Faculty and their Research Interests
BY RESEARCH TOPIC:
Genes & Signaling Plant Biochemistry Structural & Computational BiologyArthur Alberts, Van Andel Rsrch Inst, Sr Scientific Investigator —Intracellular signaling networks that regulate proliferation, cell shape/motility, and how they become hijacked by disease.
David N. Arnosti, Prof — Eukaryotic gene regulation, transcriptional activation, and repression in Drosophila; function of retinoblastoma tumor suppressor genes in development.
Christoph Benning, Prof — Regulation of membrane lipid biosynthesis in photosynthetic organisms, mechanisms of interorganelle lipid trafficking, regulation of primary metabolism in developing oil seeds.
Zachary F. Burton, Prof — Mechanism of elongation by human RNA polymerase II; regulation by transcription factor IIF and hepatitis delta antigen.
Christina Chan, Adj Assoc Prof, Chem Eng & Mat Sci — System biology approaches and tissue engineering platforms, reconstructing signaling and gene regulatory networks; understanding how fatty acids are involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Thomas L. Deits, Adj Assoc Prof, LCC — Curriculum development, training and outreach in emerging technologies – nanotechnology, bioprocessing and forensics. Enzymology and applications of enzymes in bioprocessing.
Dean DellaPenna, Prof — Plant biochemistry, physiology, and genomics; synthesis and function of carotenoids, vitamin E, and other nutritional components in plants and photosynthetic bacteria.
David L. DeWitt, Assoc Dean, CNS; Dir, RTSF; Prof — Molecular biology of lipid signaling; nuclear signaling; structural biology of membrane proteins.
Nicholas S. Duesbery, Van Andel Rsrch Inst, Dep Dir Rsrch Op, Sr Scientific Investigator — Biochemical regulation of cell function during growth and vascularization in cancer and in response to anthrax toxin.
Jennifer Ekstrom, Asst Prof — Protein crystallography; structure and function of transcriptional regulatory complexes; protein disulfide isomerase; structure and redesign of engineered binding proteins; drug design.
Michael Feig, Asst Prof,— Computational modeling of structure and dynamics of proteins and nucleic acids; development of implicit solvent methodologies; multiresolution modeling of supramolecular assemblies.
Shelagh M. Ferguson-Miller, Prof — Mechanism and regulation of energy transduction in mitochrondria and bacteria; kinetics, mechanics, and protein chemistry of electron transfer and proton transfer in cytochrome c oxidase.
Pamela J. Fraker, Prof — Immunology; interrelationships between nutritional status and immune function; modulation of lymphopoiesis by glucocorticoids; study of biochemical events leading to apoptosis or programmed cell death in cells of the immune system, using flow cytometry.
Douglas Gage, Adj Prof, Pfizer — Plant biochemistry; biosynthesis and function of betaines and their sulfonium analogs in higher plants and marine algae; structural characterization of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates with mass spectrometry.
R. Michael Garavito, Prof — Structure and function of membrane proteins; biosynthesis of glycolipids and glycosyltransferase function; protein crystallography.
Brian B. Haab, Van Andel Rsrch Inst, Scientific Investigator— Protein analysis platform development; identification of protein and glycan abnormalities in the blood of cancer patients.
Robert P. Hausinger, Prof — Mechanism of enzyme action; structure-function studies of enzymes; incorporation of nickel in bacterial urease; biodegradation of sulfonate compounds; DNA repair; microbial physiology.
Eric L. Hegg, Assoc Prof— Biosynthesis, transport, and regulation of heme and other metal cofactors; biodiversity and assembly of novel H2-generating enzymes; metabolism and water transport.
R. William Henry, Assoc Prof — Transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes; functions and architecture of basal transcription machinery; molecular determination of RNA polymerase specificity.
Susanne Hoffmann-Benning, Rsrch Asst Prof —Plant Biochemistry; phloem-mediated mechanisms of plant growth and development; identification of factors which regulate plant growth through changes in cell wall and cuticle biosynthesis.
Rawle I. Hollingsworth, Prof — Application of spectroscopic methods and computational chemistry to the study of the structure and function of glycoconjugates and other macromolecules; chemical synthesis of saccharides.
Charles G. Hoogstraten, Asst Prof — Biophysical studies of RNA catalysis and RNA-protein interactions; macromolecular NMR and pulsed EPR methods and applications; mechanisms and regulation of eukaryotic mRNA splicing.
Gregg A. Howe, Prof, Plant Rsrch Lab — Regulation of plant defense responses; biochemistry of jasmonic acid biosynthesis; plant-insect interactions.
A. Daniel Jones, Prof, Dir Mass Spec — Biological mass spectrometry and metabolomics of plant stress; plant defense and signaling chemistry involved in plant-insect and plant-pathogen interactions.
Jon M. Kaguni, Prof — Mechanisms of DNA replication and its regulation in Escherichia coli; nucleic acid-protein interactions.
Laurie S. Kaguni, Prof — Enzymology of mitochondrial DNA replication and transcription; organization and structure of mitochondrial DNA replication origins and promoters; DNA-protein interactions; regulation of DNA and RNA synthesis during Drosophila development.
Kenneth Keegstra, Prof, Plant Rsrch Lab, Plant Bio — Biosynthesis of plant cell wall polysaccharides; utilization of genomic techniques to identify and characterize genes required for xyloglucan biosynthesis in Arabidopsis.
Lee R. Kroos, Prof — Regulation of gene expression during development; prokaryotic RNA polymerases and regulatory proteins; Bacillus sporulation; cell-cell interactions during Myxococcus fruiting body formation.
Leslie A. Kuhn, Prof — Developing computational approaches for protein folding, flexibility, docking, and inhibitor design; integrating computational and experimental approaches.
