Our goal is to tackle difficult problems in human health and cancer biology. We work on the diseases of triple-negative breast cancer and other difficult-to-treat cancers.

Our lab is creating better experimental models that reveal how cancer cells metastasize and evade our immune system. We use these models to develop new drugs that engage our immune system to kill cancer cells.

We strive to decipher mechanisms of structural, functional, and electrical remodeling in heart disease with an eye toward therapeutic intervention. 

Chen Lab is broadly interested in mechanisms of signal transduction, namely how a cell communicates with its surroundings and within itself.

Elizabeth Chen Lab focuses research on cell-cell fusion, drosophila myoblast fusion, invasive membrane protrusions, actin binding and bundling proteins, and mechanoresponsive proteins.

Olson Lab studies muscle cells as a model for understanding how stem cells adopt specific fates and how programs of cell differentiation and morphogenesis are controlled during development.

Nutrition and exercise intervention to reduce cardiovascular risk factors; weight loss and maintenance in bariatric surgery patients; role of nutrition and exercise in cardiovascular risk factors; influence of the eating environment on energy intake.

Kidney disease has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. The Carroll Lab performs basic and translational research focused on kidney development, maintenance and regeneration. 

Zhang (Chun-Li) Lab research focuses on cellular plasticity in the adult nervous system and modeling human neurodegenerative diseases. We use cell culture and genetically modified mice as model systems. Molecular, cellular, electrophysiological, and behavioral methods are employed.

The Douglas lab seeks to understand how stress response pathways alter cell physiology, and ultimately influence the aging process and human disease.