St. George UTM UTSC All Faculty Mounir G. AbouHaidar Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Molecular biology of plant and human viruses. Mechanisms of resistance and development of "transgenic" plants resistant to viruses. Ina Anreiter Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study gene-regulatory processes underlying behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster. We are interested in undertanding the roles that genetics, epigenetics, epitrancriptomics, and the environment play in regulating behaviour, plasticity, and individual differences. Maithe Arruda-Carvalho Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our lab uses a systems level approach to explore the relationship between the maturation of sensitive brain circuits, the emergence of complex behaviour, and stress sensitivity in mice. Thomas Berleth Professor ☀ Accepting Applications The Arabidopsis embryo represents a simple, reproducible cellular pattern comprised of few basic tissues and prototypes of leaf- and root-like organs. These structures are generated in a suite of highly reproducible stages that imply tight control of orientation and frequency of cell division as well as cell morphology and differentiation. Robert Bonin Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Dr. Bonin's research explores the neuropharmacology and molecular underpinnings of chronic pain. Katharina Braeutigam Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My general research interest lies in the interaction between genome, epigenome, and phenotypic performance in plants with emphasis on persistent effects of past experience and molecular memory systems. Ashley E. Bruce Professor Our goal is to understand how morphogenesis and embryonic tissue patterning are linked. We use cellular, molecular and embryological techniques to study these questions in the zebrafish embryo. Leslie T. Buck Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We use a comparative neurobiological/physiological/molecular approach to understand how animals survive environmental extremes, in particular how painted turtles and goldfish survive without oxygen for weeks. John Calarco Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study how mRNA processing and post-transcriptional gene regulation influences the development, differentiation, and function of the nervous system. Belinda S.W. Chang Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Recreating the evolution of visual proteins in the laboratory; next generation sequencing and computational studies of visual proteins from animals in unusual habitats; mutagenesis studies of visual pigment structure/function. Hai-Ying (Mary) Cheng Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Circadian clock mechanisms in mammals; genetic determinants of adult neurogenesis. Dinesh Christendat Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Structural biology approaches to understand the functional divergence and regulation of metabolic proteins in plants and microbes. John R. Coleman Professor Emeritus Laura Corbit Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications I study the biological bases of reward-seeking and how different brain circuits contribute to distinct forms of learning and how experiences like drug exposure or diet alter learning and behavioural control. Mark Currie Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We seek to understand the mechanisms that govern genome organization, epigenetic gene regulation, and genome stability in health and disease. We combine structural biology, biochemistry, and cellular model systems. Sherwin S. Desser Professor Emeritus Darrell Desveaux Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Systems biology of plant-microbe interactions. We investigate how pathogens cause disease and how plants defend themselves. Elizabeth A. Edwards Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Ingo Ensminger Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study plant-environment interactions and the impact of climate change on plants from molecular to leaf, species and ecosystem level. Ted Erclik Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our lab’s goal is to understand how complex neural circuits develop from an initial population of stem cells. As a model system, we use the Drosophila optic lobe, which is the visual processing center of the fruit fly brain. George S. Espie Professor We are interested in the understanding the structure and function of the cyanobacterial CO2 concentrating mechanism and how it affects photosynthetic activity and photoautotrophic growth under a variety of environmental stresses. Rodrigo Fernandez-Gonzalez Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Cytoskeletal dynamics and mechanical forces in the assembly and repair of epithelial tissues. Guillaume Filion Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Kathlyn Gan Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our lab studies molecular pathways that regulate human synapse formation and function and harnesses them to restore synaptic connectivity in the aging brain. Christopher Garside Associate Professor, Teaching Stream I am interested in finding ways to increase student engagement with lecture and laboratory materials by providing students with transferrable concepts and skills. Sonia Gazzarrini Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My research interests involve understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate the transition from dormancy to germination and the role that hormones and abiotic stresses play in this processes. Robert