Research

We strive to understand the processes by which molecules, cells, and organs interact to maintain vitality and good health.

A diverse research portfolio spans the following specialized areas.

The faculty in these research areas are expanding the boundaries of human knowledge and developing the next generation of treatments and cures to alleviate human suffering.

Cardiovascular

Faculty apply proteome biology coupled with artificial intelligence/machine learning and epigenetics to advance our understanding of signaling pathways and adaptive changes of the heart in health and disease.

Muscle

Faculty investigate fundamental mechanisms of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle and have become leaders in the field for basic and translational research programs on ion channel disorders of muscle that cause periodic paralysis and myotonia.

Neuroscience

Neuroscience research in the department leverages the power of modern optical, genetic, and molecular tracing technologies for advancing new frontiers in elucidating the roles of the non-neuronal cells of the brain (astrocytes and microglia) and defines how circuit-level neuronal activity enables complex adaptive behaviors of the whole animal.

Structural Biology

Our faculty use state-of-the-art technologies to determine the atomic structures and fundamental mechanisms of action for membrane proteins.

Transporters/Channels/Receptors/Biophysics

Our faculty study the molecular mechanisms for the regulated movement of ions, sugars, and protons across biological membranes that signal electrical events, contraction, immune responses, and metabolic energy balance.