First name,Last name,Preferred title,Overview,Position,Department,Individual
Tracy,Clement,Assistant Professor,"My laboratory uses an integrative approach to elucidate the molecular basis of cyto/nucleo morphogenesis in the spermatid, called spermiogenesis. This is among the most drastic cellular reorganizations and is critical for both male fertility and high fidelity transmission of genetic and epigenetic information to the next generation for healthy offspring. We seek to elucidate structural and regulatory processes involved in this transformation to understand the molecular underpinnings of cytoskeletal and chromatin remodeling in normal and disrupted spermiogenesis. The laboratory takes advantage of molecular and genetic tools in mouse models including transgenesis, gene knock out studies, and genomic and proteomic expression analyses, advanced imaging technologies for morphological and live tissue imaging, and protein expression and in vitro molecular biochemical approaches such as actin dynamics assays.",Assistant Professor,Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n1ee4ad1b
Junqi,Song,Assistant Professor,,Assistant Professor,Texas A&M AgriLife Research,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n24849ee5
Jessica,Galloway-Pena,Assistant Professor,"Dr. Galloway-Pena's studies incorporate the genetic basis of pathogenesis as well as the molecular epidemiology of clinically relevant gram-positive pathogens, focusing on those with multi-drug resistance. She has more recently shifted her focus to microbiome dynamics during cancer treatment and the intense antibiotic therapy seen in the hematological malignancy setting to determine the microbiome's impact on cancer treatment outcomes, toxicities, and colonization/infection by antibiotic resistant organisms. Applications of her research include determining genetic and chemical markers for microbial diversity that can be used in the clinical setting, designing predictive risk models for antibiotic resistant infectious risk during chemotherapy, and promoting antimicrobial stewardship and microbial conscious treatment.",Assistant Professor,Veterinary Pathobiology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n339da0fb
Haitham,Mohammed,Assistant Professor,"Fish diseases represent one of the most challenging areas facing today's aquaculture industry. My research to date reflects my interest in using basic science in the area of aquatic animal health to provide new applied solutions and practical management actions to control fish disease. My goal is to address the evolving fish disease and diagnostic issues facing aquaculture producers and to promote sustainable aquaculture practices. Focal areas of activity include raising awareness regarding biosecurity in aquaculture, increasing capacity for disease surveillance and monitoring, and promoting good management practices in aquaculture systems, including antimicrobial use. Improper or overuse of antibiotics in aquaculture may impact other organisms and can lead to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the local environment which could impact human health.",Assistant Professor,"Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management||Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences",https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n3d5cbbbe
Beiyan,Nan,Assistant Professor,"I am interested in understanding the mechanisms of fundamental biological processes in bacteria. My lab uses soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus as the model organism. Several aspects of M. xanthus make it an ideal model for understanding bacterial physiology. First, M. xanthus cells utilize sophisticated systems to move on solid surfaces, which involve cytoplasmic and periplasmic proteins, filamentous cytoskeletons, membrane channels, cell wall, and cell surface components. Second, cells constantly communicate with each other and with their environment. Cells usually move in coordinated groups but also as isolated ""adventurous"" individuals, which allows this bacterium to feed on soil detritus and prey on other microorganisms. Third, when the availability of nutrients or prey decrease in the environment, most cells exhibit behaviors that include aggregation into fruiting bodies and conversion of individual cells into spores.
I have been using the super resolution photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM) to track single molecule dynamics of proteins in live bacterial cells. With this technique, I have achieved 10 millisecond time resolution (100 frames per second) and 80 nm spatial resolution. These studies were initiated because the most widely used fluorescence microscopy techniques (including confocal, deconvolution, etc.) can only provide resolution to about 200 nm due to the diffraction of light, which is often insufficient for many studies because of the small size of bacterial cells (usually a few hundred nanometers in diameter).
