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Cellular Biochemistry

What is Cellular Biochemistry?

Cellular Biochemistry research puts molecular findings into a cellular context to learn how cells carry out their multitude of incredible functions and abilities.

What is the impact of our research in Cellular Biochemistry?

The mechanisms by which cells sense size and shape to coordinate their division timing is a subject of investigation in our department. When cellular growth and division become decoupled, cells can grow out of control, leading to cancer. Find out more here.
Our department investigates how information is transferred from one generation to the next during reproduction, including the mechanisms that guide cell fate decisions and pattern formation in the embryo. A key finding is that both the maternal and paternal environment can impact how the offspring express information stored in the DNA, and that this effect can last for multiple generations. Find out more here and here.
Membrane trafficking is a fundamental biological mechanism required for a wide variety of processes including insulin secretion from the pancreas, myelin formation on nerve cells, and cell division during tissue growth. Our department is investigating how cells know when and where to traffic membranes to growing parts of a cell, and how membranes fuse to deliver proteins and molecules to other cells and the blood stream. This work gave rise to a molecular understanding of the cause of Severe Congenital Neutropenia. Find out more here.

Who's studying Cellular Biochemistry?

Anthony Imbalzano, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology; Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the Morningside Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences; Associate Dean in the Office for Postdoctoral Scholars

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Gene Expression & Epigenetics

Research Interest: The Imbalzano Lab studies the role of chromatin remodeling in cell fate specification and maintenance.

Key Words: Chromatin remodeling, gene expression, development, cancer, mesenchymal cells, myogenesis, adipogenesis

Research Tools: Cell Culture, M. musculus (mouse)

Broader Impact: Breast Cancer

he/him/his
Office Location: LRB 813
Lab Location: LRB 870 H
Phone: 508-856-1029

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Brian Kelch, PhD

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Biophysics & Macromolecular Structures, Cellular Biochemistry

Research Interest: The Kelch Lab utilizes structural biology and biochemistry to reveal the workings of large macromolecular complexes, with a special focus on those involved in DNA replication/repair and virus assembly.

Research Tools: E. coli (bacteria), S. cerevisiae (yeast), T. thermophilus (bacteria), H. sapiens (human)

Broader Impact: cancer, PARD, infectious disease

he/him/his
Office Location: LRB 923
Lab Location: LRB 970 H-G
Phone: 508-856-8322

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Daniel Bolon, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Computational Biochemistry

Category: CLIM/Ldb cofactors,disease prevention

Research Interest: The Bolon Lab investigates relationships between protein sequence, structure and function.

Broader Impact: COVID-19, cancer, HIV

Office Location: LRB 922
Lab Location: LRB 960 E-D
Phone: 508-856-3588

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Dannel McCollum, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology; Vice Chair of Faculty Advancement for the Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology Department

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry

Research Interest: The McCollum Lab studies how cells sense mechanical forces through the Hippo pathway.

Key Words: Cancer, mechano-signaling, Hippo pathway, YAP/TAZ

Research Tools: Cell culture

Broader Impact: cancer, wound repair

Office Location: LRB 823
Lab Location: LRB 870 N
Phone: 508-856-8767

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Gang Han, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Chemical Biology

Research Interest: The Han lab uses a multidisciplinary approach to develop nanomaterials for use in chemistry and biology research and in drug delivery.

Office Location: LRB 806
Lab Location: LRB 870 U
Phone: 508-856-3297

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Josué Flores Kim, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology.

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Gene Expression & Epigenetics

Research Interest: The Flores Kim lab studies how bacteria build their cell envelopes and how antimicrobials disrupt these processes.

Key Words: bacterial cell envelope; antibiotic resistance; antibiotic tolerance

Research Tools: We use a combination of classical, modern and chemical genetic screens with biochemical and high-resolution imaging analyses.

Broader Impact: drug resistant and tolerant bacterial infections

he/him/his
Office Location: LRB 915
Lab Location: LRB 970 U
Phone: 508-856-6260

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Julia Flynn, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology; Member of the Bolon Lab.

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Computational Biochemistry

Research Interest: Dr. Flynn investigates how changes in DNA sequence impact protein function.

Key Words: drug resistance, protein adaptation, protein folding, evolution, mutagenesis, deep mutational scanning

Research Tools: S. cerevisiae (yeast)

Broader Impact: cancer, SARS-CoV2

she/her/hers
Lab Location: LRB 960 D
Phone: 508-856-4418
Mary Munson, PhD

Professor and Vice Chair for Diversity, Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology; Assistant Vice Provost, Office of Health Equity; co-leader of the Investigator Career Advancement Program (iCAP); Co-investigator for the American Society for Cell Biology's MOSAIC Program; Co-chair of the ASCB’s Women in Cell Biology Committee (WICB); incoming ASCB President in 2025; Faculty Advisor, UMass Chan-SACNAS student chapter

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Biophysics & Macromolecular Structures, Cellular Biochemistry

Research Interest: The Munson lab studies vesicle trafficking machinery and how specificity in vesicle targeting and fusion is achieved.

