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Faculty from other Departments Affiliated with Cell Biology

  • Brian Aneskievich , Assistant Professor, (Pharmacology/Toxicology).
    • Regulation of cell function and differentiation by xenobiotics (plasticizers, industrial toxins), drugs (anti-diabetic glitazones, fibrates), and vitamins and hormones (vitA, steroids) through activation of transcription factors in epithelial (skin, mammary) and non-epithelial (adipose) tissues.
  • Hedley Freake , Professor (Nutritional Sciences).
    • Tissue specific regulation of gene expression by hormones and diet. Of principal interest is the regulation of the pathway of fatty acid synthesis by thyroid hormones and dietary carbohydrates. A second focus is the role of zinc in the functioning of the receptor for thyroid hormone and other members of the steroid/thyroid receptor superfamily.
  • Joe Loturco, Professor, (Physiology and Neurobiology)
    • The research goals in my laboratory are to define the cellular events and mechanisms underlying the generation and migration of neurons within the developing neocortex of the brain.  We focus our studies on the cellular functions of proteins that when mutated in humans and animal models cause epilepsy,  learning disorders, and structural malformations.  Our experiments make use of multiple approaches and technologies including genetic models, in utero RNAi, cell culture systems, retrovirus-mediated gene-transfer, and electrophysiological and neuroanatomical assays.  With this combination of approaches we strive to gain insights into how the most sophisticated computing device in nature is constructed, and how its malformation leads to neurological disease.  (Visit the LoTurco Lab Web site)
  • Ted Rasmussen , Assistant Professor (Animal Science and Center for Regenerative Biology ).
    • Future cell-based therapies aim to alleviate suffering caused by degenerative disease through the replacement of damaged cells with functional derivatives of pluripotent stem cells.  My lab is investigating the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in embryonic stem cells and its impact on the maintenance of pluripotency and differentiation.  In addition, we are developing novel methods to reprogram somatic cells to yield patient-matched pluripotent cells, and designing new methods for the investigation of reprogramming and epigenetic function in mammalian cells.  My lab employs methods and assays drawn from stem cell biology, cell biology, molecular genetics, functional genomics, chromatin molecular biology, and others.   (Visit Dr. Rasmussen's Web Site)
  • Larry Silbart , Associate Professor, (Animal Sciences). Immunobiology, Vaccine development
    • The development of mucosal vaccines capable of blocking the absorption toxicants such as aflatoxin from the diet; and the development of peptide-based vaccines for blocking the transmission of HIV across the vaginal mucosa.

  • Cindy Tian , Assistant Professor, (Dept. of Animal Science and Conn. Center for Regenerative Biology).
    • The research interest of Dr X Cindy Tian is to understand nuclear reprogramming, the process of converting a differentiated somatic cell into a totipotent stage by the somatic cloning technology. Since the creation of Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult differentiated somatic cell, a long-held dogma in developmental biology, that the process of tissue differentiation in mammals was irreversible, was revolutionized. We now believe that a differentiated mammalian somatic cell can be converted to a totipotent stage by somatic cloning. The process of this reversed differentiation is the fundamental basis for tissue regeneration by therapeutic cloning in which somatic cells are converted to embryonic stem cells and the desired tissue types are targetedly differentiated from the newly generated stem cells.