energy efficiency in neurodegenerative disease states and in learning and memory formation in healthy brain. Her lab has recently characterized the molecular identity of the cell death channel known as the mitochondrial permeability transition pore and is now studying how inhibiting gating of the pore may ameliorate stroke, neurodegenerative and developmental brain diseases.
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    • Megan C. King, PhD

      Associate Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology; Co-Leader, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity, Yale Cancer Center; Associate Cancer Center Director, Basic Science

      Research Interests
      • Nuclear Envelope
      • Mechanotransduction, Cellular
      • Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome
      • Genome
      • Cell Biology
      • Cell Nucleus
      • Chromatin
      • DNA Repair
      Megan received her B.A. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University working with Dr. Susan Lowey and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania working with Dr. Mark Lemmon. During her postdoctoral training with Dr. Günter Blobel at Rockefeller University, she discovered new mechanisms for the targeting and function of integral inner nuclear membrane proteins. Since founding her own group in 2009, Megan has continued to investigate the broad array of biological functions that are integrated at the nuclear envelope, from impacts on DNA repair to nuclear and cellular mechanics. Megan was named a Searle Scholar in 2011, is a recipient of the NIH New Innovator Award and is currently an Allen Distinguished Investigator.
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    • Themis Kyriakides, PhD

      Professor of Pathology; Director, Graduate Programs, Pathology

      Research Interests
      • Nanomedicine
      • Pathology
      • Translational Research, Biomedical
      • Wound Healing
      • Education, Medical
      • Cell Fusion
      • Animal Experimentation
      • Extracellular Matrix
      • Foreign Bodies
      • Inflammation
      Dr. Kyriakides completed a PhD at Washington State University in 1993. He did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington and has expertise in the areas of extracellular matrix, inflammation, angiogenesis and arteriogenesis in relation to tissue repair. The Kyriakides lab is investigating the regulation and function of matricellular proteins that modulate cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Our overall goal is to create novel engineering strategies based on biological observations to enhance tissue repair. Dr. Kyriakides is Director of Graduate Studies for the Experimental Pathology PhD program. He also serves as a mentor for students from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
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    • Carrie L Lucas, PhD

      Associate Professor of Immunobiology

      Research Interests
      • T-Lymphocytes
      • Signal Transduction
      • Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
      • Immunoproliferative Disorders
      • Inflammation
      • Hereditary Autoinflammatory Diseases
      Dr. Carrie L. Lucas received her PhD from Harvard Medical School and her postdoctoral training from the National Institutes of Health, NIAID. Her laboratory discovers single-gene defects underlying severe immune disorders in humans and dissects new biology and mechanisms revealed by these gene mutations using patient cells and genetically engineered mouse models.
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    • Don Nguyen, PhD

      Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical Oncology; Co-Leader, Cancer Signaling Networks, Yale Cancer Center

      Research Interests
      • Genomics
      • Epigenomics
      • Inflammation
      • Tumor Microenvironment
      • Pathology
      • Neoplasm Metastasis
      • Neoplasm Micrometastasis
      Don X. Nguyen was born in Montreal, Québec, Canada and obtained his B.Sc. from McGill University in 1998. He then received his Ph.D. degree in 2004 from the University of Rochester, NY, before pursuing his post-doctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, NY. Don joined the faculty at the Yale School of Medicine in 2010 and is currently an Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Pathology and Medicine (Medical Oncology). He is also the Co-leader of the Cancer Signaling Networks program at the Yale Cancer Center. His research team has contributed to the development of novel models of metastasis with recognized expertise in the biology of central nervous system metastasis. Recent studies from the Nguyen laboratory have improved our understanding of: 1) the role of cell lineage control during tumor progression, 2) the epigenetic regulation of cell-cell communication in disseminating tumor cells, and 3) the mechanistic link(s) between drug resistance and brain metastasis.
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    • Noah Wolcott Palm, PhD

      Professor

      Research Interests
      • Neuroimmunomodulation
      • Microbiota
      • Inflammation
      • Homeostasis
      • Adaptive Immunity
      • Allergy and Immunology
      • Brain-Gut Axis
      • Gastrointestinal Tract
      Noah W. Palm is a Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. His laboratory focuses on illuminating the myriad interactions between the immune system and the gut microbiota in health and disease. Dr. Palm performed his doctoral work with Ruslan Medzhitov and his postdoctoral work with Richard Flavell, both at Yale University.
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    • Rachel Jamison Perry, PhD

      Associate Professor Term

      Research Interests
      • Insulin Resistance
      • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
      • Hyperglycemia
      • Hyperinsulinism
      Dr. Rachel Perry is an Associate Professor in Medicine/Endocrinology and Cellular & Molecular Physiology, with secondary appointments in Comparative Medicine and Neuroscience, at the Yale University School of Medicine. Rachel's background is in the use of hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps and stable isotope infusions to assess insulin sensitivity, having earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Ph.D. (with Distinction) in Cellular & Molecular Physiology, and performed her postdoctoral training in Medicine/Endocrinology, all in the laboratory of Dr. Gerald Shulman. She opened her independent laboratory with K99/R00 funding in 2018. The Perry laboratory focuses on applying stable isotope tracer methods to understand obesity- and insulin-associated alterations in metabolic flux pathways. Dr. Perry and her colleagues have recently identified hyperinsulinemia-induced increases in tumor glucose uptake and oxidation as a critical driver of colon cancer in two mouse models of the disease, and mitochondrial uncoupling as a potential therapeutic strategy against the disease, and went on to show that responsiveness to insulin is a metabolic signature of obesity-associated tumor types in vitro. Current work in the Perry lab expands upon these themes to study the intersection between systemic metabolism and immunometabolism in cancer as well as in sepsis and exercise. We have recently been or are currently funded by the NIH (R37, R21), the Melanoma Research Alliance, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Current projects in the Perry lab include: 1. What is the molecular mechanism by which obesity and hyperinsulinemia promote tumor growth? How does insulin alter rates of glycolytic, oxidative, and anaplerotic metabolism? Can we invent better tracer methods than currently exist, allowing us to reliably measure rates of these pathways in vivo? 2. What is the impact of exercise, a classic insulin-sensitizing intervention, on obesity-associated tumor growth - and what is the mechanism? 3. Are alterations in tumor immunometabolism permissive for tumor progression? How does cancer therapy alter substrate preference in immune cells? Can we exploit systemic metabolic changes to enhance anti-cancer immunity? 4. How do tumor metabolism and immunometabolism differ - in rate and regulation - in metastases as compared to primary tumor? 5. What drives the changes in glucose metabolism commonly observed in inflammation that occurs following various stimuli? In addition, Dr. Perry places great value on mentorship and has completed multiple trainings to help her hone these skills. The Perry lab is honored to have trainees at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate level from around the world working with us both remotely and in person.
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    • W. Mark Saltzman, PhD

      Goizueta Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and of Chemical Engineering; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health; Department Chair, Biomedical Engineering

      Research Interests
      • Cell Communication
      • Drug Discovery
      W. Mark Saltzman is an engineer and educator. His research has impacted the fields of drug delivery, biomaterials, nanobiotechnology, and tissue engineering. This work is described in more than 350 research papers and patents. He is also the sole author of three textbooks: Biomedical Engineering, Tissue Engineering, and Drug Delivery. During more than 35 years leading independent research programs at Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and Yale, he has introduced mathematical models for guiding the design of drug delivery systems, developed new methods for drug delivery to brain tumors, produced the first controlled delivery systems for nerve growth factors, the first delivery systems for long-term protection against STDs using antibodies, and new materials for delivery of DNA and RNA. In the course of this work, he has been the primary mentor for 43 doctoral students and 27 postdoctoral associates; many of these scholars are now leading their own independent research programs at top-rate universities. Prof. Saltzman graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in chemical engineering and received MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering and medical engineering from MIT. He was appointed the Goizueta Foundation Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Yale in 2002. He was the founding chair of Yale’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and served in that role for 12 years. From 2016-2022, he was the Head of Jonathan Edwards College, one of Yale’s fourteen residential colleges. Prof. Saltzman is an elected member of the US National Academy of Medicine and the US National Academy of Engineering.
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    • Silvia Vilarinho, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor of Medicine (Digestive Diseases) and of Pathology; Associate Director, Yale MD-PhD Program; Director, Internal Medicine Physician Scientist Training Program

