The research programs of CMCT Faculty have the unifying theme: to define host responses to environmental toxicants and to dissect the influence of genetic background, developmental age and diet on these responses.
Listed below are four core areas of interdisciplinary research conducted by CMCT faculty, with significant collaborative interactions both within as well as between these focus areas:
- Critical Developmental Periods and Endocrine Disruption
- DNA Repair and Epigenetics
- Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis and its Prevention
- Molecular and Cellular Responses that Mediate Toxicity
It should be noted that some training faculty may fit into more than one of these areas, which also facilitates collaborative interactions and interdisciplinary research and training.
Critical Developmental Periods and Endocrine Disruption
C. Marcelo Aldaz, M.D.
Professor, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Breast cancer, hormonal carcinogenesis; mammary tumor models.
Frances Champagne, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychology
Studies the developmental plasticity in response to environmental experiences and the epigenetic variation that allows effects to persist within and across generations
Laura K. Fonken, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Study of interactions between the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems. Current projects focus on endogenous (e.g. circadian rhythms) and exogenous (e.g. infection and injury) factors that influence neuroimmune function across the lifespan.
Andrea C. Gore, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Neural mechanisms of reproductive development and puberty, Effects of environmental and hormonal factors that perturb reproductive function, Neural mechanisms for reproductive senescence.
John H. Richburg, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Mechanisms Regulating Apoptosis/Male Reproductive Toxicology. Peripubertal sensitivity to testicular toxicants.
Carla Van Den Berg, PharmD.
Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Role of growth factor-mediated treatment resistance in breast cancer.
DNA Repair and Epigenetics
Sean M. Kerwin, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Texas State University
Covalent modification of DNA by small molecules including carcinogens, natural products, and drugs; Non-canonical DNA structures as sites for DNA damage and drug interaction; synthesis of natural products and analogs to probe molecular mechanisms related to cancer prevention and treatment.
Nayun Kim, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology
Investigates the mechanism underlying how mutations and chromosomal rearrangements occur as well as how such genome instability events are suppressed using the sample eukaryotic system Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Seongmin Lee, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry
Damage repair and enzymatic modifications of DNA and RNA, and is striving to discover potent chemotherapeutics that selectively inhibit DNA-modifying enzymes.
Kevin McBride, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
DNA hypermutation and recombination, error prone DNA repair, single cell mutation analysis.
Karen M. Vasquez, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology and Coulter R. Sublett Fellow
Elucidate the molecular mechanisms of DNA damage recognition by DNA repair and recombination pathways, Develop triplex technology to modify mammalian gene structure and function, Study the role of DNA structure in genomic instability and mutagenesis.
Guliang Wang, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Understanding the effects of DNA modification and secondary structure on DNA damage/repair and genomic instability, and the cellular response to DNA damaging agents.
Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis and its Prevention
Thomas Brenna, Ph.D.
Professor, Pediatrics, Dell Medical School
Professor, Chemistry and Human Nutrition, College of Natural Sciences, UT Austin
Research interests: nutrition, metabolism, genetics, chemical analysis, ad food chemistry of fatty acids and lipids in neurocognitive development and in disease; development of isotope ratio mass spectrometry and molecular mass spectrometry instrumentation and methods for lipid analysis and anti-doping drug testing; role of fats in ecology and human evolution.
Kevin Dalby, Ph.D.
Professor, Chemical Biology & Medicinal Chemistry
Potential for cancer treatment through the targeting of protein kinases by utilizing novel efforts in chemical biology.
Sharon DeMorrow, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Neurological changes associated with either acute liver failure or chronic liver disorders.
John DiGiovanni, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology and Coulter R. Sublett Chair
Identification of critical targets for both the initiation and promotion stages of carcinogenesis.
Jaquelin Dudley, Ph.D.
Professor, Molecular Biosciences, UT Austin
Retroviruses, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); breast cancer; mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) as a mouse model for HIV.
Lauren Ehrlich, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Molecular Biosciences, UT Austin
T cell development; thymocyte localization, thymocyte stromal interactions; thymic lymphomagenesis.
Ehrlich Lab
George Georgiou, Ph.D.
Professor, Chemical & Petrolium Engineering
Discovery, early development and preclinical validation of protein therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, inborn errors of metabolism disorders and other diseases.
Kevin McBride, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park-Research Division
DNA hypermutation and recombination, error prone DNA repair, single cell mutation analysis.
John Powers, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School
Courtesy Assistant Professor, Department of Oncology, Dell Medical School
Understanding the underlying genetic mechanisms leading to pediatric neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue and often affects young children.
Everett Stone, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Oncology, Dell Medical and Molecular Biosciences
Focus on the engineering, design, and pharmacological optimization of enzyme therapeutics that can effectively target and degrade small molecule metabolites of importance to diseases caused by inborn errors of metabolism and in cancer.
Stephano Tiziani, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Nutrition
Cancer metabolism, leukemia, metabolomics, pediatric diseases.
Karen M. Vasquez, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology and Coulter R. Sublett Fellow
Elucidate the molecular mechanisms of DNA damage recognition by DNA repair and recombination pathways, Develop triplex technology to modify mammalian gene structure and function, Study the role of DNA structure in genomic instability and mutagenesis.
Molecular and Cellular Responses that Mediate Toxicity
Shawn B. Bratton, Ph.D.
Professor, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center
Basic mechanisms of apoptosis.
Sharon DeMorrow, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Neurological changes associated with either acute liver failure or chronic liver disorders.
Andrew Esbaugh, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, UT Marine Science Institute
Understanding the effects of toxicants on the physiology and behavior of aquatic organisms.
Regina Mangieri, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Behavioral testing and ex vivo electrophysiology to examine how ethanol exposure and/or neuroimmune signaling pathways regulate cellular physiology and synaptic transmission in the brain.
Som Mukhopadhyay, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
The regulation of manganese (Mn) homeostasis in mammalian cells and in the pathobiology of Mn-induced neurotoxicity. Specifically, evaluating the export of Mn via the Golgi followed by secretion as the primary route of Mn efflux and detoxification in mammalian cells.
Kristin Nielsen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, UT Marine Science Institute
Developmental toxicity of ubiquitous environmental contaminants to aquatic biota.
Kimberly Nixon, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Focuses on novel mechanisms of and drug discovery for alcoholic neuropathology.
John H. Richburg, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Mechanisms Regulating Apoptosis/Male Reproductive Toxicology. Peripubertal sensitivity to testicular toxicants.