Min-Hao Kuo, Assoc Prof — Modifications and dynamics of chromatin; transcriptional regulation; proteomic interactions involving posttranslational modifications; tumor suppressor protein p53.
John J. LaPres, Assoc Prof — Toxicology of transition metals and environmental pollutants; development of genomic and high-throughput screens.
Robert M. Larkin, Asst Prof, Plant Rsrch Lab — Plastid-to-nucleus signaling pathways that coordinate nuclear transcription with plastid development and metabolism.
Robert L. Last, Prof — Arabidopsis and tomato functional genomics; regulation of plant metabolic pathways for nutritionally important molecules; plant stress tolerance mechanisms; metabolic engineering of plants.
Aizhuo Liu, Asst Prof, Dir NMR — Membrane protein solution structure, dynamics and function; biomolecular NMR spectroscopy.
Jeff MacKeigan, Van Andel Rsrch Inst, Scientific Investigator —RNAi and proteomic approaches for quantitative analysis of molecular pathways (kinases and phosphatases) in cancer.
Veronica M. Maher, Prof, MMG, Osteo Med — Molecular and cellular mechanisms of mutagenesis and of recombination in human cells; DNA repair; chemical-and radiation-induced mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.
David G. McConnell, Emeritus Prof — Biochemistry of the retina; neurochemistry.
J. Justin McCormick, Prof, MMG, Osteo Med — Molecular mechanisms of malignant transformation in human cells; chemical-and radiation-induced oncogene activation, carcinogenesis, and mutagenesis; DNA repair.
Estelle McGroarty, Asst Vice Pres, VP Rsrch & Grad Studies; Asst Vice Provost, Lib Comp Tech; Prof — Interactions of surface-active compounds with cell membranes; structure, composition, and physical properties of bacterial membranes.
Beronda Montgomery-Kaguri, Asst Prof, Plant Rsrch Lab — Molecular basis of organ-specific phytochrome responses in higher plants; light-regulated development in cyanobacteria.
Markus Pauly, Assoc Prof, Plant Rsrch Lab — Biosynthesis, structure, and function of plant cell wall polysaccharides (pectins and hemicelluloses), using molecular genetic, biochemical, and analytical approaches.
Jack Preiss, Prof — Genetic and allosteric regulation of bacterial glycogen and plant starch biosynthetic enzymes and their expression, structure, and function.
Denis Proshlyakov, Rsrch Asst Prof — Comprehensive biospectroscopy of catalysis by metallo(radical) enzymes; transient spectroscopy and kinetics; modeling and identification of protein-based radical species.
Gavin E. Reid, Asst Prof, Chem — Bioanalytical mass spectrometry; development and application of novel chemical methods and instrumentation for qualitative and quantitative proteomic analysis.
Thomas D. Sharkey, Chairperson, Prof — Biochemistry and biophysics of processes important in gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere.
William L. Smith, Emeritus Prof —Molecular endocrinology; regulation of prostaglandin biosynthesis; prostaglandins in the kidney and cardiovascular system; signal transduction mechanisms.
Steven J. Triezenberg, Prof, Dean of VAI Graduate School — Mechanisms of gene regulation in eukaryotes; transcriptional activation; herpes simplex virus; viral and cellular regulatory proteins; transcriptional adaptors and histone acetylation in plants.
Claire Vieille, Rsrch Assoc Prof — Microbial metabolic engineering; determinants of hyperthermophilic protein stability; protein engineering; electricity-driven cofactor recycling.
Kevin D. Walker, Asst Prof, Chem —Elucidation of biosynthetic pathways of plant-derived products for use (and potential use) as pharmaceuticals, neutraceuticals, and allelochemicals, utilizing an array of methodologies grounded in bioorganic chemistry, organic synthesis, enzymology, molecular genetics, molecular biology, and natural products isolation and characterization (i.e., metabolomics).
John L. Wang, Prof — Carbohydrate recognition; analysis of carbohydrate-binding proteins in the cell nucleus; nuclear processing and export of mRNA.
Jack Throck Watson, Emeritus Prof — Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; peptide structure and posttranslational modification of proteins by electrospray and matrix-assisted laser desorption mass spectrometry.
William Wedemeyer, Asst Prof, Physics — Modeling of proteins de novo and from low-resolution data; structural studies of HIV envelope proteins and the mechanism of HIV cell entry; experimental studies of protein folding; peptide/protein design.
Michael Weinreich, Van Andel Rsrch Inst, Scientific Investigator — Initiation of chromosomal DNA replication in budding yeast and in human cells.
Curtis G. Wilkerson, Assoc Prof — Plant cell wall biosynthesis, discovery of hemicellulose biosynthetic enzymes, transcriptional networks involved in cell wall biosynthesis, and regulation of Golgi processes related to hemicellulose synthesis and secretion.
John E. Wilson, Emeritus Prof —Energy metabolism in neural tissue; brain hexokinase, structure and regulation of activity; brain mitochondria.
Honggao Yan, Prof — Protein structure, function, and dynamics; protein engineering; multidimensional multinuclear NMR; 6-hydroxymethyl-7, 8-dihydropteroate pyrophosphokinase; shikimate kinase; cytosine deaminase.
Timothy J. Zacharewski, Prof, Nat Food Saf Tox — Toxicogenomics; receptor-mediated toxicology; endocrine disruption; expression profiling; ligand-induced protein structure.
Maria Zavodszky, Rsrch Asst Prof — Computational modeling of protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions; flexibility modeling at protein-protein interfaces; ligand-induced flexibility changes in proteins.
J. Gregory Zeikus, Emeritus Prof, MMG — Microbial biochemistry; thermozyme structure and function; bioelectrochemistry; biotechnology and bioengineering.