      Research Interests
      • Liver
      • Liver Diseases
      • Phenotype
      • Consanguinity
      • Genetic Variation
      • Genotype
      Silvia Vilarinho is a physician-scientist who uses genetics, genomics and human samples to investigate the molecular basis of various liver diseases of unknown etiology. Using these approaches, we have identified five novel genetic liver diseases. Our research goal is to continue to discover new genes important in liver function both in health and disease and to use cell biology and animal models to determine the specific mechanism(s) linking mutant gene to disease as a roadmap to further understand and treat rare and common liver diseases. This research approach provides new knowledge with direct impact in improving patient care and creates an outstanding scientific environment to train future physician-scientists and trainees with particular interest in human disease. Furthermore, I am very committed to make ‘genomic medicine for liver disease’ a reality in clinical practice worldwide.
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  • 2019 Faculty Mentors

    • Anton Bennett, PhD

      Dorys McConnell Duberg Professor of Pharmacology and Professor of Comparative Medicine; Director, Yale Center for Molecular and Systems Metabolism (YMSM); Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Yale Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)

      Research Interests
      • Neurosciences
      • Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases
      • Musculoskeletal Diseases
      • Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities
      • Cardiovascular Diseases
      • Signal Transduction
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    • William Cafferty, PhD

      Associate Professor of Neurology and of Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Demyelinating Diseases
      • Brain Diseases
      • Pain
      • Neurodegenerative Diseases
      • Spinal Cord Injuries
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    • Jessica Cardin, PhD

      Professor of Neuroscience; Deputy Chair, Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Schizophrenia
      • Interneurons
      • Neurosciences
      • Neurobiology
      • Electrophysiology
      • Epilepsy
      • Autistic Disorder
      • Cerebral Cortex
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    • Michael Crair, PhD

      Vice Provost for Research and William Ziegler III Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science; Vice Provost for Research, Office of the Provost

      Research Interests
      • Synaptic Transmission
      • Visual Cortex
      • Neuronal Plasticity
      • Nervous System
      • Neurosciences
      • Brain
      • Child Development
      • Cerebral Cortex
      Michael C. Crair is the William Ziegler III Professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Science and Vice Provost for Research at Yale University. Dr. Crair obtained his doctoral degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, and did postdoctoral training in physics and neuroscience at Kyoto University and Kyoto Prefectural Medical School in Japan and in neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. He was a faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas before coming to Yale as a member of the Department of Neuroscience in 2007. He has directed Yale’s Vision Core Program, the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, was Deputy Chair of the Department of Neuroscience from 2015-2017, then Deputy Dean for Scientific Affairs (Basic Science Departments) at the School of Medicine from 2017-2020 when he became the Vice Provost for Research at Yale University.Dr. Crair maintains an active research program that develops and employs advanced imaging techniques to examine the basic mechanisms that mediate brain circuit development. He has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of neural activity in the developing brain, for instance by demonstrating that early spontaneous neuronal activity is an essential part of normal brain development. He is currently exploring the mechanisms by which this activity is generated and how it shapes brain circuit development. He has been awarded numerous honors for his research and teaching, including the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Foundation Fellowship Award in the Neurosciences, the Marc Dresden Excellence in Graduate Education Award, and a NARSAD-Sidney R. Baer Jr. Foundation Young Investigator Award. He has also been named an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellow, a John Merck Fund Scholar and the March of Dimes Foundation's Basil O'Connor Fellow.
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    • Charles Dela Cruz, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor Adjunct; Director, Center for Pulmonary Infection Research and Treatment (CPIRT)

