Core Members

Sara Cherry, Ph.D.

Microbiology
http://www.med.upenn.edu/micro/faculty/cherry.html
Research interest: Dr. Cherry's laboratory uses high-throughput screening methodologies to identify small molecule inhibitors of viral replication. The identification of such compounds represents the first step in the development of new therapeutics. The viruses they study are important arthropod-borne human pathogens for which there are currently no efficacious drugs including West Nile virus, Dengue virus and Rift Valley Fever virus. Therefore, any inroads that they make will provide a stepping stone to new anti-virals.

Tom Curran, Ph.D., FRS

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
http://www.med.upenn.edu/camb/faculty/cgc/curran.html
Research interest: As part of the brain gene expression atlas project (GENSAT), the Curran laboratory is also analyzing gene expression in the brain using high-throughput in situ hybridization. They are taking genomic approaches to identify molecular changes and potential drug targets for several brain tumors including medulloblastoma, atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors and choroid plexus carcinomas. They developed a model system with a 100 percent incidence of spontaneous medulloblastoma for use in translational studies. Recently, they found that a small molecule inhibitor of the sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway eliminated even large tumor masses in vivo. The Curran lab is continuing to analyze the mechanism of action of several anticancer drugs in tumor cells and cancer models.

James Eberwine, Ph.D.

Pharmacology
http://www.med.upenn.edu/pharm/faculty/eberwine/eberwine.html
Research interest: The Eberwine lab performs fundamental work in elucidating how cells of the central nervous system communicate with one another. In particular, the lab has concentrated their efforts on developing novel methodologies that permit them to detect and quantify in vivo the influence of local subcellular environment on mRNA translation and gene transcription.

Doron Greenbaum, Ph.D.

Pharmacology
http://www.med.upenn.edu/micro/faculty/greenbaum.html

Brian D.Gregory, Ph.D.

Biology
http://www.bio.upenn.edu/faculty/gregory/
Research interest: Dr. Gregory's research is making use of genomic, bioinformatic, and systems biology approaches with molecular genetic and biochemical techniques. His lab is identifying and characterizing additional components required for the metabolism of various classes of small RNAs, as well as proteins involved in the regulation of specific small RNA populations and RNA silencing pathways. More specifically, we make use of high-throughput sequencing technologies to determine how the transcriptome as well as what small RNA populations are affected by these newly identified RNA silencing pathway components.

John B. Hogenesch, Ph.D.

Pharmacology
http://www.med.upenn.edu/pharm/faculty/hogenesch/hogenesch.html
Research interest: Dr. Hogenesch's research program covers two areas of research, the biology of circadian clocks in the mammal, and the application of functional genomics tools to understanding genome function. By conducting research in two complementary areas of research, I hope to contribute to a better understanding of circadian clocks, as well as to the development of tools that can be broadly applied to other areas of research such as translational medicine. These tools can be employed to construct cell based models of important biological pathways, target identification using cDNA overexpression and RNAi interference, as well as small molecule screen development. Importantly, these approaches can be leveraged along with informatic, proteomic, and RNA dynamics strategies to better inform biology and physiology.

Junhyong Kim

Biology
http://www.bio.upenn.edu/faculty/kim/
Research interest: Dr. Kim is a computational biologist and evolutionary genomicist. His current work involves statistical methods for functional and comparative genomics, laboratory investigations of yeast cell-cycle evolution, data analysis for cancer genomics, and algorithm development for computational phylogenetics.

David Roos, Ph.D.

Biology
http://www.bio.upenn.edu/faculty/roos/
Research interest: Molecular genetics, cell biology, and evolutionary genomics of protozoan parasites, including Plasmodium (malaria), and Toxoplasma.