Faculty and Staff
Joseph Angleson
Associate Professor
Research interests involve cellular and molecular mechanisms of secretion of neuropeptides from neurons and neuroendocrine cells. Digital fluorescence microscopy is combined with electron microscopy, cell culture and molecular biology techniques to determine how membrane trafficking contributes to sustained secretion.
Scott Barbee
Assistant Professor
My research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the temporal-spatial regulation of mRNA translation using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. Current projects focus on evolutionarily conserved functions for ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles and the microRNA pathway in the control of synaptic plasticity, a cellular correlate of learning and memory.
Dennis Barrett
Associate Professor Emeritus
The programming of early events in the development of the sea urchin embryo. Projects focus on the genetic and environmental control of the constellation of events around hatching, when the larva has attained a few hundred cells: the synthesis and secretion of proteolytic enzymes involved in the hatching process, the development and coordination of cilia, and the beginning of organized locomotory behavior.
J. Todd Blankenship
Assistant Professor
How tissues and cells assume stereotypical forms and shapes is a central question in modern cell biology. In my lab we are interested in the interplay between membrane trafficking and the generation of cell surface polarities that guide cellular morphogenesis. We use advanced imaging techniques to visualize the pathways involved. We are currently exploring the function of exocyst complex proteins in directing membrane addition during the generation of epithelial polarity.
Christina Coughlan
Assistant Professor
Research focuses on protein folding, defects in which have been implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases. The most prominent examples of these resultant "conformational diseases" are Alzheimers, Cystic Fibrosis and Creutzfeldt Jacob/"Mad Cow" disease. The budding yeast cell and mammalian cells are used as model systems along with techniques that include fluorescence microscopy, proteomics and molecular biology.
Phillip B. Danielson
Professor
Research interests are centered on forensic genetics. Current projects focus on the development of high speed technologies for the identification of human remains and analysis of evidentiary material using mtDNA and complex protein mixtures. Another area of research focus includes neuroendocrinology with ongoing projects that examine the molecular mechanisms responsible for the post-spawning death of Pacific salmon. Techniques include denaturing HPLC, forensic DNA profiling, quantitative real-time PCR, time-of-flight mass spectroscopy, high-throughput robotics and recombinant DNA technologies.
Robert M. Dores
Professor and Chair
Research projects focus on the molecular evolution of the opioid/orphanin gene family. Current projects: analysis of the radiation of proenkephalin, prodynorphin gene in fish, amphibians, and reptiles; analysis of posttranslational processing of POMC in the pituitary gland of nonmammalian vertebrates; evolution of melanocortin receptors in vertebrates, and identification of novel opioid-like neuropeptides in the CNS of fish.
Jim Fogleman
Professor
I have recently joined a research program that focuses on ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's Disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive paralysis. My colleague and co-PI is Dr. Cathy Kunst and this project is housed in the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute at the University of Denver.
John Kinnamon
Professor
My research interests focus on the neurobiology of sensory systems, particulary the gustatory system. The vertebrate taste bud is used as a model for studying synaptic interactions between a sensory system and the central nervous system. Other interests include the development of technologies for imaging and reconstructing biological structures in three dimensions. Techniques include electron microscopy, high-voltage electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, deconvolution, structure-function correlations, and computer-assisted 3-D reconstructions.
Daniel Linseman
Assistant Professor
Research is focused on elucidating molecular mechanisms of neuronal cell death in degenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Biochemical, immunofluorescence, and molecular biological techniques are used to examine the roles of mitochondrial oxidative stress and apoptosis in neurodegeneration. In addition, we are actively investigating the antioxidant and anti-apoptotic properties of a variety of natural products (eg., green tea) in neurons.
Nancy Lorenzon
Assistant Professor
My research interests focus on calcium channel function and protein interactions involved in calcium signaling in muscle and neurons. Research in the lab combines electrophysiology, confocal microscopy, calcium imaging and molecular biology.
Hugh McIsaac
Senior Lecturer
My interests concern animal behavior and behavioral ecology. Vertebrate navigation and migration, especially in birds, are of particular interest, and are the focus of my research efforts. My research explores the behavioral and sensory mechanisms that drive navigation. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms that birds use to determine their positions, i.e., their cognitive maps. Using both theoretical models and empirical field studies I am attempting to determine the strucutre of their maps, and the integration of the map with compas information that the birds derive from the sun.
Michael Monahan
Senior Lecturer
Research examines the role of habitat in shaping population, behavioral, and life history paramaters of breeding birds, especially blackbirds in wetland habitats. Experimental approaches to field questions are of special interest.
Shannon M. Murphy
Assistant Research Professor
[Dr. Murphy will be joining our faculty in Fall 2010.]
My research interests focus on the ecology and evolution of interactions between plants and herbivores. My goal is to understand why insects eat what they do and to approach this research by asking questions at multiple scales, from populations to communities to ecosystems. At the scale of populations, I am interested in why some herbivorous insects are specialists while others are generalists and how each of these groups choose their host plants. At the scale of communities, I seek to understand how natural enemies affect community structure and population dynamics of herbivorous insects. Finally, at the ecosystem scale, I study how nutrient cycling and resource subsidies may affect interactions between herbivorous insects and their host plants both directly as well as indirectly by altering the impact that natural enemies and detritivores have on populations of herbivores.
Sara Oyler-McCance
Assistant Research Professor
Research focuses on molecular genetic approaches to conservation biology and wildlife management including population genetics, phylogenetic studies, analysis of mating systems using maternity and paternity analysis, and the use of molecular markers for mark/recapture studies. Molecular techniques include PCR, DNA sequencing, and microsatellite characterization.
David Patterson
Professor
Dr. Patterson works directly on cognition and Down syndrome, and is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on this condition. His research focuses on the biochemical genetics of Downs syndrome, Alzheimer disease, and autism. Current projects include construction of a mouse model of autism related to purine synthesis and analysis of mitochondrial metabolism in the Ts65Dn mouse model of Down Syndrome. Techniques include biochemical genetics, generation of genetically engineered mice, and proteomic analysis of mouse gene expression.
In addition to his work on Down syndrome, Dr. Patterson studies the biochemistry and genetics of autism. Dr. Patterson has also initiated studies on whether folic acid and
homocysteine metabolism may be altered in Down syndrome and whether possible
changes can lead to intellectual disability. Because individuals with Down syndrome have a much higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease at an early age, this research program has significant implications for the study of Alzheimer's disease.
James Platt
Professor
Martin F. Quigley
Associate Professor
Martin F. Quigley is currently Director of the Chester M. Alter Arboretum at the University of Denver, and Assisstant Professor in Biological Sciences, holding the Edna Biggs Kurtz Chair in Botany. Until September 2009, he was Director of the University of Central Florida Arboretum, and also Director of UCF Campus Landscape & Natural Resources. In 2006/07, he served as the Interim Chair of the Department of Biology at UCF.
Thomas Quinn
Professor
My current research is focused on two main areas. The first is on the use of molecular biological techniques to study vertebrate (mainly avian) population biology and conservation genetics. The second involves the use of transposable elements for inference about avian systematics. This research is primarily focused on the non-LTR retrotransposon CR1. At the same time, we are exploring certain molecular aspects of CR1 insertion into avian genomes.
Susan Sadler
Associate Professor
Certain steroid hormones and peptide hormones stimulate meiotic division in amphibian oocytes - stimulating the development of oocyte to egg. Over the years, my lab team has studied the early molecular events that trigger meiotic cell division. Currently, the lab is evaluating how oocyte membrane fluidity and cholesterol-rich, low-density membrane domains might be affected by inducing hormones.
Robert Sanford, Jr.
Professor
Ecology from an ecosystem perspective. Plant and fire effects on soil nutrients in dry and moist
tropical ecosystems, in temperate forests and in the alpine, particularly treeline. A second research emphasis is land use history, mainly the biogeochemical signatures that people have left on the landscape and how they affect ecological processes today.
Awards: University/Distinguished Scholar 1997
Nancy L. Sasaki
Lecturer
My teaching interests are topics involving the relationship between microorganisms and their environments. I am also interested in best conditional practices of teaching in K-20 classrooms
Anna Sher
Associate Professor
The ecology of invasive species; locally and globally. Project foci include: Identifying the interface between habitat disturbance and species invasions, and ecosystem restoration/re-vegetation after exotic control. Research employs a combination of field and greenhouse, observational and experimental approaches, using both state-of-the-art physiology measurements and traditional sampling techniques.
Judith Snyder
Professor and Barton L. Weller Chair
My current research interests center around the formation and function of the mitotic spindle during cell division. The role of spindle microtubules in chromosome motion is specifically targeted. Techniques used to study mitosis include cell culture, light and electron microscopy, and immunocytochemistry.
Staff
RaeAnn Flageolle
Assistant to Chair
Angie Hebel
Laboratory Director
Rheagan Hollenbeck
Administrative Assistant
Lisa Snelling
Laboratory Director