Gerlai Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Neurobehavioural genetic analysis of zebrafish with a focus on alcohol effects, social behaviour, learning and memory. Penney Gilbert Associate Professor & Canada Research Chair, Endogenous Repair ☀ Accepting Applications Dorothea Godt Professor Emerita Analysis of molecular networks that drive cell shape changes, cell migration, and cell and tissue architecture during animal development. Eliana Gonzales-Vigil Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications How, when and why do plants synthesize metabolites that cure our illnesses and flavour our foods? The lab is figuring out the answers to questions related to plant specialized metabolism. Daphne Goring Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My overall research interests are to understand how plant cells communicate through signal transduction pathways to regulate plant reproduction in the Brassicaceae family (Arabidopsis and related species). David S. Guttman Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Comparative, evolutionary and functional genomics. Evolution of host specificity and virulence in pathogenic bacteria. Microbiome studies of human and plant diseases. Christina Guzzo Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My research aims to delineate the molecular mechanisms of HIV-1 control and pathogenesis, including the role of host immune cell proteins (soluble and cell-derived) in altering HIV infection. Tony J.C. Harris Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study how molecular circuits control and coordinate cell polarity, adhesion, cytoskeletal and membrane trafficking machinery to build and re-shape cells during animal development. Rene E. Harrison Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My lab uses advanced fluorescent imaging to study the cell biology of immune cells and bone cells under normal and pathological states. Clare Hasenkampf Professor Emerita Michele Heath Professor Emerita Johan Hellebust Professor Emeritus Verna Higgins Professor Emerita Melissa M. Holmes Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My primary research interest is the reciprocal relationship between social interactions and adult plasticity in the mammalian brain. Rutsuko Ito Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We are interested in identifying brain circuits that underlie contextual and affective influences over motivated behaviour, and the neural and neurochemical mechanisms of approach avoidance decision making. Voula Kanelis Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study nucleotide binding domains (NBDs) from the sulfonylurea receptors (SURs). The SUR proteins, which are members of the ATP binding cassette (ABC) superfamily of proteins, form regulatory domains of ATP sensitive K+ channels. Junchul Kim Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Neural circuits underlying approach and avoidance behaviours. Linda M. Kohn Professor Emerita Minoru Koyama Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We investigate the neural circuit mechanisms of behavioural development using power combinations of cutting-edge physiology, optics, genetics, and behavioural analyses in developing zebrafish. Angela B. Lange Professor I am an insect physiologist who studies how the nervous system and visceral tissues communicate and integrate information allowing for coordinated behaviours such as egg-laying, digestion, and circulatory function. Ellen W. Larsen Professor Emerita Joel Levine Professor Qian Lin Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications How does the brain produce adaptive, flexible behavior? We want to understand the neural mechanisms of decision making by combining whole-brain imaging in behaving zebrafish and computational tools. Baohua Liu Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study the structure, function and plasticity of the circuits in mammalian visual system using the combination of functional imaging, electrophysiology, optogenetics, circuit tracing and behavioural analysis. David A. Lovejoy Professor Emeritus Integrated molecular and organismal neuroendocrinology on the actions of stress on metabolism, reproduction and behaviour. Nathan R. Lovejoy Professor ☀ Accepting Applications I am interested in the relationship between naturally occurring genomic variation and animal function. Current research focuses on the evolution of genes involved in electric signal production in Amazonian fishes. Shelley Lumba Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our goal is to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying dormancy and germination in both non-parasitic and parasitic plants. We apply systems biology approaches to generate signalling networks during seed germination. Loren Martin Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications The research in my laboratory aims to understand how painful experiences modify the neural circuits and transmitter/peptide systems related to sensory, emotional, social and cognitive information. Andrew C. Mason Professor & Chair ☀ Accepting Applications Acoustic and vibrational communication; complex signals; sensory processing; decision making; signal function and evolution. Emma Master Professor ☀ Accepting Applications The aim of my research is to create breakthrough biotechnologies that customize nature’s most abundant structural biopolymers for use in sustainable materials. Yoshio Masui Professor Emeritus Peter McCourt Professor ☀ Accepting Applications The laboratory is focused on how hormones regulate developmental responses in higher plants. In particular, we use functional and chemical genomics approaches