Research Labs

The Nikolov laboratory focuses on the structural, biophysical, and biochemical characterization of the molecular mechanisms of cell-cell interactions and signal transduction in the nervous system.

Systems biologist Thomas Norman develops new computational and functional genomics approaches for studying how genes interact to realize complex phenotypes.

Cancer geneticist Kenneth Offit focuses on gene characterization; genetic and epidemiologic studies of cancer-predisposing alleles; and the therapeutic, prognostic, and psychosocial translation of these findings.

Alban Ordureau explores molecular signaling pathways that regulate cellular homeostasis, with a focus on the ubiquitin and autophagy systems.

Led by Dr. Irene Orlow, the Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory participates in self-initiated research & supports investigations from the Population Sciences Research and Clinical Research programs that involve handling and testing of a variety of human specimens.

The Ricardo Otazo lab develops novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for cancer applications including fast imaging, motion resistant imaging, quantitative imaging of physical tissue parameters, and real-time MRI-guided radiotherapy using advances in MRI acquisition and computational models.

Cell biologist Michael Overholtzer studies the mechanisms of tumor initiation and progression, cell adhesion, and cell death.

Molecular geneticist Elli Elli Papaemmanouil performs systematic interrogations of well-annotated clinical trial cohorts in leukemia and cancer to explore how the compound genetic and clonal architecture in patients' leukemias and tumors dictate clinical phenotype, disease progression, and clinical outcomes.

Developmental biologist Luis F. Parada uses genetically engineered mouse models to study neurofibromatosis, brain tumors, cancer stem cells, and tumor progression.

The Patel laboratory studies the structural biology of macromolecular recognition, regulation and catalysis. Ongoing projects include structure-function studies of the CRISPR-Cas and cGAS-STING surveillance pathways, on the role of Structure Maintenance Chromosome complexes in mediating DNA double strand break repair, on the role of histone and DNA methylation in epigenetic regulation and on RNA-mediated processes ranging from riboswitches and ribozymes to those governing siRNA and piRNA pathways.