My laboratory focuses on the pathogenic interplay of the HIV-1 and HTLV-I human retroviruses with immune cells. Infection of human hosts with these retroviruses produces contrasting diseases within the CD4 subset of T lymphocytes, specifically the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) with HIV-1 and the Adult T-cell Leukemia (ATL) with HTLV-1. Their studies explore the molecular biology of the HIV Vif, Nef and Vpr gene products as well as the transforming properties of HTLV-I Tax. More recently, we have begun to study HIV and HTLV-1 Env-mediated fusion and the mechanisms underlying transmission of HIV across the female genital mucosa.

Neuronal structural biology is the focus area of Dr. Zhang's laboratory. We aim to understand the molecular mechanisms governing synaptic signal transduction complex organization, dynamic regulations of synaptic complex assemblies, and trafficking of proteins involved in synaptic signaling using a combination of NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology approaches. The second focus of the lab is to elucidate the molecular basis of protein complexes regulating cell polarity establishment and maintenance.

The availability of genomic sequences and the technology that is rapidly developing to exploit them have opened up new opportunities and challenges for molecular genetics. For example, it has become routine experimental practice to study expression of all the genes of an organism at once, facilitating a level of biological inference at the "system level", well beyond what is possible from studying individual genes, gene assemblies or pathways.

Our goal is to understand the fundamental principles that control the specification and connectivity of spinal neurons involved in locomotion, particularly motor neurons. Over the long term these studies should provide insight into the basic principles involved in the proper formation of the nervous system, as well as provide practical information for treatments of spinal cord injury and diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, post polio syndrome, and spinal muscle atrophy. 

Dr. Theresa M. Reineke's lab is interested in the development of novel carbohydrate-based polymers and dendrimers for the cellular delivery of DNA therapeutics, glycopolymer contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, and luminescent macrocyclic compounds for anion sensing. Studies in these areas are also centered on understanding the fundamental mechanisms involved in biomaterial function. Our research is highly interdisciplinary and students in the Reineke lab routinely receive training in several areas of chemistry, biology, and medicine.

Dr. Chapman is a Professor of Physiology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Edwin Chapman's research is focused on understanding the molecular basis by which Ca²⁺ triggers the exocytosis of neurotransmitters from neurons, and how changes in this process underlie aspects of synaptic plasticity. The lab is also focused on the cell biology of the clostridial neurotoxins, which cause botulism and tetanus.

Dr. Luo is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University and Professor of Neurobiology by courtesy at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr Luo seeks to understand how neural circuits assemble during development and contribute to sensory perception. He has developed the MARCM technique to track neurons in the fruit fly brain and is perfecting a similar system for studying mice.

Dr. Doe is the Professor of Biology and Member of the Institute of Neuroscience and the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon, Eugene.

People who knew Chris Doe as a child didn’t need a medium or a crystal ball to know he was likely to pursue science of some sort. A Jacques Cousteau devotee, Doe built makeshift submarines in his Southern California backyard and tried them out in various lakes and streams.

Dr. Campbell holds the positions of Roy J. Carver Distinguished Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and Professor of Neurology and Internal Medicine at the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, Iowa.

Genetic missteps affecting key muscle proteins are known to cause muscular dystrophy, a term that applies broadly to a group of hereditary disorders marked by progressive muscle weakness and degeneration.

Examining pond water through a microscope in junior high, Pamela Björkman was amazed to see creatures that were invisible to the naked eye. "Perhaps that's why I chose to work on discovering the structures of proteins, which are even smaller than the [organisms] one finds in pond water," says Björkman, who elucidates the three-dimensional structures of proteins that interact with other proteins and explores the functional implications of those structures.