Teaching Faculty
Professor
Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Professor
Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Drexel Engineering/Science Faculty
Department: Chemical and Biological Engineering
Research Interests: Molecular simulations in biophysics and materials, HIV-1 envelope structure and function, protein-ligand binding thermodynamics and kinetics
Department: Physics
Research Interests: Computational studies of confinement effects on the folding of amyloidogenic proteins, spatial correlations of neurons in the brain, firing dynamics of neuronal networks, fluid flow through porous media
Department: Physics
Research Interests: Experimental and theoretical protein dynamics, kinetics of biological self-assembly, including sickle cell and Alzheimer's disease, sickle cell testing and diagnostic devices
Department: Biology
Research Interests: Identifying and characterizing genes involved in pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), aiming to identify novel therapeutic strategies to delay or prevent onset of AD
Department: Physics
Research Interests: Computational and experimental biophysics of protein folding and assembly, relevant to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease; discrete molecular dynamics of coarse-grained protein and lipid models
Emeritus Faculty
Professor Emerita; Associate Dean for Medical Student Research; Course Director, Cancer Biology
Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Cellular response to DNA damage, regulation of gene expression, cellular proliferation and the cell cycle
Professor Emerita
Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Development of curricula (both lecture and problem-based), and of methods to assist and assess student progress through the curricula
Marilyn Jorns, PhD
Professor Emerita
Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Use of structure-based drug design to develop a new class of drugs to treat heart failure, based on modulation of the gasotransmitter hydrogen sulfide; structure and mechanism of membrane-bound oxidoreductases
Gerald Soslau, PhD
Professor Emeritus
Research Interests: Platelet biochemistry, platelet thrombin receptors
Adjunct Biochemistry Faculty at Fox Chase Cancer Center
Research Interests: Genetic studies to improve screening, early detection and treatment of cancers; mechanisms underlying genetically undefined hereditary cancers; predictive biomarkers for response to chemoradiation therapy; novel strategies to screen for individuals at high risk for cancer
Research Interests: Lu Chen lab uses CRISPR engineering, live cell imaging, and classic biochemical approaches to delineate the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which RNA and RNA-protein complexes contribute to epigenetics, chromatin organization, and genome maintenance. We are translating our basic science findings into new therapeutic strategies aiming to solve cancers and other aging-related degenerative diseases.
Research Interests: Signal transduction by small G proteins and their effectors and the role of these proteins in regulating cytoskeletal structure, tumor invasion, and metastasis; regulation of insulin signaling
Research Interests: Isolation of primary fibroblasts from various murine and human cancers at different stages of tumorigenesis
Research Interests: Computational structural biology, including homology modeling, fold recognition, molecular dynamics simulations, statistical analysis of the PDB, and bioinformatics
Research Interests: Identifying drug survival mechanisms for novel therapeutic strategies to benefit patients. Developing organoid models for precision medicine. Determining pathways and mechanisms regulating chromatin modifiers and enhancer-promoter interactions in hematopoietic cells. Systems biology approaches to determine epigenetic plasticity and epigenome regulation.
Research Interests: Understanding points of communication between the cell cycle machinery and cell shape controls, with particular reference to how these processes are simultaneously disrupted in cancer; the HEF1, HEI10, and HEI-C proteins, which function in cell cycle-cell attachment control pathways
Research Interests: The Johnson laboratory studies mechanisms of DNA damage detection, repair, and signaling that occur in BRCA1 mutation-containing organisms and cancers. We use a range of approaches, including cell biology, mouse genetics, and therapy resistance modeling, to understand basic biological processes and their implications for tumorigenesis and chemotherapy sensitivity.
Research Interests: Molecular chaperone correction of missense mutations; genetic defects of methionine metabolic enzymes and human disease
Research Interests: Understanding mechanisms of drug resistance in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST); preclinical testing of novel agents/combinations in GIST patient derived xenografts (PDX); identification of biomarkers of response to targeted agents in soft tissue sarcomas
Research Interests: Epigenetic Mechanisms Driving Copy Gain, Amplifications and Drug Resistance
Research Interests: Projects in the Whitaker lab aim to elucidate the molecular mechanisms coupling two key biological responses to oxidative DNA damage within G-quadruplex forming sequences. Specifically, base excision repair (BER) and the epigenic-like transcriptional regulation of key tumor suppressors and oncogenes. The long-term goal is to identify molecular targets that can be exploited to improve cancer therapies.
Research Interests: Immune signaling and regulatory pathways in lymphoid malignancies
* Physician's practice is independent of Drexel Medicine and Drexel University.