to dissect abscisic acid (ABA) and strigolactone signaling. Heather McFarlane Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We ask and answer questions about the fundamental mechanisms by which plants sense their environment through the cell wall and how plants adjust their growth in response to these signals. Patrick O. McGowan Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Epigenetic mechanisms of neurodevelopment and behaviour. Focus on molecular mechanisms that mediate the adaptation to psychosocial stress and complex disease in humans and other species. David R. McMillen Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Systems and synthetic biology. Design, construction, and analysis of synthetic networks (feedback controllers, logical operators, etc.) in microorganisms and (through collaboration) mammalian cells, to alter cellular behaviour from within. Josh Milstein Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our lab is interested in quantitative biological problems ranging from the molecular basis of cell signaling to the ecology and population dynamics of bacteria within biofilms and the microbiome. Jennifer A. Mitchell Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study how stem cells maintain the ability to self-renew and differentiate to specialised cells. Our focus is on finding the on/off instructions in DNA that regulate genes required for stem cell function. Douglas Ashley Monks Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Alan M. Moses Professor ☀ Accepting Applications DNA and protein sequences that control gene regulation. Population genetics and molecular evolution of regulatory networks. Development of computational and statistical methods for analysis of large biological datasets. Adam Mott Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We combine wet lab and computational approaches to study how plants use cell surface receptors to sense their environment, integrate this information, and regulate growth and immunity. Eiji Nambara Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My research team investigates molecular mechanisms by which plants regulate plant hormone metabolism. Joanne E. Nash Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We employ a multidisciplinary approach to understand the cell and molecular mechanisms underlying neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease. It is hoped that these studies will lead to better treatments for patients suffering from these diseases. Rob W. Ness Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications The Ness lab investigates how mutation and recombination interact with selection and genetic drift to drive evolution. We combine natural and experimental populations with new fangled genomic technologies. Melody J. Neumann Professor, Teaching Stream My primary research interest is the scholarly and scientific analysis of teaching practices to improve student learning in cell and molecular biology. Alex Nguyen Ba Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our lab studies how genetic changes affect traits and evolution. We use high-throughput technologies to pave the way for an atlas of disease-causing mutations. Xue Pan Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our research interests revolve around plant lipid synthesis, modification and signaling with the goal of developing innovative engineering strategies to enhance crop productivity, bio-oil yield and quality. John H. Peever Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our research is focused on identifying the brain circuits that control sleep and wakefulness, and how breakdown in these circuits contribute to disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and narcolepsy. Michael A. Phillips Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Regulation and control of plant terpenoid biosynthesis. We use mass spectrometry, isotopic labeling, and synthetic biology to study terpenoid metabolism in Arabidopsis and medically important plant species. Sergey V. Plotnikov Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We are interested in understanding the mechanisms utilized by mammalian cells to sense and transduce physical inputs from the microenvironment and how cell migration is guided by the mechanical cues. Cosima Porteus Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications The focus of our laboratory is to understand how fish sense, interact with and respond to their environment, linking environmental changes or challenges to whole animal physiology, behaviour and ecology. Jessica Pressey Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream ☀ Accepting Applications Cellular mechanisms underlying inhibitory GABAergic synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system Nicholas J. Provart Professor & Chair Bioinformatic tools and analyses for hypothesis generation in plant biology. Wet-lab validation of hypotheses generated using such tools Satyaki Rajavasireddy Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study the genetics and epigenetics of seed development. Michael Reber Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications How is the visual system network wired? How does it function? These are the questions we are addressing in the lab, using state-of-the-art experimental and computational approaches. Stephen Reid Associate Professor Arbora Resulaj Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our work builds upon our training in engineering, human cognition, mouse olfactory and visual behaviors, combined with our expertise in electrophysiology, anatomical and viral techniques and more recently calcium