Faculty are listed by Department within their Research Areas,
with descriptions of their active projects.


ANATOMY AND NEUROBIOLOGY

JULIE SANDELL
Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology; PhD,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Interests:My lab has two major areas of interest: 1) we are part of a group that is building a retinal prosthesis to treat retinal degeneration and 2) we are interested in discovering the biological basis for cognitive impairment during normal aging. For the first project, we use anatomical techniques to investigate the remodeling that occurs in the retina in retinitis pigmentosa. We also study retinas from animals that have retinal degeneration as a result of a mutation, or as a result of a photoreceptor toxin. For the second project, we study the changes in neurons and neuroglial cells in the brain in monkeys as they age, and try to correlate the structural changes with the monkey's cognitive performance, which is determined in another laboratory. We are particularly interested in teasing apart the changes that are related to age alone from those that are related to cognitive status. Ultimately we would like to know what allows some individuals to age "successfully," while others are severely impaired. I also have long-standing interests in visual system plasticity, and the role of GABA in neuronal development.

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DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY

GLORIA V. CALLARD
Professor of Biology; PhD, Rutgers University

Research Interests:Molecular and cellular physiology of aromatase (estrogen synthetase), estrogen and androgen receptors, and genomic mechanisms of steroid action in the brain, pituitary and retina; structure of the aromatase gene(s) and promoters, and transcriptional control mechanisms; regulation of the aromatization reaction; consequences of neuroestrogen formation and estrogen receptor occupancy for neural gene expression, neuronal growth and differentiation.


VINCENT E. DIONNE
Professor of Biology; PhD, University of Arizona

Research Interests: Chemosensory physiology: research on the cellular mechanisms underlying the detection and discrimination of odors by olfactory receptor neurons in vertebrates. Electrophysiological, anatomical, histochemical, and molecular biological techniques are used in the laboratory.

WILLIAM D. ELDRED
Professor of Biology; Director of the Program in Neuroscience;
Professor in the Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
Program; Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems Research
Fellow; PhD, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

Research Interests: We are doing multidisciplinary studies of the role of cGMP in synaptic mechanisms in retinal neurons. These studies employ immunocytochemistry, retrograde tracers, intracellular injections, pharmacology, electrophysiology, biochemistry and image analysis at the light and electron microscopic levels. Particular emphasis is placed on regional differences in the retina and the biochemical and pharmacological mechanisms for modulating cGMP in identified neurons.

ROBERT E. HAUSMAN
Professor of Biology; PhD, Northwestern University

Research Interests:Control of gene expression in the developing CNS and muscles. Specifically, the roles of the cellular microenvironment in cell determination and expression of cell-type specific genes. Current investigation of an example of autocrine cell-cell signaling via a diffusible signal molecule and the role of a specific cell recognition (adhesion) molecule in control of gene expression in developing chick skeletal muscle and retina.

JEN-WEI LIN
Professor of Biology; PhD, SUNY—Buffalo

Research Interests:Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurotransmitter secretion.Neurotransmitter secretion is a complicated process that involves ion channel gating and secretion steps. In addition, the mobilization and recycling of synaptic vesicles are needed to maintain the function of a synapse and to contribute to synaptic plasticity. Ultimately, an understanding of the secretory events means that one can establish a kinetic scheme for this multi-step process and identify molecules responsible for each step. Therefore, a combined electrophysiological and molecular approach is used in my laboratory to investigate these questions.

SUSAN TSUNODA
Assistant Professor of Biology; PhD, Washington University
School of Medicine

Research Interests:Every cell is faced with the task of sorting through a vast array of extracellular signals and transducing them into the appropriate intracellular responses. How do signaling molecules within one pathway activate downstream components with the necessary speed and specificity, while avoiding cross-talk with other pathways in the same cell? There is increasing recognition that this is accomplished by organizing signaling components into physically and functionally distinct signaling complexes. Our long-term interest is to understand how this organization is achieved and maintained, and how it produces effective signaling. We use Drosophila phototransduction as a model system for studying the organization of signaling cascades. Phototransduction in Drosophila is a G-protein-coupled signaling pathway similar to many other signaling cascades. Drosophila is an ideal model organism for studying intracellular signaling because it is amenable to combining a wide variety of experimental approaches to address biological questions. Classical genetic schemes can be used to isolate mutants, defects can be characterized using biochemical, cell-biological, and electrophysiological approaches, while powerful molecular-genetic techniques can be used to identify the affected molecules and examine the function of the proteins they encode in vivo. How are signaling complexes assembled, targeted, and anchored in photoreceptor cells? How does a photoreceptor ensure that transduction complexes have the appropriate composition of components and that they are situated in the proper location? Drosophila offers the opportunity to take a genetic approach to identifying the molecules involved in the assembly and localization of complexes, and to study the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes in vivo.
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DEPARTMENT OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

CHARLES DELISI
Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Dean, College of Engineering;
PhD, Physics, New York University

Research Interests:Dr. DeLisi's research centers on computational problems that arise in determining the structure and function of large biological molecules and the design of molecular architectures with specified activity. Problems of interest studied by Dr. DeLisi include the structural basis of signal transduction by membrane-bound receptors, the structural basis of voltage gating, and the docking of peptide hormones and neurotransmitters at their sites of action. Other projects involve the use of large databases to develop expert systems and train neural networks for the problem of rapidly identifying regions of key importance in DNA and proteins.

SOLOMON R. EISENBERG
Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering;
Associate Chairman of Undergraduate Studies, Biomedical Engineering;
Associate Professor, Electrical, Computer and Systems Engineering;
ScD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Interests:Dr. Eisenberg's research is directed towards understanding the functional role played by naturally occurring electrical interactions in tissues and membranes, as well as the effects and mechanisms of interaction of externally applied electric and magnetic fields. Specifically, his research addresses: electrokinetic and other electromechanical interactions in connective tissues and membranes; electrically mediated transport in charged and neutral membranes; finite element modeling of electrical defibrillation and magnetically induced currents in heterogeneous, anisotropic biological tissues and bodies; and mechansims of magnetic stimulation.

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