SURF Mentors 2024

Columbia University - Morningside Heights

Biological Sciences
Dr. Peter Andolfatto:
The genetics of adaptation and speciation 
Dr. Erin Barnhart:
The cell biology of neural circuits 
Dr. Harmen Bussemaker:
Data-driven predictive modeling of gene regulatory networks
Dr. Martin Chalfie:
Developmental genetics of touch neurons in C. elegans
Dr. Lars Dietrich:
Bacterial models for biological shape and pattern formation
Dr. Laura Duvall:
Blood-feeding and mating behavior in mosquitoes
Dr. Stuart Firestein:
Cellular Mechanisms and signal transduction of olfaction
Dr. Jellert Gaublomme:
Multi-omic technologies to study biomolecular and cellular interactions
Dr. Iva Greenwald:
LIN-12/Notch signaling in C. elegans
Dr. Oliver Hobert:
Genetic programs of neural development in C. elegans
Dr. John Hunt:
Structural biology of the cystic fibrosis transporter
Dr. Songtao Jia:
Epigenetic regulation of the genome
Dr. Marko Jovanovic:
Post-transcriptional gene expression control in development
Dr. Daniel Kalderon:
Hedgehog signaling in Drosophila development
Dr. Darcy Kelley:
Neurobiology of vocal communication and sexual differentiation
Dr. James Manley:
mRNA transcription, splicing, and processing
Dr. Carol Prives:
Cancer and p53
Dr. Ron Prywes:
Growth factor regulation of gene expression
Dr. Molly Przeworski:
Evolution of a complex trait under stabilizing selection
Dr. Ozgur Sahin:
Imaging and Modeling Biology at Physical Extremes
Dr. Guy Sella:
When should we expect adaptive responses to be polygenic?
Dr. Brent Stockwell:
Diagramming disease networks with chemical and biological tools
Dr. Saeed Tavazoie:
Adaptation through transcriptional tuning of gene expression
Dr. Liang Tong:
Protein structure of enzymes involved in fatty acid metabolism
Dr. Maria Tosches:
Evolution of cortical cell types and circuits
Dr. Jian Yang:
Structure, function and regulation of ion channels
Dr. Rafael Yuste:
Function of the cortical microcircuit

Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Tal Danino:
Engineering synthetic gene circuits in microbes
Dr. Edward Guo:
Bone tissue biomechanics
Dr. Clark Hung:
Cartilage engineering
Dr. Lance Kam:
Immune synapses affect T cell function
Dr. Elisa Konofagou:
Elasticity techniques such as breast and ligament elastography
Dr. Kam Leong: (lab located at CUMC)
Drug delivery & regenerative medicine
Dr. Helen Lu:
Bone & cartilage engineering
Dr. Barclay Morrison:
Neurotrauma and repair
Dr. Nandan Nerukar:
Molecular forces driving foregut morphogenesis
Dr. Elizabeth Olson: (lab located at CUMC)
Auditory mechanics
Dr. Samuel Sia: (lab located at CUMC)
Engineeering diagnostic devices for global health
Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic: (lab located at CUMC)
Tissue engineering and stem cells

Chemical Engineering
Dr. Mijo Simunovic:
Mechanisms of first cell fate decisions

Chemistry
Dr. Virginia Cornish:
Ribosome biochemistry
Dr. Ruben Gonzalez:
Ribosomal protein synthesis
Dr. Laura Kaufman:
Cancer cell invasion and the extracellular matrix

Computer Science
Dr. Itsik Pe'er:
Computational methods in human genetics

Columbia University – Manhattanville Campus

Neuroscience, Mind Brain Behavior Institute
Dr. Rudy Behnia:
Multisensory learning in the fruit fly
Dr. Andres Bendesky:
Genetic and neuronal mechanisms of social behavior
Dr. Michael Goldberg:
Spatial perception in monkeys and humans
Dr. Wes Grueber:
Mechanisms of dendritic morphogenesis and patterning
Dr. Elizabeth Hillman:
Optical imaging of living tissues
Dr. Minoree Kohwi:
Neural stem cell fate specification in Drosophila
Dr. Stavros Lomvardas:
Transcriptional regulation of Olfactory Receptor Choice
Dr. Richard Mann:
Homeotic gene function and their downstream targets in Drosophila
Dr. Carol Mason:
Retinogenesis
Dr. Franck Polleux:
Genetic changes underlying the development of human cognition
Dr. Serge Przedborski:
Mechanisms in neurodegeneration
Dr. Daniel Salzman:
Neural mechanisms underlying social emotions
Dr. Nathaniel Sawtell:
Synaptic plasticity in neural circuits
Dr. Steven Siegelbaum:
Ion channel structure and function
Dr. Gary Struhl:
Drosophila cell signaling determines spatial information
Dr. Sarah Woolley:
Neural basis of social communication
Dr. Charles Zuker:
Mammalian taste

