Connected Science Community Biology PhD Program

The Wang Lab develops mammalian synthetic biology tools to advance anti-cancer cellular therapy, regenerative medicine, and microfluidic human organ models.

The Moore Bone Lab studies how cells resident in longbone and craniofacial tissues can be manipulated to maintain healthy tissues or regenerate new bones and teeth. We utilize animal models and cell culture systems to understand how these cells respond to physical and chemical cues during growth, repair, load-induced formation, and aging conditions.

The Davidi lab investigates stress adaptation mechanisms in extremophilic algae to develop solutions for global food security and ecosystem health by understanding and enhancing resilience in photosynthetic organisms.

Our group combines chemistry and biology to investigate the molecular machines responsible for building and maintaining the bacterial cell envelope. We focus on essential, conserved protein complexes for which antibiotics have yet been developed. A long-term goal of our research is to design precision, mechanism-based inhibitors targeting these proteins to combat multidrug-resistant infections.

The Wang Lab seeks to advance our understanding of chloroplast function using the model unicellular microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The research in Wang lab aims to provide new targets for bioengineering crops, algae, and other photosynthetic organisms to improve their photosynthesis efficiency and enhance their resistance to environmental stresses while improving yields and sustainability. Wang lab will apply cutting-edge techniques in fluorescence microscopy, proteomics, CRISPR genome editing, and synthetic biology to transform our understanding of chloroplast biology.

Okeke Lab investigates the molecular mechanisms associated with the inflammatory response of innate immune cells with a focus on neutrophils and macrophages. Specifically, we are interested in pathways associated with the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) and the contribution of NETs to different diseased states including diseases of the central nervous system.

The Copos Lab is broadly interested in mathematical biology of the cell. They are a group of interdisciplinary scientists that develop models and new mathematical tools to tease apart the “internal machinery” of a living cell. Their work combines mechanics-based mathematical modeling, numerical and computational methods, image-based analysis and inference, and collaborations with experimentalists.