Our Department of Biochemistry is at the forefront in pursuing regulatory mechanisms and clinical applications, making valued contributions in biomedical investigation, education, and service.
Our faculty, students, and fellows are providing paradigm-shifting advances in science and medicine. We embrace transdisciplinary partnerships in undergraduate, graduate, and medical teaching and in pursuing research through collaborative team approaches that combine biochemical, molecular, cellular, in vivo genetic, epigenetic, genomic, spatial transcriptomic, proteomic, and bioinformatic strategies. Emphasis is on multiomic and multispectral imaging regulatory mechanisms in the context of translation to resolution of clinically relevant problems. The Department of Biochemistry research initiatives are reinforced by collaborations throughout the University of Vermont, the Vermont Department of Health, and with colleagues in Europe, Asia, South America, and in the Middle East.
New frontiers are being established in understanding genetic and epigenetic parameters of cell structure-gene expression interrelationships controlling proliferation and differentiation during development, phenotypic properties of specialized cells and tissues, and alterations occurring in human disease. Major advances have been made in cell cycle control, regulation of proliferation and tissue-specific gene expression by hormones and growth factors, dynamics and control of chromatin remodeling, intra-nuclear organization and assembly of regulatory machinery, and elucidation of signaling pathways and gene regulatory higher order chromatin structures that transduce and integrate regulatory inflammation. We are establishing a roadmap of control that translates to breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of human disease.
Our Department of Biochemistry is making transformative advances in the biology and treatment of cancer, musculoskeletal disorders, and cardiovascular disease. Partnerships with physician investigators have identified molecular defects in cancer cells that: identify regulatory pathways governing cell cycle control to target tumors; inhibit tumor vascularization to contain tumors; prevent breast and prostate cancer metastasis to bone; discover non-coding RNAs for the onset and progression of cancer and establish epigenetic signatures for risk assessment and treatment of solid tumors and leukemias. Our coagulation/cardiovascular investigators have discovered regulatory networks critical for the biology and pathology of clotting.
The Biochemistry Department is committed to excellence in undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and medical education. Our graduates have secured academic and clinical positions, as well as developed careers in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
Distinction in biomedical research is reflected by high impact, peer-reviewed research papers, extramural funding for research programs from NIH and the private sector, invited presentations at major national and international meetings, and recognition for excellence in mentorship.
Gary Stein, Ph.D.
Perelman Professor and Chair of Biochemistry
Distinguished University Professor