imaging. Ho-Sung Rhee Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study epigenetic regulation of neural development and disease using mouse stem cell differentiation systems and high-resolution genomic approaches. Maurice Ringuette Associate Professor Patricia Romans Professor Emerita Robert Rozeske Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study how spatial representations guide defensive behaviour using a systems neuroscience approach. Arneet Saltzman Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Understanding chromatin regulation during development using C. elegans as a model system. Ritu Sarpal Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream Adriano Senatore Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study the evolution, electrophysiology, and structure-function properties of ion channels, neurotransmitter receptors, and synaptic protein complexes. Maxwell Shafer Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Decoding the genomic and cellular mechanisms of sleep evolution using comparative approaches across vertebrate species, including functional genomics, bioinformatics, cell & molecular biology, neurobiology, and evolution. J. J. Berry Smith Professor Emeritus Marla B. Sokolowski Professor Prof. Sokolowski is interested in how DNA variation predisposes organisms to be more or less affected by their experiences, how our experience gets embedded in our biology and finally how DNA variation interacts with epigenetic processes to affect behavior. Richard Stephenson Professor Emeritus Regulation and function of sleep. Bryan Stewart Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Our research is aimed at understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern the function and development of neurons. Gopal Subramaniam Senior Scientist ☀ Accepting Applications My Laboratory studies regulation of secondary metabolism and virulence in the phytopathogen Fusarium graminearum. Kaori Takehara-Nishiuchi Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My research program aims to understand how the cortical network stores a permanent record of daily experiences and how it deteriorates in memory disorders. Ulrich Tepass Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study the mechanisms of cell polarity and cell adhesion of epithelial cells during animal development. Our work is relevant for several human diseases, in particular cancer and blindness. Mauricio Terebiznik Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My laboratory specializes in cellular microbiology and cell biology. We investigate different unexplored aspects of the interplay of macrophages, and epithelial cells with intracellular pathogens and toxic fibres like asbestos. Tod Thiele Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We investigate how neural circuits produce behaviour using systems neuroscience approaches. Bebhinn Treanor Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications My research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling immune cell activation through the development and implementation of cutting edge optical microscopy. Vincent Tropepe Professor and Vice Dean, Research ☀ Accepting Applications We study the molecular and cellular basis of neurogenesis in the brain and retina during development and in the context of regeneration. Greg C. Vanlerberghe Professor Emeritus We investigate the impact of abiotic and biotic stress on plant energy metabolism. We uncover the signature responses of metabolism to stress and elucidate how these responses support stress acclimation. Susannah L. Varmuza Professor Emerita Brandon Walters Assistant Professor Yan Wang Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We study fungal biology, evolutionary genomics, and how fungi interact with other organisms, using mosquitoes and the gut-dwelling fungi as the model. Kenneth C. Welch Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications I use and integrative and comparative approach to study the physiology of muscle function, fuel use, metabolism and energetics during locomotion. Rudolf Winklbauer Professor Emeritus We study the molecular and cellular mechanisms and the tissue mechanical basis of vertebrate gastrulation. Melanie A. Woodin Professor & Dean ☀ Accepting Applications Understanding the functioning of inhibitory synapses, both at the cellular level and within neuronal circuits. Kenneth Yip Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream My teaching focus is on evidence-based strategies to improve student success within the biological sciences. Our laboratory interests include cancer, fibrosis, and COPA syndrome. Keiko Yoshioka Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Signal transduction of stress responses in plants with an emphasis on immunity; environmental effects on pathogen resistance; signal transduction networks in abiotic and biotic stress responses; production of stress resistant plants. Rongmin Zhao Associate Professor ☀ Accepting Applications The mechanism of action of molecular chaperones and their roles in plant development, and in organelle functions; the mechanism of regulated protein degradation by the 26S proteasome. Mei Zhen Professor ☀ Accepting Applications We combine electron microscopy, genetics, genomics, optogenetics, calcium imaging, and electrophysiology to study how a neural circuit develops and operates, and apply C. elegans models to study neurological disorders. Iva Zovkic Assistant Professor ☀ Accepting Applications Epigenetic mechanisms of learning and memory in rodents; role of histone variants in memory formation and maintenance; age-related cognitive decline.