Key Words: membrane trafficking, exocytosis, endocytosis, exocyst, VPS45, SNAREs, vesicle fusion, neutropenia

Research Tools: protein and membrane biochemistry, biophysics, cryoEM, yeast and mammalian cell biology, immunology, mouse models of disease

Broader Impact: immune dysfunction, cancer, neurological disorders

she/her/hers
Office Location: LRB 905
Lab Location: LRB 970 P, Q, R
Phone: 508-856-8318

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Mohan Somasundaran, PhD

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology; Member of the Schiffer Lab

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Biophysics & Macromolecular Structures, Cellular Biochemistry

Research Interest: The Somasundaran team studies how cells and viruses interact with each other to develop molecular diagnostics and new antiviral therapies.

Research Tools: cell culture, M. musculus (mouse)

Broader Impact: HIV, EBV, infectious mononucleosis, influenza, SARS-CoV1, SARS-CoV2, cancer

Office Location: LRB 960 E
Phone: 508-856-4408

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Nick Rhind, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Gene Expression & Epigenetics

Research Interest: The Rhind lab studies cell size regulation and temporal coordination of DNA replication

Key Words: DNA replication, cell cycle, cell size, replication kinetics

Research Tools: S. cerevisiae (yeast)

Broader Impact: Cancer

Office Location: LRB 904
Lab Location: LRB 940 E-D
Phone: 508-856-8316

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Oliver J. Rando, MD, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Cellular Biochemistry, Computational Biochemistry, Gene Expression & Epigenetics

Research Interest: The Rando Lab studies the role of epigenetic inheritance in programming health and disease.

Key Words: epigenetics, chromatin, small non-coding RNA, embryology, spermatogenesis

Research Tools: S. cerevisiae (yeast), M. musculus (mouse), C. elegans (nematode worm)

Broader Impact: Paternal environments can affect diabetes, metabolic syndrome, anxiety, schizophrenia and more.

he/him/his
Office Location: LRB 906
Lab Location: LRB 940 A-C &
LRB 970 X-Y
Phone: 508-856-8879

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Peter Pryciak, PhD

Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Gene Expression & Epigenetics

Research Interest: Dr. Pryciak studies how protein kinases regulate cell signaling and the cell cycle.

Key Words: MAP kinases (MAPKs), cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), short linear motifs (SLiMs)

Research Tools: S. cerevisiae (yeast)

Office Location: LRB 822
Lab Location: LRB 870 P
Phone: 508-856-8756

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Sean Ryder, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology; Vice Chair of Outreach for the Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Department

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Cellular Biochemistry, Gene Expression & Epigenetics

Research Interest: The Ryder Lab studies the role of egg (maternal) mRNA in embryonic development.

Key Words: RNA, oogenesis, embryogenesis, germline development, protein-RNA interactions

Research Tools: C. elegans (nematode worm)

Broader Impact: Reproductive health, microdeletion syndromes, genome editing, RNA therapeutics

he/him/his
Office Location: LRB 906
Lab Location: LRB 970 W
Phone: 508-856-1372

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Stephen Miller, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Chemical Biology

Research Interest: The Miller Lab develops optical imaging probes, ranging from the design of new fluorescent molecules to engineered luciferins and luciferases for in vivo bioluminescence imaging.

Key Words: bioluminescence, fluorescence, near-infrared, imaging, probes, chemical biology

Research Tools: fluorescence microscopy, synthetic organic chemistry, bioluminescence imaging, AAV transduction, mouse models, mammalian cell culture, spectrophotometry, NMR, mammalian cell culture, M. musculus (mouse)

Broader Impact: optical probes are broadly applicable to study many different diseases

he/him/his
Office Location: LRB 805
Lab Location: LRB 870 X
Phone: 508-856-8865

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Summer Thyme, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Cellular Biochemistry, Computational Biochemistry, Gene Expression & Epigenetics

Research Interest: The Thyme Lab studies neurodevelopmental disorders using zebrafish.

Key Words: zebrafish, neurodevelopmental disorder, intellectual disability, Down syndrome, drug discovery, computation, genomics, mRNA, scRNA-seq, genome-editing, CRISPR, protein engineering

Research Tools: zebrafish, CRISPR

Broader Impact: developing treatments for intellectual disability in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Office Location: LRB 803
Lab Location: LRB 870 R/S
Phone: 508-856-3251

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William R. Kobertz, PhD

Professor Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry, Chemical Biology

Research Interest: The Kobertz Lab develops new tools to study the roles of glycosylation in ion channel localization and function.

Broader Impact: Cardiac arrythmias, hearing loss

Office Location: LRB 804
Lab Location: LRB 840 C
Phone: 508-856-8861

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Zuoshang Xu, PhD

Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology

Type: Primary

Areas of Research: Biochemical Mechanisms, Cellular Biochemistry

Research Interest: the Xu lab studies the mechanism of and therapy for ALS using mouse and other models.

Research Tools: M. musculus (mouse)

Broader Impact: ALS

Office Location: LRB 817
Lab Location: LRB 870 J, K
Phone: 508-856-3309

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