Affiliated Faculty

Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD - (Director, The Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Institute (BNRI), Department of Psychiatry) Was opened in 2000 due to a generous gift from the late Irving and Betty Brudnick under the sponsorship of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Its mission is to establish a strong Center dedicated to pursue the biological underpinnings of mental illness, and eventually pave the way for new treatments and cures.

Victor Ambros, PhD - (Program in Molecular Medicine) We study gene regulatory mechanisms controlling the timing of animal development, using the C. elegans model system. Developmental timing regulators in C. elegans include microRNAs that control the stage-specific expression of key transcription factors. We aim to understand the molecular mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene regulation by microRNAs, and how microRNAs function in regulatory networks affecting development and disease.

Dan Bolon, PhD - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology)  The role of molecular chaperones in biology and disease.

Robert H. Brown, MD, PhD - (Chair, Department of Neurology) The  lab has focused on the identification of gene defects that elucidate the molecular pathogenesis of selected neuromuscular diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), muscular dystrophy, adrenoleukodystrophy, hereditary neuropathy and hyperkalemic periodic paralysis. Knowledge of theses disease genes has facilitated the creation of mouse and cell-based models of these disorders. In turn, these resources have allowed study of therapeutic strategies using conventional small molecule approaches and new modalities such as inhibitory RNAi.

Michael Czech, PhD - (Chair, Program in Molecular Medicine) Our laboratory group is dedicated to the discovery of molecular mechanisms whereby insulin signaling regulates energy homeostasis. This quest includes RNAi screens, digital imaging and TIRF microscopy, phenotyping mice with gene knockouts and analysis of human adipose tissues. We hope to translate our findings to the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Job Dekker, PhD - (Program in Gene Function and Expression, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology) - Spatial Organization of Genomes.

James Evans, PhD - (Director, UMMS Proteomic & Mass Spectrometry Core Facility; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology) – Mass spectrometric methods of analysis, proteomics, lipid metabolism, chromatographic techniques, diagnostic methods for analysis of inborn errors of metabolism.

Michael Green, MD, PhD -  (Director, Program in Gene Function and Expression, Program in Molecular Medicine) My lab is interested in the mechanisms that regulate gene expression in eukaryotes, and the role of gene expression in various human disease states. A major emphasis is the use of transcription-based approaches and functional screens to identify new genes and regulatory pathways involved in cancer.

Jane Lian, PhD - (Department of Cell Biology) Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Skeletal Development and Metastasis of Cancer Cells to Bone.

Francesca Massi, PhD - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology)  Protein dynamics , function and stability using NMR and computer simulation.

C. Robert Matthews, PhD - (Chair, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology) Investigation of structures and the dynamics of structural changes in biological molecules in solution, in particular, the mechanisms by which proteins fold to unique conformations; studies on the effects of single amino acid substitutions on the folding process; folding mechanisms of multi subunit peptides and proteins; protein engineering.

Craig Mello, PhD - (Program in Molecular Medicine) Our lab uses the nematode worm C. elegans as a model organism to investigate how embryonic cells differentiate and communicate during development. In addition, we are investigating the mechanism of RNA interference, a form of sequence-specific gene silencing triggered by double-stranded RNA.

Melissa Moore, PhD  - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology) Pre-mRNA splicing and its connections to intracellular mRNA localization, translation, and degradation.

Ollie Rando, MD, PhD - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology)  Role of chromatin structure in transcriptional control, and mechanism of inheritance of chromatin states; role of epigenetically inherited information in evolution, development, and disease.

Nick Rhind, PhD - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology)  Checkpoint regulation in the fission yeast cell cycle.

Sean Ryder, PhD - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology)  RNA regulation in development and disease; regulatory networks, mechanism of specificity, and ribonucleoprotein complex assembly.

Celia Schiffer, PhD - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology)  How conformational adaptability affects molecular recognition in drug resistant variants of HIV protease; tools are phage display, x-ray crystallography and molecular dynamics calculations.

William Theurkauf, PhD - (Program in Molecular Medicine) Work in the lab addresses RNA localization and embryonic patterning, the response of mitotic cells to DNA damage, and small RNA function in germline development. Studies combine high resolution imaging, genetic, and molecular approaches in Drosophila and mammalian cultured cell systems.

Marian Walhout, PhD - (Program in Molecular Medicine) We aim to understand how regulatory networks control animal development, function, and homeostasis; and how dysfunctional networks affect or cause diseases like diabetes, obesity and cancer. We use a combination of experimental and computational systems biology methods to map, characterize and manipulate regulatory networks, most notably in the nematode C. elegans.

Scot Wolfe, PhD - (Program in Gene Function and Expression, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Phamacology) – Targeted gene regulation using novel, designed transcription factors.

Phillip D. Zamore, PhD - (Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology) Control of mRNA stability and translation in development; molecular mechanisms of RNAi (post-transcriptional gene silencing).