MCIBS - Molecular and Evolutionary Genetics Faculty
Faculty associated with the molecular and evolutionary genetics emphasis area of the MCIBS Graduate Degree Program at Penn State, and a summary of their research interests
Faculty are listed in alphabetical order by last name. To see more information about a faculty member, click on his/her name.
Sarah Ades
Signal transduction and antibiotic-induced stress responses in bacteria.
Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Charles Anderson
In vivo imaging of plant cell wall dynamics. Molecular genetic analysis of genes involved in cell growth. Cell wall biosynthesis in dividing cells. Cell wall engineering for sustainable bioenergy production.
Associate Professor of Biology
Raquel Assis
Evolutionary genomics, molecular evolution, and bioinformatics. Particularly interested in how new functions evolve after gene duplication.
Assistant Professor of Biology
Lu Bai
Single cell / single molecule study of chromatin and gene regulation
Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Associate Professor of Physics
Craig Cameron
RNA virus genome development.
Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
John Carlson
Forest molecular genetics
Professor of Molecular Genetics, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management
Director, Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics
Douglas Cavener
Translational control of gene expression.
Dean of Penn State's Eberly College of Science
Gong Chen
Molecular mechanism of synaptogenesis and plasticity.
Professor of Biology
Verne M. Willaman Chair in Life Sciences
Surinder Chopra
Regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in maize.
Professor of Maize Genetics, Department of Plant Science
Diana Cox-Foster
Insect biochemistry and physiology; evolutionary development; molecular biology; host/pathogen interactions.
Professor of Entomology
Liwang Cui
Molecular parasitology; host-parasite interactions; malaria parasite development and epigenetics; malaria epidemiology and population biology
Professor of Entomology
Michael DeGiorgio
Poulation genetics, phylogenetics, human evolutionary genomics, and bioinformatics
Assistant Professor of Biology
Robert Eckhardt
Genetic and environmental influences on growth and development in human populations.
Professor of Developmental Genetics and Evolutionary Morphology
J. Gregory Ferry
Enzymology and molecular genetics of anaerobic microbes from the Archaea domain.
Stanley Person Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Director, Center for Microbial Structural Biology
Majid Foolad
Genetics of and breeding for stress tolerance and nutritional quality in crop plants.
Professor of Plant Genetics, Department of Plant Science
David Geiser
Molecular evolutionary genetics of pathogenic and toxigenic fungi.
Professor of Plant Pathology
Director, Fusarium Research Center
Pamela Giblin
The role of receptor tyrosine kinases in development and disease.
Professor of Immunology
David Gilmour
Transcriptional regulation of the hsp70 heat shock gene in Drosophila.
Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology
Santhosh Girirajan
To understand the genetic basis of neurodevelopmental disorders
Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Christina M Grozinger
Genomics of social behavior and health in bees
Distinguished Professor of Entomology
Mark Guiltinan
Plant molecular and developmental biology. Starch biosynthesis. Tropical plant biotechnology. Plant-pathogen interactions. Biofuel feedstock production.
J. Franklin Styer Professor of Horticultural Botany
Professor of Plant Molecular Biology, Department of Plant Science
Director, Endowed Program in the Molecular Biology of Cocoa
Wendy Hanna-Rose
Developmental genetics of organogenesis and morphogenesis in C. elegans.
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Ross Hardison
Functional genomics of non-coding DNA; regulation of mammalian hemoglobin genes.
T. Ming Chu Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Heather Hines
* Genetics of adaptive mimetic color pattern variation in butterflies and bumble bees
Assistant Professor, Biology
Kelli Hoover
Invasive species of forest insects; plant-insect-entomopathogen interactions; impacts of plants on pathogenesis; biological control of hemlock woolly adelgid
Professor of Entomology
David R. Huff
Population genetics. Plant evolution and ecology. Crop improvement. Physiological tolerance to biotic and abiotic stress.
Professor of Turfgrass Breeding and Genetics, Department of Plant Science
Timothy Jegla
We are interested in understanding how ion channels control signaling in the nervous system. We focus on potassium channel-mediated control of firing threshold and ionic mechanisms involved in the generation and processing of sensory potentials. Our research relies on a combination of mouse genetics, electrophysiology, cell biology and compound screening approaches.
Associate Professor of Biology
Helen Marie Kamens
Identification of genetic mechanisms that contribute to complex behaviors with a special emphasis on alcohol and tobacco use.
Assistant Professor, Biobehavioral Health
Seogchan Kang
Professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology
Vivek Kapur
Research in my Laboratory seeks to define the basic mechanisms by which pathogenic microbes successfully infect, colonize, and cause disease in their hosts. The research effort is organized along two thematic lines:
microbial pathogenomics, including host response to infection
molecular epidemiology, including the study of population genetics of microbes
A related research component seeks to translate the results of our laboratory-based investigations into improved diagnostic tests and methods for microbial identification, as well as to investigate opportunities for developing new generations of antimicrobial vaccines and therapeutics.
Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Kenneth Keiler
Protein quality control and new antibiotics
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Zhi-Chun Lai
Signal Transduction, Growth Control, and Cancer Genetics
Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Cell and Developmental Biology
Scott Lindner
Our laboratory couples molecular parasitology and structural biology to study the malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.).
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Aimin Liu
Biogenesis and function of cilia in mammalian embryonic development.
Associate Professor of Biology
Wansheng Liu
Structural, functional and comparative genomics of the mammalian Y‐chromosome; characterization of Y-chromosome variations and their application in male health, fertility, and reproduction in cattle and other livestock species; function of the PRAME/PRAMEY gene family during spermatogenesis in cattle and mice
Professor of Genomics
Bernhard Luscher
Genetic analysis of inhibitory synapses in the mammalian brain.
Professor of Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Psychiatry
Director, Center for Molecular Investigation of Neurological Disorders (CMIND)
Kateryna Makova
Molecular evolution, population genetics, evolutionary genomics, bioinformatics, and human genetics
Professor of Biology
Director, Center for Medical Genomics
Yingwei Mao
My lab studies the mechanisms that regulate neurogenesis using cellular and mouse models. In the short term, I would like to focus my research program in determining how abnormal neural progenitor cell (NPC) proliferation and differentiation may lead to mental illnesses. My long-term plan is to use the reagents, experimental systems, mouse models that I develop to further screen novel drugs that can reverse the behavior phenotype in our mouse model and eventually benefit patients with psychiatric disorders.
Assistant Professor of Biology
Anton Nekrutenko
Evolution of overlapping reading frames in eukaryotic genomes.
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
B. Tracy Nixon
Signal transduction in prokaryotes; functional domains of Rhizobium dct genes.
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Curtis Omiecinski
Molecular genetics of xenobiotic metabolism.
Professor of Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences
H. Thomas and Dorothy Willits Hallowell Chair
Co-chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Molecular Toxicology
Richard Ordway
Cellular mechanisms of synaptic transmission in Drosophila.
Professor of Molecular Neuroscience and Genetics
Andrew Patterson
The Patterson lab is focused on understanding the host-metabolite-microbiome axis
Director/Faculty Oversight, Metabolomics Core Facility (University Park)
Associate Professor of Molecular Toxicology
Robert Paulson
The Paulson lab studies the mechanisms that regulate tissue regeneration with a focus on understanding the response to anemic and hypoxic stress
Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences
Gary Perdew
Mechanisms of receptor-mediated carcinogenesis.
John T. and Paige S. Smith Professor in Agricultural Sciences
George Perry
Human and non-human primate evolutionary ecology and genomics.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Biology
Jeffrey Peters
Roles of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) in the regulation of homeostasis, toxicology, and carcinogenesis.
Distinguished Professor of Molecular Toxicology & Carcinogenesis
B. Franklin Pugh
Biochemistry and genomics of eukaryotic transcription regulation.
Willaman Professor in Molecular Biology
Joseph Reese
Molecular and genetic analysis of UV resistance pathways in eukaryotes.
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Melissa Rolls
The Rolls lab investigates the cellular basis of neuronal polarity and neuronal responses to injury including degeneration and regeneration.
Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Director, Center for Cellular Dynamics
Chair, Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Biosciences program
Stephen Schaeffer
Population Genetics and Genomics of Chromosomal Rearrangements in Drosophila
Professor of Biology
Anthony Schmitt
Assembly and budding of paramyxovirus particles.
Professor of Molecular Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Idan Shalev
Interdisciplinary approach to identify mechanisms underpinning the biological embedding of stress across the lifespan with a special focus on biological aging.
Asst. Professor, Biobehavioral Health
Cooduvalli Shashikant
Developmental and evolutionary aspects of regulation of patterning genes.
Associate Professor of Molecular and Developmental Biology
Co-director, Bioinformatics and Genomics graduate program
Assistant Director for Graduate Training Initiatives
Mark Shriver
Human population genomics and complex disease mapping.
Professor of Biological Anthropology
Moriah L Szpara
Neurovirology, genomics of pathogen variation, neuron-virus relationships
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Claire Thomas
Role of the cortical actin cytoskeleton in cell polarity and morphogenesis.
Associate Professor of Biology and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
David Vandenbergh
Complex genetics of drug addiction.
Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Associate Director of the Penn State Institute of the Neurosciences
George Vogler
Quantitative genetics of complex traits.
Director, Center for Developmental and Health Genetics
Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Yanming Wang
Epigenetic histone modifications in cell differentiation and cancer.
Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Na Xiong
Molecular mechanisms underlying development of tissue specific gamma/delta T cells.
Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences