College of Veterinary Medicine - Cornell University

Stem Cell Biology

Stem cell research has a promise of developing new treatments of injuries and diseases, including neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases and cancer. At Cornell, researchers work on critical aspects of stem cell biology, such as deriving and characterizing embryonic and adult stem cells and reprogrammed pluripotent cells, recreating the environment required for maintenance of stem cells, and understanding the relevance of fundamental processes governing the control of stem cells to diseases, such as cancer. These studies commonly require multidisciplinary approaches and benefit from a combination of basic and clinical research, as well as from interface of biomedical sciences with other disciplines, including chemistry, physics, materials science, bioengineering and nanotechnology.

Faculty	Research Area(s)	Graduate Field Membership (Biological & Biomedical Sciences Fields in bold)
Paula E. Cohen	etiology of spontaneous birth defects in mammals; mechanisms of meiotic recombination; DNA repair proteins in meiosis and recombination; germ cell development; ovarian development	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Genetics & Development; Genomics
Scott Coonrod	reproductive physiology; molecular and cellular physiology; epigenetic reprogramming during the egg-to-embryo transition; mechanisms by which specific histone modifications are dynamically regulated during hormone-dependent gene transcription in breast cancer cells	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Molecular & Integrative Physiology
Claudia Fischbach-Teschl	tissue-engineered model systems for analysis of microenvironmental conditions fundamental to cancer pathogenesis and therapy	Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Biomedical Engineering;
Maria Julia Bevilaqua Felippe	cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in B-cell response; neonatal immunology and response to vaccination; immunomodulation using biologic response modifiers; cancer immunotherapy; characterization of primary and secondary immunodeficiencies	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Immunology & Infectious Disease
Lisa Fortier	osteoarthritis and the link between insulin-like growth factor-I and the small G-proteins, Cdc42, Rac, and Rho	Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Michael I. Kotlikoff	muscle biology; mouse genetics; molecular imaging; ion channels; physiological genomics; cellular signaling; genetic cell sensors; conditional gene targeting	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Pharmacology; Biophysics; Genomics; Neurobiology & Behavior
Siu Sylvia Lee	molecular genetics of aging; signaling pathways of nutrient sensing; molecular basis of stress response	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology; Computational Biology; Genetics & Development; Nutrition
Qiaoming Long	developmental genetics; functional physiology of mammalian pancreas; diabetes and pancreatic cancer	Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Animal Science
Alexander Nikitin	genetic modeling of human cancer in the mouse; early detection and monitoring of carcinogenesis; neoplasms of reproductive and endocrine systems	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Environmental Toxicology
Alan Nixon	orthopedics; joint pathology and cartilage resurfacing	Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Ling Qi	transcriptional control of metabolic syndrome; unfolded protein response; obesity and diabetes	Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology; Genetics & Development; Nutrition
Andrea Quaroni	cellular differentiation and growth regulation of intestinal cells	Molecular & Integrative Physiology
John Schimenti	mouse genetics and functional genomics; genomic instability; genetic recombination; genetics of gametogenesis and development; use of ES cells to mutagenize the mouse genome	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology; Genetics & Development; Genomics
Dr. Vimal Selvaraj	Pluripotency and Stem Cells, Regenerative Medicine, Animal Biotechnology, Technologies for Wildlife Conservation	Zoology & Wildlife Conservation; Animal Science
Alexander J. Travis	comparative biology of male germ cells; signaling and metabolism of sperm during capacitation; organization of lipid raft membrane sub-domains in sperm; applications of technologies using reproductive stem cells for wildlife conservation	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Zoology & Wildlife Conservation; Animal Science
Tudotira Tumber	basic cellular and molecular mechanisms implicated in cell fate choice and stem cell activity within tissues	Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology; Environmental Toxicology; Genetics, Genomics & Development; Genomics
Watt W. Webb	biophysics of cell surfaces; dynamics of biophysical processes in living cells using physical optics	Immunology & Infectious Disease; Pharmacology; Applied Physics; Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology; Biomedical Engineering; Biophysics; Materials Sciences & Engineering; Physics
Robert S. Weiss	genomic maintenance mechanisms; cell cycle checkpoints; molecular responses to genomic stress; mouse models of genomic instability	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Molecular & Integrative Physiology; Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology, Environmental Toxicology; Genetics, Genomics & Development; Genomics
Andrew Yen	leukemia; cell growth and differentiation; oncogenes/genetics	Comparative Biomedical Sciences; Environmental Toxicology