Research Area II

Marko Jovanovic

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Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Columbia University Gene expression in mammalian cells is tightly controlled at several levels – from transcription to translation and protein degradation. However, to date, most studies focused on changes in overall mRNA abundance. Yet, the mammalian genome encodes over 1,500 RNA binding proteins (RBPs), several of which are recurrently mutated in diseases, such as cancer and […]

Oliver Hobert

Professor of Biological Sciences Columbia University Dr. Hobert’s lab studies molecular mechanisms that control the generation of the enormous diversity of cell types in the nervous system. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system, his laboratory decodes genomic cis-regulatory information of gene batteries expressed in specific neuronal cell types and identifies trans-acting factors that act at various stages of neuronal development to impose specific […]

Wei Min

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Columbia University Fluorescence microscopy is currently the most popular contrast mechanism employed in optical imaging. However, fluorescence imaging faces fundamental limitations for studying the vast number of small bio-molecules such as metabolites (e.g., amino acids), second messengers, neurotransmitters and drugs, because the relatively bulky fluorescent tags often destroy or significantly alter the biological activities of small […]

Jonathan Owen

Associate Professor of Chemistry Columbia University The Owen Group is an inorganic chemistry group that specializes in the synthesis and surface modification of semiconductor nanocrystals. We are developing methods to exchange nanocrystal surface ligands and characterize the influence of surface structure on electronic properties. Small molecule model systems that can be characterized with X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy are helping […]

Franck Polleux

Professor of Neuroscience Columbia University Dr. Polleux’s laboratory focuses on the identification of the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal development in the mammalian brain that will help reveal how perturbations of brain pathways lead to the underlying pathology of such diseases as schizophrenia and autism. Dr. Polleux has recently begun studying the genetic basis of human brain evolution (Charrier, Joshi et […]

Dali Sames

Associate Professor of Chemistry Columbia University In the Sames Group, we use organic synthesis and molecular design to address exciting problems in neuroscience and brain medicine. The main theme in our research group is to develop new methods for both the imaging and repair of synapses in the brain. We use the entire spectrum of molecular space (small organic molecules, […]

Virginia Cornish

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Research Area II: Molecular and Chemical Probes for Neuroscience Leader Columbia University Virginia Cornish is the Helena Rubinstein Professor in the Department of Chemistry and a Co-PI of the NeuroTechnology Center (NTC) at Columbia University. She has a long track record in protein engineering and chemical biology, designing novel fluorescence molecular probes for neural imaging with orthogonal chemical and optical […]