First name,Last name,Preferred title,Overview,Position,Department,Individual
Yuxiang,Sun,Professor,"Dr. Sun is an expert on ""hunger hormone"" ghrelin. She generated the first set of ghrelin and ghrelin receptor knockout mice, and discovered novel roles of ghrelin signaling in diabetes, thermogenesis, and inflammation. Her laboratory uses state-of-the-art tools to study ghrelin system in energy sensing, metabolism and immunity, and aging. Her work suggests that ghrelin signal might be a promising drug target for obesity, diabetes, inflammation, and Alzheimer's disease.",Professor,Nutrition,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n0228c22e
James,Womack,Distinguished Professor,"Comparative mammalian genomics with emphasis on bovids and laboratory animals. Study of evolution of gene families and genomic variation underlying disease resistance. Investigation of genetic mechanisms in innate immunity with focus on livestock, select agents, and agricultural biosecurity.",Distinguished Professor,Veterinary Pathobiology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n0e1a49e2
Michael,Criscitiello,Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies,"My Comparative Immunogenetics Laboratory studies immunology, molecular genetics and evolution. Most of our group's research focuses on the natural history and future application of the vertebrate adaptive immune system, with particular attention given to the genetics of lymphocyte antigen receptors. Particular expertise lies in the evolution of vertebrate immunoglobulin loci, T cell receptor loci and the major histocompatibility complex. Additionally, we are interested in the evolution of diversification mechanisms at work there (e.g., recombination activating genes (RAG), activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), and the high allelic polymorphism maintained by classical MHC genes). Most recently, we have been working on lymphocyte development in shark thymus that suggests plasticity across the B lymphocyte/T lymphocyte divide, immunoglobulin heavy and light chain isotype pairing in an amphibian system, immunogenetics in marine mammals of conservation importance, mucosal humoral immunity in diverse tetrapods and cattle antibodies with an unheralded domain extending for novel antigen binding possibilities.",Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies||Professor,School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences||Veterinary Pathobiology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n11e21ca8
Pingwei,Li,Professor,"The research in my lab focuses on elucidating the structural basis of innate immune responses towards microbial nucleic acids. The cGAS/STING pathway plays a central role in innate immunity toward bacterial and viral DNA. cGAS is activated by dsDNA and catalyzes the synthesis of a cyclic dinucleotide cGAMP, which binds to the adaptor STING that mediates the recruitment and activation of protein kinase TBK1 and transcription factor IRF-3. Activated IRF-3 translocates to the nucleus and induces the expression of type I interferons (IFN), an important family of antiviral cytokine. To elucidate the mechanism of cGAS activation, we determined the structures of cGAS in isolation and in complex with DNA. The cGAS/DNA complex structure reveals that cGAS interacts with DNA through two binding sites. Enzyme assays and IFN-? reporter assays of cGAS mutants demonstrate that interactions at both DNA binding sites are essential for cGAS activation. To investigate how cGAMP activates STING, we determined the structures of STING in isolation and in complex with cGAMP. These structures reveal that STING forms a V-shaped dimer and binds cGAMP at the dimer interface. We have also determined the structures of TBK1 in complex with two inhibitors, which show that TBK1 exhibits an I?B kinase fold with distinct domain arrangement. To elucidate the mechanism of IRF-3 recruitment by STING, we determined the structure of a phosphorylated STING peptide bound to IRF-3. To understand how phosphorylation activates IRF-3, we solved the structure of an IRF-3 phosphomimetic mutant bound to CBP, which reveals how phosphorylation induces the dimerization and activation of IRF-3.",Professor,Biochemistry and Biophysics,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n31ebad17
Thomas,Ioerger,Professor - Term Appoint,"Dr. Ioerger's research interests are in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Agents, and Machine Learning. His work has covered diverse areas, from spatial reasoning, to simulating team-work, to modeling emotions. Currently, his primary focus is on designing multi-agent system architectures to simulate collaborative behavior and teamwork. He also applies AI and machine learning methods to various problems in the area of Bioinformatics, including the improvement of protein sequence alignments, molecular modeling, and X-ray crystallography. The latter research has lead to the development of an automated software system for protein model-building called TEXTAL, which is currently being used by crystallographers throughout the world.",Professor - Term Appoint,Computer Science and Engineering,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n36a51a43
Robert,Chapkin,Distinguished Professor,"Research in the Chapkin lab focuses on dietary/microbial modulators related to the prevention of cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases.
