GCB Summer Scholars Mentors

Antonio T. Baines, PhD
Associate Professor of Biological & Biomedical Science
Dr. Baines' primary research goal is to identify and validate novel molecular targets in pancreatic cancer.

Ashley Chi, MD, PhD
Associate Director of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Dr. Chi researches the use of genomic analysis to dissect the influence of lactic acidosis, various tumor microenvironmental stresses, and nutrient signaling on cancer cells.

Ricardo Richardson, PhD
Professor of Biological & Biomedical Sciences, Dir. of Cancer Program
Dr. Richardson is interested in chemoattractant and chemokine receptors. He supervises a team of PIs focusing on prostate, breast, oral, esophagus, ovarian and lung cancers.

Kevin Williams, PhD
Associate Professor in the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology (BRITE)
Dr. Williams investigates novel cancer and drug discovery through biopharmaceutical methods.

Greg Crawford, PhD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Dr. Crawford specializes in mapping and characterizing active gene regulatory elements and understanding how these elements contribute to global gene expression patterns.

Raluca Gordân, PhD
Associate Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics, Computer Science, and Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Dr. Gordân’s expertise is in computational and experimental approaches for analyzing non-coding genomic sequences to identify transcriptional regulatory regions. She uses machine learning techniques and high-throughput assays to characterize the DNA sequence preferences and the regulatory functions of human transcription factors.

David MacAlpine, PhD
Associate Professor of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology
Dr. MacAlpine’s research is focused on identifying and understanding the functional DNA elements that direct and regulate the DNA replication and transcription programs.

Paul Magwene, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology; Director of the Graduate Program in Computational Biology & Bioinformatics
Dr. Magwene seeks to understand how genetic variation affects signal transduction and gene regulatory networks, and how, in turn, variation in such networks affects cellular phenotypes.

Anne West, MD, PhD
Professor of Neurobiology
Dr. West’s laboratory aims to understand at a cellular/molecular level how neuronal activity regulates the formation and maturation of synapses during brain development, and ultimately to use genetic model systems to understand how defects in this developmental process lead to cognitive dysfunction.

Daniel Williams, PhD
Associate Professor of Biological & Biomedical Science
Dr. Williams studies mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in sexually-transmitted infections.

Avshalom Caspi, PhD
Edward M. Arnett Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience
Dr. Caspi’s research spans psychology, epidemiology and genetics and focuses on how childhood experiences shape aging trajectories, how genetic differences between people shape their responses to environments, and the best ways to assess and measure personality differences between people across the life course.

Beth Hauser, PhD
Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics
Dr. Hauser’s research in genomic medicine centers on the development of statistical methods for genetic and genomic models, application of those methods to gene discovery in complex human traits, specifically complex conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and aging.

Doug Marchuk, PhD
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor; Vice Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Dr. Marchuk studies the genetics of cardiovascular disease using both human and mouse models.

Sayan Mukherjee, PhD
Professor of Statistical Science, Computer Science, and Mathematics
Dr. Mukherjee investigates genetics and molecular applications of statistical modeling, especially regarding tumor progression.

Beth Sullivan, PhD
Associate Profession of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Dr. Sullivan's work focuses on chromosome and centromere engineering. Her lab addresses difficult questions in chromosome biology.
 

Greg Wray, PhD
Professor of Biology; Dir. of GCB
Dr. Wray’s research focuses on the evolution of genes and genomes with the broad aim of understanding the genetic basis for phenotypic diversity within populations. Specifically, his research assesses the relative influence of genetic variation and environmental factors on gene expression using empirical and computational approaches.

Mildred Pointer, PhD
Professor of Biological & Biomedical Science
Dr. Pointer's research focues on contributions to salt-sensitive hypertension.

Vijay Sivaraman, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biological & Biomedical Science
Dr. Sivaraman's research interests involve elucidating immunological interactions between the host-pathogen interfaces that contribute to pulmonary Yersinia pestis infection.

Raphael Valdivia, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
Dr. Valdivia’s research portfolio spans the bacterial co-option of the cytoskeleton and membrane traffic, identification and characterization of virulence proteins, the function of the Type III secretion apparatus, innate immune signaling during, and metabolic regulation of bacterial virulence function and cell surface composition. 

Julie Horvath, PhD
Research Associate Professor of Biological & Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Horvath is a comparative evolutionary genomicist interested in understanding the evolutionary forces that have shaped primate genomes and that cause human disease.

John Rawls, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Medicine; Dir. of Duke Center for the Genomics of Microbial System
Research in the Rawls lab uses multiple complementary approaches to understand how host-microbe interactions in the intestine regulate digestive physiology and energy balance.

Hiroaki Matsunami, PhD
Professor of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Neurobiology
Dr. Matsunami investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying chemosensation (taste and smell) in mammals.

Gregory Cole, PhD
Professor of Biological & Biomedical Science
Dr. Cole studies nervous system development and neurodegenerative disease in zebrafish. Specifically, his lab focuses on the role of herparin sulfate proteoglycans in these processes.

Ju-Ahng Lee, PhD
Assistant Professor of Biological & Biomedical Science
Dr. Lee investigates the effect of ethanol exposure on nervous system development.

John Clamp, PhD
Professor of Biology & Biomedical Sciences
Dr. Clamp's research interests are in the areas of phylogenetic relationships, populational structure, and ecological functions of several major groups of ciliated protists, especially ones called peritrichs and apostomes. The emphasis is on molecular analyses of phylogeny (evolutionary relationships) and population dynamics. He is particularly interested in ciliates that exist as symbionts on crustaceans and aquatic insects.

Jiahua Xie, PhD
Associate Professor in the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology (BRITE)
Dr. Xie studies the functions of plant-produced therapeutic glycoproteins.