      Research Interests
      • Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
      • Respiratory Tract Infections
      Dr. Dela Cruz completed his research training through an MD/PhD program in the area of immunology and virology from University of Toronto and Yale. Clinically, he is trained in internal medicine, and specializes in pulmonary and critical care medicine and is currently an Associate Professor at Yale University in the same department. He is also the founding director for the Center for Pulmonary Infection Research and Treatment (CPIRT). www.cpirt.yale.edu. His laboratory is interested in studying the role of respiratory infection in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic lung diseases. Specifically, his work focuses on how lung infection contribute to inflammation, injury and tissue repair in the lung. This has allowed the lab to carefully study the molecular and cellular responses of several novel mediators in the lung.His laboratory focuses on two main research programs. (1) Studying novel immune regulators in the lung during respiratory infections. (2) Studying the effects of cigarette smoke (CS) exposure in the pathogenesis of airway and lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using preclinical genetic mouse models and human biosamples. The goal of the lab is also to be able to confirm and translate the findings using biospecimens from the established and establishing cohort of human patients with various lung diseases.COPD is a composite entity that includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is a leading cause of death in the world, and is a disease that is in need of new treatments. One of the goal of our laboratory is to investigate the interaction between CS and respiratory virus infection in the pathogenesis of COPD and identify novel therapeutic targets for this respiratory disease. It has been long thought that the frequent respiratory infections in COPD patients are due to their depressed immune function. Our studies have revealed that CS-exposed hosts have an over-exaggerated immune reaction to viral infections. Frequent acute COPD exacerbations correlate with increased rate of disease progression and more loss of lung function in COPD especially if it is due to viral infections. Our studies have shown that CS exposure has an impressive ability to regulate the innate immunity in the lung after influenza virus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. CS enhances the inflammation, alveolar destruction and airway fibrosis caused by influenza virus and RSV. These effects are mediated by type I interferon and RIG-like helicase antiviral innate immune pathway. CS exposure also results in the induction of interleukin-15 in the setting of these respiratory infections. We hypothesize that these novel mechanistic pathways may explain the heightened inflammatory response and worsening lung functions in COPD patients with multiple virally-induced exacerbations, and the chronic lung inflammation seen in stable COPD patients. We have also translated our findings by studying these immune mediators in patients infected with various respiratory viruses and have thus far collected >300 human biosamples.YCCI Scholar 2011
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    • Marcelo de Oliveira Dietrich, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor in Comparative Medicine; Associate Professor, Neuroscience; Founder and Director, NA

      Research Interests
      • Hypothalamus
      • Mental Health
      • Neurobiology
      • Nervous System
      • Neurosciences
      • Obesity
      • Mental Disorders
      • Animals
      • Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
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    • Irina Esterlis, PhD

      Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Molecular Imaging Program, NCPTSD, VA; Director, Mood, Anxiety, and Cognitive Sciences Division

      Research Interests
      • Psychiatry
      • Radiology
      • Tobacco
      • Molecular Imaging
      • Chemicals and Drugs
      • Mood Disorders
      Irina Esterlis is a clinical neuropsychologist and neuroreceptor imager with extensive training in the application of SPECT and PET to the study of mood, trauma, suicide, and comorbid disorders. Dr. Esterlis has developed two novel paradigms to interrogate both the acetylcholine and glutamatergic systems in vivo in human. Her lab was also the first to show ketamine-induced changes in human volunteers in vivo. She has received awards from Society of Nuclear Medicine, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society for Biological Psychiatry, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Esterlis' current work includes the study of the metabotropic glutamatergic receptor involvement in bipolar depression and suicide, and synaptic alterations associated with depression, aging, and suicidality. The lab has expanded to add in vivo preclinical work to elucidate human findings.
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    • Wendy V. Gilbert, PhD