Columbia University – Health Sciences Campus

Anesthesiology
Dr. Marcos Vidal Melo:
Mechanism of lung collapse-associated injury
Dr. Peter Yim:
Smooth muscle light sensitive receptors

Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Dr. Hashim Al-Hashimi:
RNA dynamics in HIV-1 TAR using NMR
Dr. Anum Glasgow:
Designing conformation-shifting proteins
Dr. Laura Landweber:
RNA-DNA interactions during Oxytricha development
Dr. Ya-Cheng Liao:
Organelles reprogramming in cellular stress adaptation
Dr. Anna-Lena Steckelberg:
RNA-protein interactions at the host-virus interface
Dr. Alexander Sobolevsky:
Structural and functional studies of ion channels
Dr. Samuel Sternberg:
Mechanism of bacterial CRISPR–Cas immune systems 
Dr. Chaolin Zhang:
Neuronal RNA-regulatory networks

Genetics & Development
Dr. Christine Chio:
Lipid metabolism and oxidation in pancreatic cancer
Dr. Angela Christiano:
Genetics and immunology of skin anfd hair diseases
Dr. Alberto Ciccia:
Genomic instability in cancer and genetic disesases
Dr. Laura Johnston:
Cell cycle control and growth during development
Dr. Gerard Karsenty:
Bone as an endocrine organ
Dr. Chao Lu:
Genome and epigenome regulation in cancer
Dr. Rodney Rothstein:
Yeast genetics and cellular responses to DNA damage in cancer
Dr. Mimi Shirasu-Hiza:
The circadian clock's regulation of immune function in Drosophila
Dr. Joanna Smeeton:
Regeneration of joint tissues in Zebrafish
Dr. Kelley Yan:
Instestinal stem cells in health and disease
Dr. Zhiguo Zhang:
DNA damage response in budding yeast

Medicine
Dr. Shah Ali:
Cell cycle renewal in the mammalian heart
Dr. Jonathan Barasch:
Kidney organogenesis
Dr. Robert Bauer:
Pseudokinase Trib1 in atherosclerosis and lipid metabolism
Dr. Edmond Chan:
Interrogating vulnerabilities in gastrointestinal cancer
Dr. Remi Creusot:
Tolerance in Type 1 diabetes
Dr. Arnold Han:
T cell function in cancer and autoimmunity
Dr. John Morrow:
Diet-induced obesity causes long QT and reduces transcription of voltage-gated potassium channels
Dr. Hiroshi Nakagawa:
Fanconi anemia DNA repair pathway in cancer
Dr. Alexander Nectow:
Investigation of brainstem neurons controlling feeding
Dr. Anil Rustgi:
The molecular genetics of GI cancers
Dr. Juan Schvartzman:
Effects of cellular metabolism on chromatin biology
Dr. Viraj Sanghvi:
Role of over-nutrition in cancer and therapeutic response
Dr. Neil Vasan:
Kinase regulation of breast cancer growth
Dr. Xuebing Wu:
RNA-centric gene regulation in human cells
Dr. Hanrui Zhang:
Role of macrophages in atherosclerosis

Microbiology and Immunology
Dr. Nicholas Arpaia:
Engineered bacteria for cancer immunotherapy
Dr. Lei Ding:
Regulation of hematopoietic stem cells
Dr. Jonathan Dworkin:
Protein localization and chromosome segregation in Bacillus subtilis
Dr. Donna Farber:
The role of Memory T cells in protective immunity
Dr. David Fidock:
Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite biology
Dr. Yiping Han:
The role of the human microbiome in health and disease
Dr. Yuefeng (Tony) Huang:
Innate lymphoid cells in mucosal immunity
Dr. Ivaylo Ivanov:
Regulation of immunity by diet and microbiota
Dr. Megan Sykes:
Bone marrow transplantation and immunology
Dr. Lorraine Symington:
Genetics and biochemistry of DNA recombination and repair

