Faculty

Marnie E. Halpern, PhD
Andrew Thomson, Jr., MD 1946 Professor
Chair and Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Program Affiliations: MCB and IND

Yashi Ahmed, MD, PhD
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
A Drosophila model for signaling by the APC tumor suppressor and beta-catenin oncogene.
Program Affiliations: MCB
Dr. Ahmed's Lab

Giovanni Bosco, PhD
Oscar M. Cohn Professor in the Department of Molecular and Systems Biology
Genetics and molecular biology of chromosome dynamics, chromatin and epigenetics.
Program Affiliations: MCB and IND
Dr. Bosco's Lab

Michael D. Cole, PhD
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Molecular basis of cancer; transcription factors; mechanisms of chromosome-mediated transcriptional control; target genes for oncogenic pathways.
Program Affiliations: MCB
Dr. Cole's Lab

Jay C. Dunlap, PhD
Nathan Smith Professor of Genetics
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology and Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Molecular genetics of the circadian biological clock in N. crassa and in mammals; fungal photobiology
Program Affiliations: MCB and QBS
Dr. Dunlap's Lab

Scott A. Gerber, PhD
Kenneth E. and Carol L. Weg Distinguished Professor
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Quantitative Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics.
Program Affiliations: MCB and QBS
Dr. Gerber's Lab

Allan T. Gulledge, PhD
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Cellular neurophysiology of the cerebral cortex, with emphasis on understanding signal integration and transmission within individual neurons.
Program Affiliations: MCB and IND
Dr. Gulledge's Lab

Matthew C. Havrda, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Molecular events contributing to the initiation and progression of Parkinson's disease, investigating the neuroinflammatory activities of disease associated environmental toxins using molecular, cellular and organismal approaches.
Program Affiliations: MCB and IND

Dionna M. Kasper, PhD
Assistant Professor Molecular and Systems Biology
Program Affiliations: MCB

Steven Leach, MD
Preston T. and Virginia R. Kelsey Distinguished Chair in Cancer
Director of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center
Professor of Molecular and System Biology
Program Affiliations: MCB

Bryan W. Luikart, PhD
Associate Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Molecular mechanisms that direct the formation of synapses onto new neurons as they integrate into the synaptic circuitry of the central nervous system.
Program Affiliations: MCB and IND
Dr. Luikart's Lab

Aaron McKenna, PhD
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
My lab is interested in how cells grow and divide to form complex structures, such as the transformation from the zygote to an adult human or from a transformed cell into a tumor mass. To study these processes, we develop technologies to trace pattern of cell divisions which recovers the lineage of each cell. This information can be combined with other measures of cell state such as single-cell transcriptomic data to develop a rich picture of how choices are made in development and how this process is dysregulated in diseases such as cancer.
Program Affiliations: MCB and QBS
Dr. McKenna's Lab

Esteban Orellana, PhD
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Program Affiliations: MCB
Esteban investigates whether changes in the chemical modification (also known as the epitranscriptome) of RNA molecules play a role in the development of human cancers. In all cells, RNAs perform a variety of functions, including synthesizing proteins. While messenger RNAs (mRNAs) provide the instructions for producing a protein, transfer RNAs (tRNAs) "read" the information in that message and supply the necessary amino acid building blocks. To function properly, these transfer RNAs must fold into the correct three-dimensional shape, a process that requires the RNA to be chemically modified. Owing to their high cellular abundance and stability, tRNAs have been commonly considered to be housekeeping molecules. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that tRNAs are highly regulated, and that even small changes in their abundance or their nucleotide modification levels can have profound effects, leading to aberrant translation, changes in protein expression, and disease states. The tRNA epitranscriptome and the functional tRNA pool have emerged as important regulatory layers in the translation of the human genome. However, our current understanding of the functional tRNA pool is limited. Therefore, the focus of the Orellana Lab is to study the causes and effects of tRNA dysregulation in human disease and to use this knowledge to develop tRNA-based therapeutics and diagnosis.
Dr. Orellana’s Lab 

Lauren Walker, PhD
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Program Affiliations: MCB
The Walker lab uses a zebrafish model to study how motor neurons find their correct muscle targets to enable coordinated movement. We use a combination of genetics, molecular biology, live imaging, and transcriptomics to understand how neurons interact with cells and signals in their environment to form appropriate connections during development and regeneration.
Dr. Walker's Lab

Xiaofeng Wang, PhD
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Epigenetic mechanisms of chromatin remodeling complex in cancer development;  using genetic and chemical screens to identify specific vulnerabilities for cancer therapeutics.
Program Affiliations: MCB

Hermes H. Yeh, PhD
William W. Brown 1835 Memorial Professor of Physiology and Neurobiology in the Department of Molecular and Systems Biology
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuroreceptor interactions and plasticity in the adult and developing CNS.
Program Affiliations: MCB and IND
Dr. Yeh's Lab

Secondary Faculty Appointments in the Molecular and Systems Biology Department

Erika T. Brown, PhD
Dean of Faculty Affairs

Brock Christensen, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and
Associate Professor of Community and Family Medicine
Associate Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Program Affiliations: MCB and QBS

Britt Goods, PhD
Assistant Professor
Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College
Program in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences

Jennifer Hong, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Program Affiliations: MCB and IND

Jennifer Loros, PhD
Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Program affiliations: MCB

Rahul Sarpeshkar, PhD
Thomas E. Kurtz Professor
Professor of Engineering
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Professor of Physics
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Program affiliations: MCB

Alexander Skorput, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology
Assistant Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology

Michael L. Whitfield, PhD
Professor of Molecular and Systems Biology
Chair and Professor of Biomedical Data Science
DNA microarrays; Genome-wide analysis of gene expression in growth and proliferation; Expression profiling of scleroderma.
Program Affiliations: MCB and QBS
Dr. Whitfield's Lab