Physiology & Biophysics Faculty & Staff Research Affiliated Centers Seminars Kudos Education and Training Graduate Program Medical Education Pharmacy Education Postdoctoral Program Career & Professional Development Undergraduate About Us Event Gallery Contact Us Giving Research The faculty of the Department of Physiology & Biophysics participate in a wide spectrum of research activities. Home Research Physiology & Biophysics: Home Physiology & Biophysics: Research About Our Research At one end of this spectrum are large and medically relevant questions, such as the mechanisms that induce the immune response in humans and the molecular bases of diseases. At the other end are the physical descriptions of simple chemical processes and structures that mimic the behavior of cells or components of cells, such as artificial membranes and synthetically produced small fragments of proteins. The largest part of the departmental research falls between the entirely medical and the entirely molecular, and its objective is to understand how proteins function in catalyzing metabolically important reactions in cells, how signals such as those carried by hormones are transmitted from one cell to another, and how specialized cells such as muscle fibers perform their intended functions. Research Areas Immunology Barbara JusiakFrancesco MarangoniShivashankar OthyEric PearlmanSergio Armando VillaltaLisa Wagar Vaccines David Huw DaviesPhilip FelgnerLisa Wagar Cancer Barbara JusiakDevon LawsonFrancesco Marangoni Ion channels Geoffrey AbbottKevin BeierMichael CahalanSteve GoldsteinTodd HolmesFrancesco TombolaAlvin Yu Membranes & Membrane Proteins Medha PathakHamid SaidStephen White Molecular and Structural Biology Lan HuangRongsheng JinStephen WhiteQin YangAlvin Yu Vision Vladimir KefalovPhilip KiserKrzysztof PalczewskiDorota Skowronska-KrawczykGulab Zode Stem Cells Asuka EguchiMichael HicksMedha Pathak