Dr. Scott Waldman, the MD/PhD Program Director, is the Hilary Koprowski Professors in Cancer Biology and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. His research focuses on GCC, demonstrating the importance of this receptor as a novel tumor suppressor central to the induction of colorectal cancer, and the translation of those observations to patient care.  Indeed, he is the PI of NCI multi-institutional clinical trials examining the utility of GCC as a molecular marker for managing patients with, and as a target for the prevention of, colorectal cancer.  Projects in his laboratory examine the translation of GCC biology into approaches to image colorectal tumors, prevent neoplastic transformation in intestine, and paradigms for vaccine development for patients with colorectal cancer.  His research combines both basic and clinical investigation and serves as an exemplar of translational research. Dr. Waldman’s office is 368J Jefferson Alumni Hall (JAH)

[email protected]  |  215-955-6086

Dr. Manuel Covarrubias, the MD/PhD Program Co-director, is Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and member of the Vickie and Jack Farber Institute for Neuroscience. Dr. Covarrubias’ major research interests concern two areas: 1) molecular mechanisms underlying pain sensitization induced by spinal cord injury; and 2) molecular mechanisms of general anesthesia. In the first area, his laboratory has identified a specific potassium channel as a major regulator of excitability in the peripheral pain pathway. This finding is the basis of efforts to investigate novel therapeutic targets to treat neuropathic pain. In the second area, his team has discovered sites of general anesthetic action in voltage-gated ion channels that govern the brain’s electrical activity. Further work in this area will promote the development of more effective and less toxic general anesthetics. Dr. Covarrubias collaborates with researchers from major universities in Philadelphia as well as universities and companies overseas. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health for more than 20 years. Dr. Covarrubias' office is 231 Bluemle Life Sciences Building. (BLSB).

[email protected]  |  215-503-4341

Christine Eischen, PhD
Professor, Pharmacology, Physiology & Cancer Biology

Identification and study of genes that regulate cellular transformation and tumor development.

Gyorgy Hajnoczky, MD, PhD
Raphael Rubin, MD Professor
Director of The Mitochondrial Research Center

Signaling, calcium, ER, mitochondria, metabolism, apoptosis, imaging

Angelo Lepore, PhD
Professor, Neuroscience

In vivo role played by astrocyte glutamate transporters in the etiology and treatment of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI)

Le Ma, PhD
Professor, Neuroscience

Neural networks; molecular pathways involved in branching; cell biological regulation of branching; contribution of branching to circuit function and repair

Steven B. McMahon, PhD
Professor and Chair, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Deregulation of the p53 and MYC transcription networks drivi

A. Sue Menko, PhD
Professor, Pathology & Genomic Medicine

Signaling mediating acquisition of the differentiated cell phenotype; Cell adhesion and the cytoskeleton in regulating tissue morphogenesis, regeneration, and fibrosis

Diane E. Merry, PhD
Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Molecular determinants of androgen receptor metabolism and of polyglutamine-expanded androgen receptor misfolding and aggregation

Timothy Mosca, PhD
Associate Professor, Neuroscience

Molecular mechanisms and the organizational logic of how synapses are constructed; deciphering the genes involved in synapse formation and composition  

Fabienne M. Paumet, PhD
Associate Professor, Microbiology & Immunology

Role of phagocytosis in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases; Role of phagocytosis in mast cell function in allergy

Raymond B. Penn, PhD
Professor, Medicine

Identification of cellular and molecular mechanisms by which G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediate important functions in airway cells and in the lung

Abdolmohamad Rostami, MD, PhD
Professor and Chair, Neurology

Helper T cell subsets and their cytokines in the pathogenesis of autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and multiple sclerosis; Effect of Bowman-Birk serine protease inhibitor on course of EAE; Mechanisms of intravenous tolerance in EAE; Effects of interleukin-27 (IL-27) on human auto-aggressive T cells.

Matthias J. Schnell, PhD
Professor and Chair, Microbiology & Immunology
Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Development of novel vaccines and viral pathogenesis

Daniel P. Silver, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Medical Oncology

Breast Cancer; Triple Negative Breast Cancer; Inflammatory Cancer; Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome; Atypical Hyperplasia (ADH, ALH); Lobular Carcinoma in Situ (LCIS); DNA Repair Defects

Richard Smeyne, PhD
Professor and Chair, Neuroscience

Cell biology of Parkinson’s Disease

Christopher Snyder, PhD
Associate Professor, Microbiology & Immunology

Viral immunology: maintenance of adaptive immunity during chronic infections; T cell responses elicited by cytomegalovirus infection; activation of T cell effector functions by innate signals

Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, PhD
Professor, Pathology & Genomic Medicine

Scott A. Waldman, MD, PhD
Professor and Chair, Pharmacology, Physiology & Cancer Biology

Tumor suppressors and their signaling pathways in GI malignancies; Targeted diagnostics and therapeutics in cancer

Edward Winter, PhD
Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Mechanisms that regulate meiotic development using the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model system

Hushan Yang, PhD
Professor, Medical Oncology

Cancer biomarker; Cancer genomics; Liquid biopsy; Racial disparity; Statistical modelling