Neurology
Dr. Elizabeth Bradshaw:
Microglia function in Alzheimer's disease
Dr. Jennifer Gelinas:
Mechanics and therapeutics for memory dysfunction
Dr. Sheng-Han Kuo:
Neural underpinning of tremor and the loss of body movements
Dr. Kapil Ramachandran:
Neuronal-specific mechanisms of protein homeostasis
Dr. Amy Rumora:
Dietary fatty acids and diabetic neuropathy

Pathology & Cell Biology
Dr. Cory Abate-Shen:
Treatments and detection of prostrate and bladder cancer
Dr. Swarnali Acharyya:
Metastasis cancer drug resistance microenvironment 
Dr. Dritan Agalliu:
Blood-brain barrier breakdown in multiple sclerosis
Dr. Ottavio Arancio:
Synaptic dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease
Dr. Julie Canman:
Molecular regulation and mechanics of cell division
Dr. Peter Canoll:
Glioma cell migration and proliferation
Dr. Helen Causton:
Yeast respiratory oscillations
Dr. Alejandro Chavez:
Developing tools to study neurological disorders
Dr. Eunhee Choi:
Mutual regulation between metabolism and mitosis
Dr. Claudia Doege:
Monogenic obesity mutations disrupt melanocortin signaling
Dr. Amin Ghabrial:
Morphogenesis of tubular organs
Dr. James Goldman:
Neuron and glial cell fate determination
Dr. Lloyd Greene:
Neurodegeneration and brain tumors
Dr. Rebecca Haeusler:
Cholesterol metabolism in diabetes
Dr. Minah Kim:
Vascular regulation of disease progression
Dr. Tae-Wan Kim:
Molecular mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease
Dr. Cathy Mendelsohn:
Molecular control of the development of the urogenital system
Dr. Jaewon Min:
Telemere biology in aging and cancer
Dr. Kenneth Olive:
Translational therapeutics in pancreatic cancer
Dr. Yueqing Peng:
Sleep neurobiology in normal and diseased brains
Dr. Liza Pon:
Role of the actin cytoskeleton in aging
Dr. Andrew Sproul:
Novel human stem cell models of Alzheimer’s
Dr. Carol Troy:
Molecular mechanisms of neuronal death
Dr. Harris Wang:
Probiotic Engineering
Dr. Hynek Wichterle:
Human nervous system development
Dr. Hee Wong Yang:
Breast cancer proliferation and drug resistance
Dr. Lori Zeltser:
Sympathetic regulation of metabolism
Dr. Shan Zha:
DNA break repair
Dr. Xin Zhang:
FGF signaling in eye development

Pediatrics
Dr. Robyn Gartrell:
Effect of radiation on Microglia in Diffuse Midline Glioma(DMG)
Dr. Alice Prince:
Bacterial induction of cytokine signaling in epithelial cells
Dr. Kimara Targoff:
Zebrafish modeling of cardiac development 

Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Dr. Filippo Mancia:
Structural biology of membrane proteins
Dr. Andrew Marks:
Ryanodine receptors in heart failure/arrhythmias

Psychiatry
Dr. Christoph Anacker:
Neurobiological mechanisms underlying mood abnormalities
Dr. Maura Boldrini:
Human brain neuroplasticity in stress and disease
Dr. Christine Denny:
Optogenetic dissection of memory in Alzheimer’s 
Dr. Alex Dranovsky:
Neuro-circuitry of psychiatric disease
Dr. Gergely Turi:
Mapping brain areas targeted by psychedelic substances
Dr. Alexander Harris:
Treating stress-induced pain insensitivity
Dr. Robert Hawkins:
Gene regulation during classical conditioning
Dr. René Hen:
Neurobiology of learning and memory
Dr. Jonathan Javitch:
Regulation of dopamine receptors & amphetamines
Dr. Jae-eun Miller:
Imaging memory formation and loss in Alzheimer's disease
Dr. Martin Picard:
Mitochondrial mechanisms of stress psychobiology
Dr. Stephen Rayport:
Schizophrenia
Dr. David Sulzer:
Synaptic plasticity and diseases of the brain

Systems Biology
Dr. Mohammed AlQuraishi:
Machine learning molecular interactions and systems