      Maxine F. Singer '57 Ph.D. Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

      Research Interests
      • Genomics
      • Gene Expression Regulation
      • Molecular Biology
      • Biochemistry
      • Transcriptome
      • RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional
      • Protein Biosynthesis
      Wendy Gilbert is a Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Her work focuses on regulatory elements in messenger RNA that control the cellular expression of the information stored in the genetic code. She earned her PhD at UCSF with Christine Guthrie, studying mRNA export and being fascinated by the exquisite mechanisms that couple export-competence to completion of RNA processing. As a postdoc in Jennifer Doudna’s lab at UC Berkeley, she uncovered a non-canonical mechanism of translation initiation. Her lab’s current work ranges widely across RNA biology with the unifying theme of elucidating the molecular mechanisms of RNA regulatory elements controlling mRNA biogenesis, translation and decay. Most recently, this has been in the area of RNA base modification. Notable awards include the RNA Society’s Early Career Award (2017) for her “paradigm-altering contributions to the field of post-transcriptional gene regulation” and the RNA Society Award for Excellence in Inclusive Leadership (2023) for her efforts to promote the training and professional development of underrepresented scientists.
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    • Junjie Guo, PhD

      Associate Professor of Neuroscience; Co-Director of Graduate Studies, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

      Research Interests
      • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
      • Computational Biology
      • Neurodegenerative Diseases
      • Motor Neuron Disease
      • Frontotemporal Dementia
      • Genomics
      • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
      • RNA
      • RNA Transport
      • RNA-Binding Proteins
      • Neurons
      Junjie Guo received his B.A. in Biology from Peking University and completed his Ph.D. thesis in the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, working on neuronal DNA methylation. During his postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute/MIT, he developed a series of high-throughput computational and experimental methods to investigate circular RNAs and intracellular RNA folding. He joined the Department of Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine in Fall 2017. The Guo lab is broadly interested in questions at the intersection of RNA biology and Neuroscience, with a focus on understanding the mechanisms and functions of mRNA translation control in the nervous system as well as its dysregulation in neurological disorders caused by nucleotide repeat expansions.
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    • Nikhil Joshi, PhD

      Associate Professor Tenure

      Research Interests
      • Oncogenes
      • Immunotherapy
      • T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic
      • T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer
      • T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory
      • Genes, Tumor Suppressor
      • Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte
      • Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung
      • Tumor Microenvironment
      The Joshi laboratory uses intricate tumor models and advanced approaches to investigate immune cell interactions with developing tumors. The goal is to determine mechanistically why these interactions do not lead to more potent anti-tumor responses and to identify entry points for modulating these interactions through genetic manipulation and therapeutic intervention. Our studies focus on using established complex mouse models to investigate how subtypes of T cells function in the tumor microenvironment and how their interactions with other immune cell types impacts tumor development. Our laboratory combines advanced genetic modeling of mice and immunologic techniques to address fundamental questions in tumor immunology.
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    • Arie Kaffman, MD, PhD

      Associate Professor of Psychiatry

      Dr. Kaffman is a physician-scientist who works as a psychiatrist at the Newington VA, where he treats a large number of veterans with PTSD. He also has a basic neuroscience lab at Yale, where he studies the impact of early life adversity (ELA) on neurodevelopment and complex behavior in mice. Dr. Kaffman is a Principal Investigator on several NIH-funded grants that integrate molecular/cellular, genomic, pharmacological, and behavioral approaches with imaging techniques such as resting state fMRI and high-resolution dMRI conducted in rodents. This translational approach allows for a direct comparison between findings in rodents and human studies. The objective of this translational research is to elucidate the impact of early adversity on the neurodevelopment of circuits that regulate psychiatrically relevant behaviors, and to utilize this knowledge in the development of novel diagnostic and treatment modalities.
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    • Megan C. King, PhD

      Associate Professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular and Development Biology; Co-Leader, Radiobiology and Genome Integrity, Yale Cancer Center; Associate Cancer Center Director, Basic Science