Our central goal is to (1) understand cancer chemoprevention at a fundamental level, and (2) to test pharmaceutical agents in combination with dietary/microbial (countermeasures to the Western diet) to more effectively improve gut health and reduce systemic chronic inflammation. Since diet influences gut microbiota composition and metabolite production, to unravel the interrelationships among gut health and the structure of the gut microbial ecosystem, we are in the process of evaluating (using transgenic mouse, Drosophila models and humans) how the gut microbiome modulates intestinal cells, innate immune cells and tumors. As part of this endeavor, we are modeling at the molecular level the dynamic relationship between diet and gut microbe-derived metabolites which modulate chronic inflammation and the hierarchical cellular organization of the intestine, e.g., stem cell niche.",Distinguished Professor||Professor,Biochemistry and Biophysics||Nutrition,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n3fbb59f8
Jianxun,Song,Professor,T cell biology
T cell-based immunotherapy
Cell metabolism,Professor,Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n5b9879a8
Yubin,Zhou,Professor & Presidential Impact Fellow,"We are a synthetic biology and bioengineering lab focused on developing technologies that enable remote and programmable control of protein activity, cell signaling and designer cells. We pioneer chemical and synthetic biology approaches to address challenges in health and disease. We are particularly interested in (i) illuminating novel regulatory mechanisms of signal transduction that remain unresolved in Ca2+ signaling and inter-organelle communications; (ii) pioneering widely-applicable molecular tools for precise control of cellular events, (epi)genome engineering, and gene transcription; and (iii) developing innovative theranostic devices, programmable biologics and intelligent cell-based therapies (CAR-T) for cancer and neurodegeneration intervention. The tight integration among mechanistic studies, biomedical engineering, and translational sciences is a hallmark of my research. See highlights in: ""Let there be light"" (Scientia); ""Optogenetics sparks new research tool"" (NIH Biomedical Beat)",,,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n70ef0d4e
Frances,Ligler,Professor,,Professor,Biomedical Engineering,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n74321a1f
James,Sacchettini,Professor,"My lab uses X-ray crystallography to better understand the relationship between proteins and ligands. Tiny differences in the structure of a molecule can radically change the interaction between a protein and ligand and we are only begining to understand how many factors play a role in this interaction. By manipulating the individual components of a compound it is possible to create a chemical that binds to the protein better than the natural substrate, and prevent the natural reaction from occurring. This is the basis for rational drug design. Our efforts have lead us to collaborations with other labs and scientists in many disciplines as our approach to directed compound design has applications not only in basic research but also in pesticide development, health research and clinical research.",Professor,Biochemistry and Biophysics,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n90385563
Hung-Jen,Wu,Associate Professor,"Dr. Wu uses nanostructured materials and analytical tools to develop diagnostic techniques for medical applications. His laboratory recently focuses on understanding the influences of multivalency and cell membrane environment on pathogen-host cell recognition. The applications of his techniques include, infectious diseases screening, exploring cell membrane function, and targeted drug delivery.",Associate Professor,Chemical Engineering,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n9cbcca3e
Yun,Huang,Associate Professor,"Dr. Huang is currently an Assistant Professor at the Center for Epigenetics and Disease Prevention, Institute of Biosciences & Technology, Texas A&M University. Her long-term goal is to elucidate the molecular basis of epigenetic changes in the human genome and to develop novel therapies by targeting aberrant DNA methylation and demethylation associated with human diseases, including cancer, immunoinflammatory and cardiovascular diseases.
Dr. Huang's laboratory is focused on elucidating the physiological and pathophysiological functions of TET2 protein and its 5-methylcytosine oxidation products (5hmC, 5fC and 5caC) in cancer and development (Nature Genet 2014; Trends in Genetics 2014).",Associate Professor,Institute of Biosciences and Technology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nd7ed0926
Darrell,Pilling,Research Assistant Professor,,Research Assistant Professor,Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/ne8a9ecc1