Our research topics cover motility, development (fruiting body formation and biofilm formation), cytoskeleton, and cell wall assembly.",Assistant Professor,Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n3fe4c57e
Maria,King,Research Associate Professor,"My interdisciplinary studies focus on the development of the wetted wall cyclone aerosol collector technology to monitor potential health hazards and improve surveillance efforts by collecting aerosols released from agricultural and industrial facilities and modeling particle dispersion. Within a coal mining industry study we aim to determine the influence of particle size distribution, chemical composition and morphology of airborne respirable mine dusts and diesel particulates on lung disease. My projects involve fluid mechanics, computational flow modeling and metagenomics to study biofilms in oil fields and nuclear reactors and mitigate microbial contamination in drilling equipment, hydraulic fracturing water and cooling systems.",Assistant Professor||Faculty Affiliate||Faculty Affiliate,Biological and Agricultural Engineering||Energy Institute||Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n44870816
Christine,Merlin,Associate Professor,"Our research broadly lies in understanding how organisms respond and adapt to changing environments, with an emphasis on circadian biology. Organisms from bacteria to humans use circadian clocks to control a plethora of biochemical, physiological and behavioral rhythms. These clocks are synchronized to daily and seasonal environmental changes to allow organisms to tune specific activities at the appropriate times of day or year.
In our laboratory, we use the eastern North American migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) as a model system to study animal clock mechanisms and the role of circadian clocks and clock genes in a fascinating biological output, the animal long-distance migration. Every fall, like clockwork, millions of monarch butterflies start migrating thousands of miles from North America to reach their overwintering sites in central Mexico. During their journey south, migrating monarchs use a time-compensated sun compass orientation mechanism to maintain a constant flight bearing. Circadian clocks located in the antennae provide the critical internal timing device for compensation of the sun movement across the sky over the course of the day. The recent sequencing of the monarch genome and the establishment of genetic tools to knockout clock genes (and others) in vivo using nuclease-mediated gene targeting approaches provides us with a unique opportunity to uncover the molecular and cellular underpinnings of the butterfly clockwork, its migratory behavior and their interplay.",Assistant Professor,Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n5a23a5d7
Keri,Norman,Associate Professor,"My primary area of interest is in molecular epidemiology and in particular investigating selection pressures driving bacterial pathogen populations at the interface between humans, agricultural animals, and the environment. I use molecular techniques such as next generation sequencing to investigate how bacterial populations change in response to selection pressures. One example is the unintended consequences of antimicrobial use on E. coli and Salmonella populations in cattle and swine and their environments. I am also interested in using whole genome sequencing to compare bacterial populations and improve upon current typing techniques.",Assistant Professor,Veterinary Integrative Biosciences,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n6fb4481d
Sheila,Kitchen,Assistant Professor,"I am molecular ecologist that integrates field, laboratory and computational tools to address fundamental questions surrounding interspecies interactions and their persistence in a changing world.My goal is to transform these results into applied solutions for conservation.",Assistant Professor,Marine Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n713c4310
Daniel,Spalink,Assistant Professor,"Projects in my lab range from studying the dynamics of genetic diversity within species to the evolution of entire plant orders, and from regional patterns of community assembly to the global structure of phylogenetic and functional diversity. As climate changes, habitats fragment, and extinction rates rise, we use this evolutionary perspective to understand the processes through which species have evolved and assembled so that we are better equipped to protect them.",Assistant Professor,Ecology and Conservation Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n72b28bdc
Deborah,Threadgill,Assistant Professor,,Research Assistant Professor||Assistant Professor,Veterinary Pathobiology||School of Medicine,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n8734a809
Claudio,Casola,Assistant Professor,"Our group is interested in studying genome evolution and adaptation in plants, beetles and other organisms using both experimental and computational approaches.
Research topics in our group include gene evolution via de novo formation, gene duplication and horizontal transfer; genetic basis of drought tolerance and adaptation to aridity in conifers; evolution of the tree-killing habit in bark beetles.
