The following faculty advise students in our Genetics PhD Program.
Mentors can also be viewed by specific field or study organism.
To view faculty in the Departments of Genetics and Medical Genetics only, please see our Faculty List.
Reid Alisch
Neurological Surgery
The role of epigenetics in human health and disease processes, particularly in relation to the origins of mental illness.
Richard Amasino
Biochemsitry
Understanding how plants sense and respond to seasonal environmental changes
Jean-Michel Ane
Bacteriology/Agronomy
Symbiotic associations between plants and microbes (bacteria and fungi)
Anjon Audhya
Biomolecular Chemistry
Regulation of vesicle biogenesis and membrane transport during development
Arash Bashirullah
Pharmacy
Intercellular communication: uncovering mechanisms that coordinate the development of multicellular organisms
David Baum
Botany
Genetic basis for plant phenotypic evolution and understanding evolutionary relationships from sequence variation
Seth Blair
Integrative Biology
Developmental genetics of patterning and cell signaling in Drosophila
Barak Blum
Cell and Regenerative Biology
Regenerative biology of the endocrine pancreas, genetics of type-1 and type-2 diabetes
Grace Boekhoff-Falk
Anatomy
Developmental biology, gene expression, hormones, growth and differentiation factors
David Brow
Biomolecular Chemistry
Molecular mechanisms of transcription termination and pre-mRNA splicing in yeast
Qiang Chang
Medical Genetics and Neurology
DNA methylation-dependent epigenetic regulation of brain functions
Lara Collier
Pharmacy
We use genetic and pharmacological approaches in mouse models to study disease etiology and treatment
Heidi Dvinge
Biomolecular Chemistry
Mechanisms of RNA splicing and splicing dysregulation in disease; downstream processing of RNA splice variants, including regulation of cellular localization and degradation; molecular function of protein isoforms of cancer-relevant genes
David Eide
Nutritional Science
How cells and organisms survive and thrive under nutrient-deficient conditions
Feyza Engin
Biomolecular Chemistry
Diabetes and metabolic disorders, organelle dysfunction, stress responses, beta cell biology
Catherine Fox
Biomolecular Chemistry
Mechanisms required for genome duplication and stability in eukaryotic organisms
Audrey Gasch
Genetics and Medical Genetics
Elucidating the role, regulation, and evolution of eukaryotic stress responses
Richard Gourse
Bacteriology
Control of gene expression and the structure of the bacterial chromosome
Daniel S. Greenspan
Cell and Regenerative Biology
Genes important to vertebrate development and human disease
Yevgenya Grinblat
Integrative Biology and Neuroscience
Pattern formation, neural development, zebrafish developmental genetics
Mary Halloran
Integrative Biology
Understanding mechanisms controlling development of the nervous system
Jeff Hardin
Integrative Biology
Using C. elegans to study cell movement and adhesion during embryonic development
Melissa Harrison
Biomolecular Chemistry
Studying embryonic development to understand the transcriptional mechanisms for a totipotent state
Chris Todd Hittinger
Genetics
Evolution of carbon-responsive gene networks, yeast biodiversity, industrial brewing and biofuel applications
Aaron Hoskins
Biochemistry
RNA splicing, gene expression, fluorescence microscopy, RNA/protein complexes
Zhen Huang
Neurology and Nueroscience
Neuron and glial cell fate specification and differentiation, cortical neuron migration, migration disorders
Akihiro Ikeda
Medical Genetics
Identifying genes involved in aging, cell proliferation and neovascularization using mouse genetics
Junsu Kang
Cell and Regenerative Biology
Zebrafish, regeneration, fin, heart, enhancer, genetic mutant
Nancy Keller
Bacteriology and Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Exploring genetic regulation of virulence and natural product synthesis by fungi
Judith Kimble
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Medical Genetics
Molecular regulation of germ line self-renewal and differentiation in C. elegans
Dudley Lamming
Medicine
Biology of aging and age-related diseases, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease
Allen Laughon
Genetics and Medical Genetics
Smad transcription factors and associated cofactors in response to TGF-beta signaling
Carol Eunmi Lee
Integrative Biology and Center for Rapid Evolution
Rapid Evolutionary responses to global change, including biological invasions, climate, and pollution. Genetic architecture of invasive species, functional ecological and evolutionary genomics
Patrick Masson
Genetics
Genetics of root growth behavior using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system.
David McCulley
Pediatrics
Developmental biology and genetics related to lung and pulmonary vascular development and disease.
Phil Newmark
Integrative Biology
Germ cell development and regeneration in planarians; developmental biology of parasitic flatworms
Brian Parks
Nutritional Sciences
Leveraging genetics to understand the pathways and molecular mechanisms that contribute to metabolic diseases.
Bret Payseur
Genetics and Medical Genetics
Speciation, Evolution of Extreme Phenotypes, Recombination
Francisco Pelegri
Genetics and Medical Genetics
Cellular and developmental mechanisms in the vertebrate egg-to-embryo transition, early cell fate specification
Caitlin Pepperell
Medicine
Ecological and evolutionary interactions between humans and human pathogens
Nicole Perna
Genetics
Systems-scale evolutionary genomics of agriculturally, biomedically and industrially significant bacteria
Sushmita Roy
Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
Machine learning methods; the structure, function and evolution of regulatory networks; predictive models
David Schwartz
Chemistry and Genetics
Scalable discovery of human and cancer structural variation through invention and applications of single molecule systems
Nathaniel Sharp
Genetics
Mutation, Evolution, Genome Architecture, Genetic Variation, Sexual Selection
Ahna Skop
Genetics, Medical Genetics and Life Science Communications
Asymmetric cell division, cytokinesis, cell polarity & cell cycle genomics and proteomics
Paul Sondel
Pediatrics and Human Oncology
Antibody recognition of cancer cells in mice and in patients
Michael Sussman
Biochemistry
Signal transduction and plasma membrane receptors in Arabidopsis thaliana, genomic technologies
Michael Taylor
School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Division
Genetic dissection of blood-brain barrier development
Randal Tibbetts
Human Oncology
Genetic control of DNA replication and repair in mammals. Mechanisms of neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Beth A. Weaver
Cell and Regenerative Biology - McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research
Mitosis, Aneuploidy, Cell Cycle, Cancer
Deneen Wellik
Cell & Regenerative Biology
The role of Hox genes in the development, growth and homeostasis of the adult skeleton, muscle and lung.
Donna Werling
Genetics
Genetic risk for autism and other neuropsychiatric conditions, sex differences in neurobiology and risk for disease
Marvin Wickens
Biochemistry
The molecular basis of RNA control: how it is accomplished, integrated and evolves
Jill Wildonger
Biochemistry
How neuronal structure and function is shaped by the microtubule cytoskeleton and polarized transport
Jerry Yin
Genetics and Neurology
cAMP/PKA/dCREB2 signaling in sleep, memory formation, neurodegenerative diseases, developmental disabilities
Jae-hyuk Yu
Bacteriology
Molecular genetics and genomics of spore formation and mycotoxin biosynthesis in filamentous fungi
Jing Zhang
Oncology
Using genetically engineered mouse models to study normal and mutant hematopoietic stem cell functions
Xinyu Zhao
Neuroscience
Genetics and epigenetic regulation of neural stem cells and neuronal development
Xuehua Zhong
Genetics
Mechanisms and roles of epigenetic modifications underpinning various biological processes