Looper Research Group

Our research emphasizes small molecule interactions within biological systems. New synthetic methodology will drive the synthesis of natural products and fragment based small molecule collections. An ancillary, yet possibly more profound goal is to arm our national screening infrastructure with skeletally intriguing small molecules. These collaborative efforts will facilitate the discovery of new targets and strategies for the advancement of biomedical research.

The recent implication of these events in a number of disease states (multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, glaucoma and tumorogenesis) encourages the preparation of biological tools and therapeutic leads. Projects poised to deliver antibiotic collections for the inhibition of prokaryotic protein synthesis will also be initiated.

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Michael Vershinin Lab

Our lab works at the interface of biophysics, biochemistry, nanoscale engineering, and math biology. We develop and employ new ways to reconstruct and carefully measure the world of biology under controlled conditions. We use a variety of biophysical and biochemical tools to examine biological phenomena at the single molecule level and to then work our way up.

The lab is currently focused on the properties of the microtubule cytoskeleton and the associated cargo transport. We are interested in how individual molecular motors which move cargos can be regulated by various biochemical factors and biophysical parameters. But more than that, we want to know how one takes this local machinery and builds an efficient logistics system out of it.

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The Hammond LaB

Illuminating the Single-Cell Biology and Function of Chemical Signals

The Hammond lab has a dual focus on engineering nucleic acids as programmable tools for molecular imaging and gene control, and on understanding the chemistry and biology of cyclic dinucleotides as signaling molecules in bacteria and mammalian cells.

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The Shapiro LaB

The Genetic and Developmental Basis of Evolutionary Change

What are the genetic and developmental origins of unique traits in natural populations and species of vertebrates? In most cases of trait evolution in natural and domesticated species, we do not know how many genes are involved, which genes are actually responsible for morphological change, whether alterations to these genes affect coding or regulatory regions, or whether the same genes are involved repeatedly in the evolution of similar traits in different populations and species. Our work addresses these major issues.

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The Gagnon LaB

We develop from a single fertilized egg into adults with trillions of cells.

Embryonic cells talk to each other to coordinate the construction process. Cells are master linguists - they use dozens of different languages, known as cell signaling pathways, to share information across the embryo. Sometimes cells speak multiple languages simultaneously; sometimes they switch languages. During development, cells are also dividing and moving around the embryo.

How can we decipher the blueprint for this complex and dynamic construction project?

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