Building on the long, rich history of the Department of Cell Biology, faculty members merge molecular biology and imaging techniques to focus on cellular form, function and transformation. Departmental scientists study topics including cell motility, division, membrane trafficking, metabolism, and development, with tools like scanning and transmission electron microscopy and scanning confocal, total internal reflection, and lattice light sheet fluorescence microscopy. Faculty participate in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Johns Hopkins University Biology graduate programs.
Director
Andrew J. Ewald, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Oncology
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Oncology
Research Interests:
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of epithelial growth, invasion and metastasis, focus on how clusters of cancer cells disseminate from the tumor, traverse the systemic circulation, and cooperate with resident stromal cells to colonize distant organs.
Deborah Jean Andrew, M.S., Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Associate Director for Faculty Development, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Associate Director for Faculty Development, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Research Interests:
Drosophila, Developmental genetics of organ formation
Peter N. Devreotes, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Professor of Biological Chemistry
Isaac Morris and Lucille Elizabeth Hay Professor
Director, Department of Cell Biology
Professor of Biological Chemistry
Isaac Morris and Lucille Elizabeth Hay Professor
Director, Department of Cell Biology
Research Interests:
Genetic analysis of chemotaxis in eukaryotic cells, Dictyostelium
Peter J. Espenshade, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Professor of Oncology
Associate Dean for Graduate Biomedical Education
Director, Center for Innovation in Graduate Biomedical Education
Professor of Oncology
Associate Dean for Graduate Biomedical Education
Director, Center for Innovation in Graduate Biomedical Education
Research Interests:
Sterol synthesis, Sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP), Regulation of sterol homeostasis, Dissolved gases, Insoluble lipids, Cholesterol, Eukaryotic cells, Oxygen sensing, Hypoxia, Homeostasis, Cell function, Mechanisms of molecular sensing
Andrew J. Ewald, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Oncology
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Oncology
Expertise, Disease and Conditions:
Breast Cancer, Cancer, Fibrosis, Metastatic Disease
Research Interests:
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of epithelial growth, invasion and metastasis, focus on how clusters of cancer cells disseminate from the tumor, traverse the systemic circulation, and cooperate with resident stromal cells to colonize distant organs.
Takanari Inoue, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Professor of Biological Chemistry
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Professor of Biological Chemistry
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Research Interests:
Synthetic cell biology
Scot C. Kuo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Associate Professor of Cell Biology
Director of Imaging, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Director, Microscope Facility
Associate Professor of Cell Biology
Director of Imaging, Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences
Director, Microscope Facility
Research Interests:
Laser-based imaging and bioinstrumentation, Nanoscale biophysics, Actin-based protrusion and cell motility, Mechanical functions of cells
Carolyn E. Machamer, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Research Interests:
Enveloped virus assembly, Intracellular protein trafficking, SARS, Coronaviruses, Intracellular virus assembly, Apoptosis, Golgi complex structure/function
Erika L. Matunis, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Research Interests:
Molecular genetics of germ line stem cell function
Susan Michaelis, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Research Interests:
ER quality control, Mammalian cell biology, Cytosolic protein quality control, ABC transporters, ERAD, ZMPSTE24 protease, Lamin A, Endocytosis, Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS or progeria), Yeast protein trafficking and human disease
Douglas N. Robinson, M.Phil., Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Joint Appointment in Medicine
Professor of Oncology
Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Joint Appointment in Medicine
Professor of Oncology
Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Research Interests:
Disease states, Model systems, Cell-shape control, Homeostasis, Tissue development, Cytokinesis (Cell division), Cellular mechanosensing, Molecular mechanisms
Hiromi Sesaki, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Research Interests:
Membrane fusion and fission, Mitochondrial dynamics
Shigeki Watanabe, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cell Biology
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Research Interests:
Microscopy, synaptic plasticity, Cell biology, Neuroscience
Katherine Lee Wilson, Ph.D.
Professor of Cell Biology
Research Interests:
Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, Nuclear envelope, lamins and nucleoskeleton, Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome