Cell Signaling & Cell/Environment Interactions

It is an inevitable consequence of life that cells interact with their local environment. Cells need to respond to cues from their interactions, be they physical interactions with neighboring cells or chemical interactions with the environment. MCB faculty take a wide variety of approaches to understand the broad scope of cell signaling and adaption.

Suggested Courses

Autumn

CONJ 532
Signal Transduction: from the cell membrane to the nucleus

CONJ 531
Signaling Mechanisms in Excitable Cells

Genome 559
Introduction to Statistical and Computational Genomics

MCB 536
Tools for Computational Biology

winter

CONJ 544
Protein Structure, Modification and Regulation

spring

BSTR 590
Cryo-electron microscopy of biological macromolecules and complexes

MCB 539
Biological Basis of Neoplasia

PABIO 536
Bioinformatics and Gene Sequence Analysis

MCB 543
Logic Constructs and Methodologies of Biological Research

Dr. Hannele Ruohola-Baker works with students to understand the cellular signals for development

Understanding signals

From interpreting signals at the plasma membrane, to transducing them through the cytoplasm, to responding to them in the nucleus and other key organelles, Seattle MCB faculty are leading the way to understand cell signaling and interactions. Seattle MCB students are on the cutting-edge using innovative approaches to explore the wide gamut of physiological processes involved in the integration of signals and the subsequent cellular responses.

Faculty Area Directors: Akhila Rajan, Sandra Bajjalieh

Student Area Directors: Amanda Bradley

Area Of interest Faculty

Featured Research

Area Directors

Faculty Area Directors: Sandra Bajjalieh, Akhila Rajan

Student Area Directors: Terry Hafer

Lab Openings

Berger Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Cancer functional genomics

Rajan Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Fat's impact on cognition & immunity

Paredez Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Giardia, parasite, actin, rac, Rho GTPase, signaling, evolutionary cell biology, cysts, trafficking, cytokinesis, microscopy, biochemistry

Singhvi Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

glia, neuron, cell signaling, sensory systems

Steinbrenner Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter

plant cell surface receptors, immunity, herbivores, pathogens

Bajjalieh Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

cell signaling, neuroscience, lipid signaling, synapse

Barria Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Glutamatergic receptors, synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity, Wnt signaling

Bettelli Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Autoimmunity, Neuroimmunology

Grill Lab:
Permanent Position

proteomics, genetics, neuroscience

Iritani Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

B and T cell development, lymphoma, cancer, Myc, Nckap1l, Hem1, Fnip1, metabolism

Swalla Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Evolution and Development, Genetics, Regeneration

Bornfeldt Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Atherosclerosis, diabetes, lipids, immune cells, mass spectrometry, human translational research

Berg Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

development, evolution, patterning, morphogenesis, Drosophila, cell signaling

Ghajar Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Tumor microenvironment, metastasis, immunology, tumor dormancy, breast cancer

Hague Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Furlong Lab:
Spring

Crowder Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Hypoxia, genetic screens, C. elegans, drug screens, ischemia, stroke, infarction, cell death, protein misfolding, protein aggregation, mitochondria

Moens Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

zebrafish, genetics, developmental biology, neural development, motor neuron, planar cell polarity, neuroepithelial morphogenesis, neuronal migration, axon guidance.

Maly Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

maly dj

Miller Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

hypoxia, hydrogen sulfide, stress, epigenetics, aging

Rawlings Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Gene editing, Immunotherapies, B and T cells

Eisenman Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter

myc, transcription, oncogene, tumor suppressor, network

Greenberg Lab:
Spring, Winter

Bacterial communication, evolution of cooperation, quorum sensing,

Gerner Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Innate immunity, adaptive immunity, vaccine development, cancer, dendritic cells, T cells, microscopy, imaging, lymph nodes

Grady Lab:
Spring, Winter

Gujral Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Systems Biology or Tumor microenvironment or Metastasis or Wnt pathway or Kinase signaling Hippo pathway

Hadland Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

hematopoietic stem cell biology, developmental hematopoiesis, leukemic stem cells

Hamerman Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

innate immunity, macrophages, inflammation, dendritic cells, myeloid development, autoimmunity

Ruohola-Baker Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

stem cells, adult stem cells, pluripotent stem cells, metabolites, epigenetics, microRNA, cardiomyocyte maturation, apoptosis

Bai Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Brain, neuron, synapse, neurotransmitter, endocytosis, exocytosis, C. elegans,

