Cell Biology & Anatomy - Faculty Interests

Anna B. Drakontides, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Cell Biology and Anatomy

B.S. 1955, Hunter College; M.S. 1968, Ph.D. 1971, Cornell University Medical College

Research/Interests - Pathogenesis of early and late changes at neuromuscular junction and muscle induced by chemical irritants.

Joseph D. Etlinger, Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman of Cell Biology and Anatomy

B.S. 1968, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Ph.D. 1974, University of Chicago

Research/Interests - Skeletal muscle growth and atrophy, molecular mechanisms, and selectivity of intracellular proteolysis in erythroid and muscle cells; role of proteasomes and ubiquitin; spinal cord injury.

Dorothy A. Frenz, Ph.D.
Research Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Ph.D 1988 - New York Medical College

Research/Interests - Molecular mechanisms of inner ear development; retinoid signaling; epithelial-mesenchymal interactions

Victor A. Fried, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy and Graduate Program Director

B.S. 1965, University of Chicago; Ph.D. 1970, University of Oregon

Research/Interests - Role of ubiquitin in cytoskeletal and cell-surface receptor function, posttranslational modifications, and protein sequencing.

Frances Hannan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Ph.D. 1991, Melbourne, Australia

Research/Interests - Drosophila models of Neurofibromatosis and Huntington's Disease, learning and memory and auditory function in fruitflies, drug and mutant screening.

Jian Kang, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

M.D. 1982, China; Ph.D. 1993, University of Florida

Research/Interests - Interplay between excitatory and inhibitory synapses; mechanisms underlying Epilepsy; roles of astrocytes in synaptic plasticity; properties and functions. of K channel, Na channel, GABA_A channel and gap-junction hemichannel.

Anna L. Kleinhaus, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Lic. Science 1961, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Ph.D. 1968, SUNY Downstate Medical Center

Research/Interests - Properties and modulation of ion channels involved in neuronal function and behavior; chemosensory mechanisms; cellular basis of behavior in simple systems.

Mithun Kumarasiri, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Ph.D., Columbia, 1986

Research/Interests - Skeletal muscle growth and differentiation in response to endocrine factors and activity in tissue culture.

Kenneth M. Lerea, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy - Course Director for Histology and Cell Biology

B.S. 1980, SUNY at Binghamton; M.S. 1982, Ph.D. 1984, University of Rochester

Research/Interests - Mechanism of signal transduction; role of protein seryl-threonyl and tyrosyl kinases and phosphatases in integrin functions and platelet activation.

Stuart A. Newman, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

A.B. 1965, Columbia University; Ph.D. 1970, University of Chicago

Research/Interests - Physical and molecular mechanisms of development and evolution; pattern formation in the vertebrate limb; collagen assembly.

Kutluk Oktay, MD, FACOG
Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Medicine, Cell Biology & Anatomy, and Pathology
Director, Division of Reproductive Medicine & Infertility
Director, Laboratory of Molecular Reproduction and Fertility Preservation Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Reproductive Specialists of New York
Medical Director, Institute for Fertility Preservation

M.D. 1986, Hacettepe University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey

Research/Interests – Ovarian biology, oocyte aging, oocyte quality, molecular impact of chemotherapy on ovary, fertility preservation, ovarian and testicular cryopreservation, DNA repair, BRCA gene and mutations.

Matthew A. Pravetz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Ph.D. 1988, New York Medical College

Research/Interests - Neural cytoskeleton; tropomyosin-binding proteins in brain; urogenital and gastrointestinal development.

Renato Rozenthal, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

M.D., Ph.D. 1991, Institute of Biophysics "Carlos Chagas Filho," Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Research/Interests - Developmental neurobiology and diseases mediated by cell-cell communication via gap junction channels; impact of hypoxic-ischemic insults in the developing brain.

Tamiko Sato, M.D.
Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

M.B. 1950, Nagoya City Women's Medical College; M.D. 1959, Nagoya University, School of Medicine

Research/Interests - Regulation of intracellular calcium in muscular dystrophy; digital imaging of fluorescent ion probes.

Pravin B. Sehgal, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy and Medicine

M.D. (MBBS) 1973, University of Bombay; Ph.D. 1977, Rockefeller University

Research/Interests - Interleukin-6; interferons; gene expression; signal transduction (STATs in membrane rafts)

Sansar C. Sharma, Ph.D.
Professor of Ophthalmology and Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Ph.D. 1967, Edinburgh University Medical School, Scotland

Research/Interests - Development and regeneration in the visual system and spinal cord.

Alan D. Springer, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

B.S. 1969, Brooklyn College; Ph.D. 1973, City University of New York

Research/Interests - Virtual engineering simulations of the mechanisms underlying retinal and foveal development; causes of retinal detachments in premature infants; causes of strabismus.

Patric K. Stanton, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

Ph.D. 1985, Uniformed Services Health Sciences

Research/Interests - Cellular mechanisms of learning and memory; synaptic plasticity; long-term potentiation and depression of synaptic strength; optical imaging of vesicular transmitter release, calcium and dendritic motility; cerebral ischemia and neuronal death.

Libor Velíšek, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy, and Pediatrics
Director, MD-PhD program

M.D., 1984, Faculty of General Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia; Ph.D., 1989, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechoslovakia

Research/Interests - Research/Interests – Developmental neurobiology of epilepsy, relationship between prenatal stress and epilepsy, prenatal stress and autism, and prenatal stress and behaviors. Modulation of seizures by corticosteroids and neuropeptides.

Jana Velíšková, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy, and Obstetrics & Gynecology

M.D., 1987, Faculty of General Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia; Ph.D., 1999, 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Research/Interests – Effects of sex hormones on neuronal excitability and viability in normal and epileptic brain, effects of sex hormones on learning and memory, interactions of sex hormones with neuropeptides and glutamatergic system, developmental neurobiology of epilepsy.

Richard J. Zeman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy

B.S. 1969, Columbia University; M.S. 1977, Ph.D. 1979, New York University

Research/Interests - Role of B₂ adrenoceptors in musculoskeletal growth; mechanisms of spinal cord injury; regulation of intracellular calcium.

Tertiary Appointment

Xianzheng Zhou, Ph.D., M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology and Immunology, and Cell Biology and Anatomy
Director, Translational Tumor Immunology Research

M.D. 1983 - Jiangxi Medical College of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China; M.Sc. 1986 -Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; Ph.D. 1994 - Karolinska Institute (Mikael Jondal and Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren laboratories), Stockholm, Sweden; Post-doctoral work – 1994-1997 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Herman Eisen laboratory), 1997-2002 Cambridge, MA, Johns Hopkins University (Drew Pardoll and Elizabeth Jaffee laboratories), Baltimore, MD

Research/Interests - Sleeping Beauty-mediated T-cell therapy for human cancer, Sleeping Beauty-mediated genetic modification of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) and MicroRNAs in hematopoiesis.