      Research Interests
      • Nuclear Envelope
      • Mechanotransduction, Cellular
      • Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome
      • Genome
      • Cell Biology
      • Cell Nucleus
      • Chromatin
      • DNA Repair
      Megan received her B.A. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University working with Dr. Susan Lowey and her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania working with Dr. Mark Lemmon. During her postdoctoral training with Dr. Günter Blobel at Rockefeller University, she discovered new mechanisms for the targeting and function of integral inner nuclear membrane proteins. Since founding her own group in 2009, Megan has continued to investigate the broad array of biological functions that are integrated at the nuclear envelope, from impacts on DNA repair to nuclear and cellular mechanics. Megan was named a Searle Scholar in 2011, is a recipient of the NIH New Innovator Award and is currently an Allen Distinguished Investigator.
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    • Mark A Lemmon, PhD, FRS

      Alfred Gilman Professor and Chair of Pharmacology; Co-director, Cancer Biology Institute

      Research Interests
      • MAP Kinase Signaling System
      • Hydrogen Deuterium Exchange-Mass Spectrometry
      • ErbB Receptors
      • Crystallography
      • Adenocarcinoma
      • Cell Membrane
      • Biochemistry
      • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
      • Protein Structure, Tertiary
      • Signal Transduction
      • Single Molecule Imaging
      • Protein-Tyrosine Kinases
      • Receptor Aggregation
      Mark Lemmon, PhD, FRS is the Alfred Gilman Professor of Pharmacology, and Co-Director of Yale Cancer Biology Institute. He returned to Yale as a named Professor of Pharmacology in 2015 after 19 years on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. At Penn, he was the George W. Raiziss Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics as well as Chair of the department and an Investigator at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. Dr. Lemmon was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society (the UK's national academy) in 2016, and has been honored with the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award of the Protein Society and the Stanley N. Cohen Biomedical Research Award from the University of Pennsylvania. He is on the Editorial Advisory Boards of several journals, including Cell and Molecular Cell, and is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Biochemical Journal. Dr. Lemmon’s research focuses on understanding the signaling networks controlled by receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) growth factors that, when mutated, cause cancers and other diseases. His laboratory combines biochemical, structural, biophysical, and cellular approaches to investigate how these networks function, and also collaborates with clinical groups to apply the mechanistic lessons learned to inhibitor choice and combating development of resistance to targeted therapies in the clinic.
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    • Carrie L Lucas, PhD

      Associate Professor of Immunobiology

      Research Interests
      • T-Lymphocytes
      • Signal Transduction
      • Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
      • Immunoproliferative Disorders
      • Inflammation
      • Hereditary Autoinflammatory Diseases
      Dr. Carrie L. Lucas received her PhD from Harvard Medical School and her postdoctoral training from the National Institutes of Health, NIAID. Her laboratory discovers single-gene defects underlying severe immune disorders in humans and dissects new biology and mechanisms revealed by these gene mutations using patient cells and genetically engineered mouse models.
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    • C. Patrick Lusk, PhD

      Associate Professor of Cell Biology; Co-Director, Molecular Cell Biology, Genetics and Development Track, Cell Biology; Co-Director, Cellular, Molecular, and Quantitative Biology Training Program, Cell Biology

      Research Interests
      • Nuclear Envelope
      • Nuclear Pore
      • Nuclear Pore Complex Proteins
      Dr. Lusk runs the joint LusKing laboratory with Megan King in the Department of Cell Biology. He is also the co-director of the MCGD graduate training track. He has a long standing interest in fundamental cellular mechanisms of compartmentalization with an emphasis on those that govern the biogenesis of the nuclear envelope and nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). He has been studying the nuclear envelope and nuclear transport since his graduate work at the University of Alberta in Canada and has been trained during his postdoctoral fellowship by Nobel Laureate Günter Blobel at The Rockefeller University. During this time, he (with collaborators/colleagues) has provided substantial insight into how nuclear transport is regulated and how the NPC is assembled. Moreover, he has helped to develop yeast as a model to study integral membrane proteins that reside at the inner nuclear membrane. While it is generally understood that these proteins are essential factors in gene regulation and genome organization, which is reflected by the discovery of the “nuclear envelopathies”, they remain challenging to study. Dr. Lusk is leveraging his expertise in yeast cell biology and genetics with super-resolution and proteomic approaches to illuminate function at the nuclear periphery.
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    • Karla M Neugebauer, PhD