Woodward Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

bacterial pathogenesis, innate immunity, cyclic dinucleotides, c-di-AMP

Kollman Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Cryo-EM, structural biology, cytoskeleton, metabolism, X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy

Nemhauser (She/Her) Lab:
Spring

auxin, synthetic biology, developmental biology, plant biology

Alvarez Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Breast cancer, recurrence, dormancy, minimal residual disease, metabolism, genome instability

Villen Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

proteomics, signaling, systems biology, mass spectrometry, phosphorylation, ubiquitin, protein turnover

Parrish Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Somatosensory neuron development in Drosophila

Bomsztyk Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

epigenetics,transcription,disease, high throughput technologies

Cheung Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

metastasis, cell-cell interactions, breast cancer

Stevens Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Bioprinting, tissue engineering, liver, heart, vascularization

Torii Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Kugel Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Lagunoff Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

virus, Kaposi's Sarcoma, Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, KSHV, viral oncogenesis, cancer, herpesvirus, virology, signal transduction, metabolism, metabolomics, transcriptomics, endothelial cell, viral immunology, KS,

Rajagopal Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Group B streptococcus, GBS, Staphylococcus aureus, S. aureus

Crisa Lab:
Summer, Winter

innate immunity, myeloid cells, pancreatic islets, diabetes

Lehrbach Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

proteasome, proteostasis, aging, C. elegans, genetics

Silberstein Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

bone marrow niche

Sullivan Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Metabolism, cancer, mitochondria, respiration, amino acids, lipids, mass spectrometry, metabolomics

Bothwell Lab:
All Quarters

Neurotrophin, Receptor, Motor Neuron, CMT2, receptor tyrosine kinase, ALS, endocytic sorting, neuromuscular junction, primary cilia

Ailion Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

C. elegans, neurobiology, genetics, speciation, neuromodulation, G protein, insulin, diabetes, signal transduction, hybrid incompatibility, mitochondria, selfish genes

Bruchas Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Neuronal Signaling, GPCRs, Optogenetics, Neural Circuits, Computation, Neuropeptides, RNA, Cellular Imaging, Physiology, Arrestin, Kinases, G-proteins,

McKnight Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

PKA, cAMP, obesity, hypothalamus, leptin, gene expression, memory, learning

Campbell Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Structural biology, cryoEM, cell signaling, immunology

Merz Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

membrane, cell, organelle, endosome, lysosome, golgi, fusion, SNARE, Rab, tether, biophysics, genetics, yeast, Saccharomyces

Campbell Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

T cells, autoimmunity, immune regulation

Davis Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

GBA, protein aggregation, Parkinson's disease, neurodegeneration

Liachko Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Neurodegeneration, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, C. elegans, primary neurons

Oberst Lab:
All Quarters

apoptosis, programmed necrosis, necroptosis, caspases, pyroptosis

Harrison Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Mucosal immunology, Adaptive Immunity, Commensal microbiota, Antigen-specificity, T cell, B cell

Parsek Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Biofilms, quorum sensing, bacterial pathogenesis

Greenberg Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

T cell, immunology, Cancer biology, Cell therapy, Genetic engineering

Liu Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Signaling, Cardiac Remodeling, Heart Failure, Cardiomyocyte, Cell Death, Apoptosis, Necroptosis, Animal Models

Queitsch Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

gene regulation, chaperones, rDNA, microsatellites, STRs, protein folding, sequencing technologies, complex traits, epistasis, Hsp90, heat stress, natural variation, mutation penetrance

Rasmussen Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

zebrafish, development, regeneration, organogenesis, neurodegeneration, skin

Brent Lab:
Summer

LexA, variation, phenotypic variation, Augmented Reality, machine vision, epistemic support

Yablonka-Reuveni Lab:

James Lab:
Spring, Summer, Permanent Position

B cells, immunology, lymphoma, signaling, engineering

Tian Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

mitochondria, energetics, heart failure, immunometabolism

Scott Lab:
Spring, Winter

Gordon Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Membrane Biophysics, Ion Channels, Protein Dynamics and Energetics

Ong Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Proteomics, Cancer, Kinases, EMT

Srivastava Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Adoptive T cell therapy, CAR-T cells, immunology

Hoppins Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Mitochondria, membrane fusion, GTPase, apoptosis,

Yadav Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Kinase Signaling, Autism

Stetson Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Innate immunity, nucleic acid detection, autoimmune disease,

Parkhurst Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

wound healing, nuclear architecture, Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome, Rho GTPases, cytoskeleton, actin nucleation, Drosophila, nucleocytoplasmic trafficking, actin, microtubules, formins, actomyosin rings