Research laboratories of the Principal Investigators listed on this page are available for Biological Sciences PhD program rotations and thesis research. Lab names, linked to a webpage, are listed within broad research areas for your convenience. Many labs appear in more than one research area list, reflecting multi-disciplinary interests and approaches, often supplemented by formal or informal collaborations.
The listed research areas emphasize fundamental biological processes, which are mostly studied with a mechanistic and molecular perspective. Nearly all PhD program research is supported by NIH grants, reflecting the common premise that thorough fundamental understanding can lead to medical benefits. Many labs interface with cancer and disease biology through the study of signaling pathways, cell death mechanisms, stem cell biology, DNA repair and chromosome segregation, but only those that focus on specific diseases or cancers, studying origins, development or potential treatments are listed under Cancer and Disease Biology.
Cancer and Disease Biology
Biological Sciences: Duvall, Gaublomme, Manley, Stockwell, Tavaré
Other Departments: Abate-Shen, Anastassiou, Califano, Kousteni, Shen
Of interest:
ER origin of lipid collapse in ferroptosis (Stockwell lab)
Cell, Developmental, and Stem Cell Biology
Biological Sciences: Abdus-Saboor, Barnhart, Chalfie, Dietrich, Duvall, Gaublomme, Greenwald, Hobert, Jovanovic, Kalderon, Stockwell, Tosches
Other Departments: Abate-Shen, Canman, Grueber, Johnston, Kousteni, Mann, Mendelsohn, Passegue, Shen, Struhl, Wichterle
Of interest:
Specifying neuronal cell types (Hobert lab)
Genomics, Computational and Systems Biology
Biological Sciences: Andolfatto, Bussemaker, Gaublomme, Jovanovic, Landweber, Przeworski, Sella, Tavaré, Tavazoie, Tomer
Other Departments: Califano, Paninski, Pe’er
Evolutionary Biology, Comparative Genomics, and Population Genetics
Biological Sciences: Andolfatto, Kelley, Landweber, Przeworski, Sella, Tavaré,Tavazoie, Tosches
Other Departments: Pe’er
Of interest:
Do molecular similarities of brain regions foretell conserved functions across evolution? (Student Q&A; Tosches lab)
Snakes reveal competing mechanisms governing the evolution of recombination sites (Student Spotlight: Przeworski lab)
Brain evolution: salamander insights (Tosches lab)
Genome Organization, Maintenance, and Expression
Biological Sciences: Bussemaker, Duvall, Gaublomme, Jia, Jovanovic, Landweber, Manley, Przeworski
Other Departments: Basu, Gautier, Lomvardas, Pe’er, Rothstein, Symington
Microbiology
Biological Sciences: Dietrich, Hunt, Jia, Tavazoie,
Other Departments: Canman, Dworkin, Rothstein, Symington
Of interest:
Exploring spatial organization of microbial communities (Student Q&A: Dietrich lab)
Bacteria in Space (Dietrich lab)
Neuroscience
Biological Sciences: Abdus-Saboor, Barnhart, Chalfie, Duvall, Firestein, Hobert, Kelley, Tomer, Tosches, Yang, Yuste
Other Departments: Grueber, Lomvardas, Mann, Paninski, Shirasu-Hiza, Wichterle, Zuker
Of interest:
Do molecular similarities of brain regions foretell conserved functions across evolution? (Student Q&A; Tosches lab)
Why touch can be pleasurable (Abdus-Saboor lab)
Targeting reproduction of the world’s most dangerous animal (Duvall lab)
Modular Neural Network organoids (Tomer lab)
Brain evolution: salamander insights (Tosches lab)
Recognizing Novelty (Yuste lab)
Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
Biological Sciences: Dietrich, Hunt, Sahin, Stockwell, Tong, Yang
Other Departments: Cornish, Frank, Gonzalez, E. Greene, Hendrickson, McDermott, Palmer
Of interest:
Hydration solids: biology reveals a new class of matter (Sahin lab)
ER origin of lipid collapse in ferroptosis (Stockwell lab)
Program Lab locations and Department affiliations
The PhD Program is administered by the Dept. of Biological Sciences centered in the Fairchild Building of the main Columbia “Morningside” campus at 116th St. and Broadway.
All research laboratories of faculty in the Dept. of Biological Sciences are part of the Program and welcome students for rotations and thesis research.
These laboratories are almost all on the main Morningside campus (spanning 112th-120th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue) in the Fairchild Biological Sciences Building (Barnhart, Bussemaker, Chalfie, Dietrich, Duvall, Firestein, Gaublomme, Greenwald, Hazelrigg, Hobert, Hunt, Jia, Jovanovic, Kalderon, Kelley, Manley, Prives, Prywes, Przeworski, Sella, Tavazoie, Tomer, Tong, Yang), the Schermerhorn Building (Tavare), and the Interdisciplinary Science Building (Andolfatto, Sahin, Stockwell, Tosches, Yuste). Other laboratories are a short shuttle bus or subway ride away at Columbia University Medical Center around 168th St. (Frank, Landweber).
The Biological Sciences PhD Program also includes the laboratories of many faculty members of other Columbia University Departments, selected to expand and complement the strengths of the Home Department. These laboratories are located in Computer Science on the main campus (Anastassiou, Pe’er), the Interdisciplinary Science building on the main campus (Cornish), Statistics on the main campus (Paninski), the Zuckerman Neuroscience Institute, a 15-20 walk from the main campus (Axel, Grueber, Lomvardas, Mann, Struhl), the Chemistry Department (Gonzalez, McDermott), and Columbia University Medical Center, for which there is free shuttle bus service and convenient subway access (Abate-Shen, Basu, Califano, Canman, Dalla-Favera, Dworkin, Gautier, E. Greene, Gu, Hen, Hendrickson, Johnston, Kousteni, Mendelsohn, Palmer, Passegue, Rothstein, Shen, Shirasu-Hiza, Symington, Wichterle, Zuker).