      R. Selden Rose Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and Professor of Cell Biology; Director, Yale Center for RNA Science and Medicine

      Research Interests
      • Molecular Biology
      • Nuclear Cap-Binding Protein Complex
      • Saccharomyces cerevisiae
      • Schizosaccharomyces
      • RNA Splicing
      • Transcription, Genetic
      • Zebrafish
      • Genomics
      • Biophysics
      • Biochemistry
      • Alternative Splicing
      • Cell Nucleus
      • Cell Biology
      Karla Neugebauer holds a BS in Biology from Cornell University and a PhD in Neuroscience from UCSF. She switched gears to RNA biology as a postdoc with Mark Roth at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. There she participated in the initial description of the SR protein family of splicing regulators and was inspired to study RNA metabolism in vivo by combining imaging, genomics, and sequencing strategies. From 2001-2013 she was a Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Cell biology and Genetics in Dresden Germany. In 2013, she moved to Yale as a Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and of Cell Biology. She has been the Director of the Yale Center for RNA Science and Biomedicine since 2018 and was recognized internationally for her work in RNA Biology by the RNA Society (2017 mid-career award). She has studied splicing in relation to nuclear speckles and discovered that most introns are removed during the process, or co-transcriptionally. Her lab has shown that snRNP assembly occurs in membraneless organelles called Cajal bodies (CBs) and that depletion of the CB scaffolding protein coilin is lethal in zebrafish embryos, due to a deficit in splicing. She is passionate about climate change, believing that everyone has something to contribute to meet its challenges. She is currently developing biochemistry curriculum to show the relevance of the discipline to meeting the current and future needs of our planet.
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    • Marina Picciotto, PhD

      Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center, of Neuroscience and of Pharmacology; Director Division of Molecular Psychiatry, Psychiatry; Deputy Chair for Basic Science Research, Dept. of Psychiatry; Director, Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program

      Research Interests
      • Pharmacology
      • Neurosciences
      • Nicotine
      • Opiate Alkaloids
      • Nervous System Diseases
      • Neurobiology
      • Mental Disorders
      • Alcohol Drinking
      • Acetylcholine
      • Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
      • Stress, Psychological
      Dr. Picciotto joined the Yale faculty in 1995, after completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Jean-Pierre Changeux in the Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience at the Institut Pasteur in Paris. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Neurobiology at The Rockefeller University in New York City in 1992, where she worked in the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience under Paul Greengard. She received a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Stanford University, Stanford, California, in 1985. Dr. Picciotto was Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Neuroscience until January 2023 and is a member of the ACNP Scientific Council. She is 2023-2024 President of the Society for Neuroscience. She served on the Scientific Council of the National Institute on Drug Abuse from 2010-2014, was Treasurer of the Society for Neuroscience from 2014-2015, and President of the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco from 2018-2019. She has been a Handling Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, the Journal of Neurochemistry and Neuroscience Letters. In 2000 she was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering by President Clinton and in 2012 she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was Chair of the Neuroscience Section from 2018-2019. Dr. Picciotto has been awarded the Human Frontiers 10th Anniversary Award, the Jacob P. Waletzky Award for addiction research and the Bernice Grafstein Mentorship award from the Society for Neuroscience, the Marion Spencer Fay Award from Drexel University, the Langley Award from SRNT, the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for Innovative Research and the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2024. She is currently the president of the Society for Neuroscience.
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    • Craig Roy, PhD

      Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and of Immunobiology and Director of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS); Vice-Chair, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis; Co-Director of Graduate Admissions (DGA), Microbiology PhD Program of Biological and Biomedical Sciences

