Available for Doctoral Training
Assistant Professor
Sequencing studies in patient cohorts has established a relationship between the gut microbiome and various diseases in local and nonadjacent tissues. However, a lack of mechanistic understanding of these relationships limits therapeutic opportunities. The mMicrobiome Lab seeks to apply organ-on-chip technology alongside traditional 2D and 3D in vitro models to interrogate the pathways underpinning correlations between the gut microbiome and disease progression or response to therapy. Current targets of research include the effect estrogen metabolism by gut bacteria has on breast cancer progression, and analyzing components of high fiber diets which result in improved immunotherapy response rates.
danielle.brasino@med.uvm.edu
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering
Bioengineering, Protein Engineering, Biomaterials
mdbrasino@uvm.edu
Assistant Professor
Even in the age of COVID-19, heart failure remains the leading cause of death in developed countries. While drugs can alleviate symptoms, there is no proven therapy to repair failing hearts. Complicating the situation, heart failure is highly diverse as patients exhibit varying degrees of mechanical, metabolic, and electrical dysfunction. However, most patients present with impaired left-ventricular filling, i.e. diastolic dysfunction, a thus-far therapeutically intractable symptom arising from increased ventricular stiffness.
In heart failure, ventricular stiffening is a runaway train where external stress throttles multiscale remodeling of myofilaments, the myocyte cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix (ECM) that collectively impair cardiac function. External stress is sensed by the myocardium which responds by remodeling its ECM, the ECM in turn signals cardiomyocytes to alter their contractile performance and remodel their cytoskeleton. Yet in patients with heart failure, removing stress seldom reverses pathological remodeling. This is because signaling between pathologically remodeled cardiomyocytes and ECM continue to reinforce each other’s disease state. Much remains unknown about the molecular mechanisms of this cross-talk which makes it difficult to target therapeutically.
Our research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that stiffen the heart, relating these changes to organ level physiology and developing therapies that reverse cardiac stiffening in heart disease.
Matthew.Caporizzo@uvm.edu
Associate Director, Shared Resources • Professor, Pharmacology
frances.carr@med.uvm.eduProfessor
Most pathogenic microbes, from viruses to bacteria to protozoan parasites, undergo a lifecycle inside cells of their host, exploiting cellular functions to their advantage and ultimately causing infectious diseases. The Celli lab is focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms used by intracellular vacuolar bacteria to exploit cellular functions and generate niches of survival and proliferation. We use Brucella abortus as a model vacuolar pathogen, as it modulates various intracellular pathways and functions, such as endocytic and exocytic transport, secretory functions and autophagy, to build a niche of replication and proliferate in the host. Using a multidisciplinary combination of genetic, cell biology and biochemistry approaches, we currently focus on characterizing the mode of action and role of various “effector” proteins the bacterium delivers into host cells during infection that remodel specific cellular functions involved in bacterial vacuole biogenesis, intracellular growth and egress from infected cells.
jean.celli@med.uvm.edu
Paula Deming, Ph.D., MT (ASCP)
Associate Professor of Biomedical and Health Sciences • Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research
Cell signaling, growth control pathways, molecular pathology, cancer biology
Paula.Deming@med.uvm.edu
Professor • Structural Biology of DNA Replication and Repair
- Research modifications to DNA to study repair processes and to minimize damage to DNA.
Associate Director of Cancer Research, Training and Education Coordination, UVM Cancer Center • Professor, Pharmacology
alan.howe@uvm.eduProfessor
Transcriptional regulators of lung responses to injury and inflammation
yvonne.janssen@uvm.edu
Assistant Professor • Tenure Pathway
Vascular Physiology
Capillary networks and have traditionally been viewed as passive sites for gas and nutrient exchange and waste removal. However, considering the vast area of the brain capillaries, which constitute ~90% of all vessels in the entire vascular landscape, the potential of these microvessels to serve sensory and signaling functions comes into sharp focus. Notably, their high density and close proximity to neurons ideally position capillaries to act as sensors of local signals from surrounding neurons and glia. Critically, a wide range of neurological disorders, including ischemic and hemorrhagic small vessel diseases, dementia, migraine, and age-related cognitive decline, exhibit deficits in cerebral blood flow. The enormity of the coverage area of brain capillaries, comprising pericytes and endothelial cells, can be more fully appreciated by direct visualization (see images below).
The brain vasculature can respond to neuronal and glial signals and regulate blood flow through the activation of various receptors and ion channels. However, our understanding of the repertoire of ion channels in pericytes and capillary endothelial cells and the properties governing the propagation and amplification of signals between these cells remains incomplete. This gap in our knowledge obscures our overall understanding of blood flow regulation in the brain and how diseases may affect blood flow and brain health, thus representing a fruitful research area for many years to come.
