Mission Statement:

Modern Cell Biology is an integrated research discipline that seeks to understand how cell structure and function emerges from complex macromolecular interactions. The mission of the Department of Cell Biology faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is to advance this fundamental research area and at the same time provide the critical basic science teaching so essential to the development of outstanding physicians. The Department is a growing, vital component of a world-renowned Medical Center that offers extensive opportunities for collaboration in the application of cell biology principles to the treatment of human disease. Our internationally recognized faculty does cutting-edge research in such areas as membrane traffic, cilia function, nuclear import, telomere biology, microtubule structure, gap junction function, apoptosis, cell-matrix interactions, and cellular signaling networks. In addition to their research, the faculty is dedicated to educating and training the next generation of cell biologists as well as providing basic medical education in the anatomical sciences.

---Richard G.W. Anderson, Chairman
 

Cell Biology Laboratories:

John M. Abrams, Professor
Ph.D., Stanford University, 1989
Molecular physiology of programmed cell death

Richard G. W. Anderson, Professor and Chairman
Ph.D., University of Oregon Medical School, 1970
Cholesterol-regulated signal transduction; regulation of caveolae internalization; compartmentalized signal transduction in caveolae; role of adiposomes in intracellular lipid transport; membrane traffic to and from adiposomes

Beatriz M. A. Fontoura, Associate Professor
Ph.D., New York University School of Medicine, 1996
Molecular mechanisms of nucleocytoplasmic transport and their role in viral pathogenesis and immune response; role of nuclear transport factors in mitosis.

Frederick Grinnell, Professor
Ph.D., Tufts University School of Medicine, 1970
Cell-extracellular matrix interactions; wound repair; tissue engineering
Philosophy of science; bioethics

Lily Jun-shen Huang, Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 1997
Cytokine receptor; Hematopoiesis; Hematopoietic stem cell; Structure-function analysis of protein; Signal transduction; Cancer

Qiu-Xing Jiang, Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Yale University, 2002
Investigate structures and functions of membrane proteins by electron cryo-microscopy, crystallography, and electrophysiology; develop spherical reconstruction of membrane proteins in small vesicles

Wen-Hong Li, Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 1996
Engineering photonic probes for imaging or controlling biological processes; Regulation and function of cell-cell communication in vivo

Lawrence Lum, Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1999
Mechanisms of signal transduction; Signal integration; Signaling in development and disease

Peter Michaely, Research Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Duke University, Durham NC, 1996
Hypercholesterolemia, LDL receptor, Structural studies of amino acid repeats

Katherine Phelps, Research Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of Colorado, 1981
Confocal microscopy; Multiphoton microscopy; FRET; TIRF; Deconvolution

Janine Prange-Kiel, Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Tuebingen, Germany, 1998
Steroids in the brain; Regulation of hippocampal estradiol synthesis; Effects of estradiol and synaptic plasticity

Joachim Seemann, Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Max-Planck-Institute, Goettingen, Germany, 1996
Biogenesis of the Golgi Apparatus; Membrane Traffic; Mitosis

Jerry W. Shay, Professor
Ph.D., University of Kansas, 1972
Mechanisms of cellular aging and immortalization; telomerase and cancer; breast cancer etiology

William J. Snell, Professor
Ph.D., Yale University, 1974
Cell surface recognition and cellular interactions during fertilization; signal transduction mediated by cell contact

Michael A. White, Professor
Ph.D., University of North Carolina, 1992
Mechanisms of regulation of cellular growth and proliferation

Woodring E. Wright, Professor
M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University, 1975
The role of telomere biology in aging and cancer