      Research Interests
      • Legionella pneumophila
      • Macrophages
      • Protozoan Proteins
      • Vesicular Transport Proteins
      • Bacteria
      • Coxiella burnetii
      • Immune System
      Craig Roy received his B.S. from Michigan State University in 1985 and earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University in 1991 in the laboratory of Dr. Stanley Falkow. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Ralph Isberg in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine in 1996, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Stony Brook University. Dr. Roy became a founding member of the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale University in 1998 and serves as Vice-Chair. He currently holds the title of Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunobiology. Research in the Roy laboratory focuses on the host-pathogen interface. Using multi-disciplinary approaches his laboratory has discovered many novel mechanisms that intracellular pathogens use to modulate host membrane transport pathways, which allow these pathogens to evade cell autonomous defenses and create novel organelles that permit bacterial replication.
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    • David G. Schatz, PhD

      Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry; Chair, Immunobiology

      Research Interests
      • Antibody Diversity
      • Antibody Formation
      • Biological Evolution
      • Developmental Biology
      • Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte
      • Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte
      • Genes, Immunoglobulin
      • Molecular Biology
      • Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin
      • Leukemia, Lymphoid
      • Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin
      Dr. Schatz has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms that assemble and diversify antigen receptor genes that encode antibodies and T cell receptors.  He is best known for the discovery of RAG1 and RAG2, subsequent biochemical insights into RAG function and evolutionary origins, and the discovery of two distinct levels of regulation of somatic hypermutation. Schatz has co-authored over 180 articles, many in prestigious journals, and has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Rhodes Scholarship, the Snow Prize (Yale University's top award to a graduating senior), the National Science Foundation Presidential Faculty Fellows Award, the American Association of Immunologists-BD Biosciences Investigator Award, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, and election to the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine. He has been active as an editor and reviewer, serving as Co-Editor of the journal Immunity, as a member of the editorial board of a number of journals, and as a member and Chair of the NIH study section Cellular and Molecular Immunology-A.  Schatz has also been very interested in graduate education, serving for many years as the Director of Graduate Studies and Graduate Admissions for Immunobiology and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Program.  He remains strongly committed to enhancing predoctoral and postdoctoral training programs in his current role as Chair of the Department of Immunobiology. Schatz received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 1980, and a M.A. degree in Philosophy and Politics from Oxford University in 1982. His Ph.D. degree (1990) and postdoctoral training were done with Dr. David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
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    • Jane Rebecca Taylor, PhD

      Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry, of Psychology and of Neuroscience

      Research Interests
      • Behavior
      • Mental Disorders
      • Motivation
      • Neurobehavioral Manifestations
      Jane Taylor obtained her BSc in Experimental Psychology/Neuroscience from the University of Sussex, UK and went on to receive her PhD at the University of Cambridge in the UK. She then joined the Department of Psychiatry at Yale as a post-doctoral fellow, then an Associate Research Scientist, then Associate Professor 2008 and becoming a full Professor (Charles B.G. Murphy) in 2008, with secondary appointments in the Psychology and Neuroscience departments. My research program aims to integrate basic with translational neuroscience approaches to understand neurocognition and behavior through collaborate research. The lab studies brain limbic cortico-striatal circuitry involved in decision-making, inhibitory control, habits, motivation, memory and reinforcement learning, and the impact of sex differences on behavior in both normal and pathophysiological states. We combine sophisticated behavioral analyses in rodents with pharmacologic, optogenetic, viral, molecular/cellular, imaging and computational analyses. Our research also focuses on how neurodevelopmental and plasticity processes relate to decision-making, learning, memory, and motivational processes that contribute to addiction, alcoholism, depression, stress and other psychiatric diseases. We are particularly interested in memory plasticity processes (destabilization and restabilization) that are involved in memory reconsolidation, which allows new information to be integrated into memory and cognition. Such processes may be distinct developmentally and also play a role in delusional-like processes, stress-pathology and addictions. Neurocomputational and machine learning approaches also are employed in our studies to assess, for example, how distinct reinforcement learning mechanisms within separable neurocircuits result in individual differences in normative flexible decision-making processes and that are causally related to addiction and psychosis vulnerability and pathology.
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