Associate Professor, Medical Laboratory Science
Immunology, microbiology, genetics, microbiome, autoimmune disease, virology
Dimitry.Krementsov@uvm.edu
Pediatric Infectious Disease Physician • Associate Professor
- Human rotaviruses
- Human enteric adenoviruses
- Oral vaccine performance
- Immune correlates of protection
- Clinical vaccine trials
- Child health and development
Bruno Martorelli Di Genova, PhD
Assistant Professor • MMG Undergraduate Advisor
- Parasitology
- Single-celled eukaryotes
- Metabolism
- Molecular and cellular biology
Director of Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences PHD program • Professor of Medicine
Matthew.Poynter@med.uvm.eduAssistant Professor
Molecular mechanisms of intracellular movement in models of pathogenic fungi and neurological disease
John.Salogiannis@med.uvm.edu
Professor and Chairperson, Department of Biochemistry • Professor, Department of Surgery
Cancer biology, Health and healthcare equity
Gary.Stein@uvm.edu
Menelaos (Mel) Symeonides, PhD
Assistant Professor • Impact of Viral Infections on Individual Cells and Cell Populations
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – cell-to-cell transmission, latency, and pathogenesis
- Placental biology – syncytins and trophoblast cell fusion
- Adaptive immune response to Rotavirus in infants – single-cell RNAseq, flow cytometry
- Fluorescence microscopy – widefield and light sheet
Associate Professor • Regulation of Bacterial Virulence and Catabolism
At the big picture level, we are interested in how bacteria detect their surroundings and respond accordingly, both during infection and when in the presence of other bacteria. Our primary organism of choice is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative opportunistic bacterial pathogen that commonly resides in tap water. We are interested in how P. aeruginosa detects the host lung environment to regulate infection and how it interacts with other bacteria in its pre-infection niche in the water system.
As microbial geneticists, we conduct genetic screens, do transcriptomics, and generate gene deletions, over-expression strains, and reporter strains to identify and characterize the function of genes important for P. aeruginosa growth, survival, and/or pathogenesis. The end goal of our research is to identify metabolic or regulatory pathways important for infection that can be targeted to develop new anti-infectives or adjunctive therapies.
Some projects currently ongoing include:
- How does P. aeruginosa detect host sphingolipids?
- How are the sphingolipid-related virulence factors of P. aeruginosa regulated and what are their functions during infection?
- Can we inhibit P. aeruginosa detection or metabolism of sphingolipids as a potential therapeutic option?
- How does P. aeruginosa detect and interact with other opportunistic pathogens in the water system?
Professor of Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, Larner College of Medicine
Pulmonary and critical care specialist
Daniel.Weiss@uvm.eduAvailable for Rotation Only
Associate Professor
Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) Based Chaperones and Protein Disulfide Isomerases in Lung Diseases
Vikas.Anathy@med.uvm.edu
Associate Professor
Mastitis epidemiology, veterinary infectious disease epidemiology, zoonotic disease, antimicrobial resistance, global animal and public health, One Health.
john.barlow@uvm.eduProfessor
Gynecologic Infectious Disease
Gynecology
Obstetrics
Sexually Transmittable Infections in Women
Vulvar Pain Syndromes
Assistant Professor • Determinants of Viral Infectivity and Viral-Host Interaction
- SARS-CoV-2
- Nucleocapsid function
- Variant infectivity
- Influenza
- Viral assembly & trafficking
- Rab11 vesicular transport
- Particle morphology
Paula Deming, Ph.D., MT (ASCP)
Associate Professor of Biomedical and Health Sciences • Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research
Cell signaling, growth control pathways, molecular pathology, cancer biology
Paula.Deming@med.uvm.edu
Associate Professor • Human Immune Responses to Infection and Vaccination
- Human Immunology and viral vaccines
- Viral infections: dengue virus, zika viurs, norovirus, sapovirus
- B cells and monoclonal antibody isolation and uses
- T cell responses to dengue virus
Assistant Professor • Gund Affiliate
Food microbiology; Food Safety; Salmonella stress tolerance; Listeria persistence; Biosecurity of backyard poultry
Andrea.Etter@uvm.edu
Assistant Professor
Dr. Osama Harraz's research is focused on signal transduction of ion channels in the vasculature. He is particularly interested in the cerebral circulation in both physiological and pathological conditions.
He has developed unique approaches to monitor ion channel activity in the smallest blood vessels in the brain. He employs several approaches in his research including, but not limited to, electrophysiology, genetically-engineered mouse models, and imaging. He has a particular interest in different forms of signaling in the vasculature and how signaling is altered in diseases such as small vessel disease, neurodegenerative disease and hypertension.
Associate Professor
Pediatric Leukemias: epigenetics, mechanisms of leukemogenesis, and novel treatment development
jessica.l.heath@med.uvm.edu
Assistant Professor
With the use of cutting-edge stem cell models and RNA-targeting technologies, Dr. Morelli's laboratory investigates molecular mechanisms governing the origin of neurodegeneration and engineers new therapeutic strategies for a variety of neurodegenerative disorders.
kmorelli@uvm.edu
Director of Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences PHD program • Professor of Medicine
Matthew.Poynter@med.uvm.edu