We work in collaboration with scientists at TAMU, the University of Kentucky, Pisa University (Italy), the Texas A&M Forest Service, the ESSM Department Forest Science Laboratory and the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station.",Assistant Professor,Ecology and Conservation Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n94d8cb9d
Masako,Suzuki,Assistant Professor,,Assistant Professor,Nutrition,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n9fd0c6a8
Robert,Watson,Assistant Professor,"We are interested in the interface between intracellular bacterial pathogens and the hosts they infect. In particular, we study the notorious human pathogen, Mycbacterium tuberculosis, which remains a major global health threat. M. tuberculosis has evolved a variety of specific adaptations to not only survive but also replicate within the harsh environment inside a macrophage. We want to understand the mechanisms by which M. tuberculosis is able to modulate the innate immune response to establish an infection as well as how the host detects and responds to M. tuberculosis.",Assistant Professor,Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nc0edc59a
Gabriel,Hamer,Associate Professor,"Research in the Hamer Lab broadly investigates the ecology of infectious diseases of humans, wild animals, and domestic animals, with particular attention to those transmitted by arthropod vectors (e.g. mosquitoes, ticks, kissing bugs). We have focused primarily on vector-host interactions that lead to parasite amplification and increased disease risk. We utilize multidisciplinary tools to studying these complex disease systems, including molecular biology, landscape epidemiology, eco-immunology, and ecological modeling. A goal of our research is to elucidate mechanisms of transmission across space and time that facilitate ecological management of diseases with effective intervention and preventative strategies.",Assistant Professor,Entomology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nc1f3fc64
Ron,Eytan,Assistant Professor,"My lab studies the origin and maintenance of marine biodiversity, primarily in coral reef fishes, using genomic and computational methods. My lab has broad interests in phylogenomics and phylogeography, population genetics/genomics, and the geography and genetics of speciation in reef fishes.",Assistant Professor,Marine Biology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nc2f8ea4a
Jonathan,Sczepanski,Assistant Professor,"Our primary research goals are to develop and apply novel tools for studying DNA damage in the context of chromatin and to explore new avenues for RNA-based therapeutics and diagnostics. By combining expertise in chemical biology, molecular biology, and molecular evolution, our lab addresses challenges associated with studying and targeting noncoding RNAs from a unique perspective. In addition, we utilize modern chemical biology techniques to develop designer chromatin systems for studying DNA damage. We are seeking motivated individuals who wish to gain experience in chemical biology, molecular biology, and in vitro evolution techniques.",Assistant Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/ncc157d6e
Shiqing,Xu,Assistant Professor,"Our research aims to develop innovative synthetic methodologies and therapeutic approaches, and apply them to solving pressing problems of biological and medical importance. New synthetic methodologies and strategies (e.g. non-traditional disconnections and C-H functionalization) have great impacts on the discovery of transformational medicines by enabling the rapid and efficient synthesis of novel, diverse, and complex biologically active molecules. New therapeutic approaches (e.g. targeted covalent inhibition and targeted protein degradation) provide new opportunities to address traditionally ""undruggable"" disease targets.
We anticipate that the combination of the efforts in the development of novel synthetic methodologies and therapeutic approaches will advance drug discovery in diseases of unmet need, and achieve the research goal of identifying small-molecule probes and drug candidates that specifically remove/inhibit disease-causing proteins in cells and animal models and ultimately impact human health. Representative research directions include:
1. COVID-19 drug discovery via small-molecule-induced targeted protein inhibition and degradation
2. Late-stage functionalization of drugs and peptides & its applications in drug discovery
3. Organoboron chemistry and its medical applications",Assistant Professor,Chemistry,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/ncd983c6e
Sargurunathan,Subashchandrabose,Assistant Professor,I have a long-standing interest in elucidating the molecular and cellular effectors at the host-pathogen interface to identify therapeutic targets against infectious diseases.,Assistant Professor,Veterinary Pathobiology,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/nd12152ed