Cell Biology Research Cluster

Innovative cell research is a major driving force behind transformative advances in medicine. The Cell Biology Research Cluster (CBRC) at Marshall fosters a collaborative environment that bridges basic science and clinical research. Students enrolled in the CBRC track receive multidisciplinary training opportunities through course offerings, workshops, and lab rotations.

Researchers in the CBRC use integrated experimental approaches to understand cellular processes and their dysregulation in major chronic and infectious diseases, especially those that disproportionately affect the aging population of West Virginia. CBRC Faculty expertise ranges from translational bioinformatics to experimental approaches in cell signaling and differentiation, molecular biology, proteomics, genomics and genetics, and advanced cell imaging. Focus areas include cancer biology and biomarkers, stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, infectious pathogens, membrane and subcellular organelles dynamics, and bioenergetics.

Coordinator:

Sandrine Pierre, PhD
pierres@marshall.edu

Cell Biology Research Cluster Curriculum

Students are required to select a minimum of 5 credit hours of courses from the list below (including one course from List A and three credit hours from List B).

Required Research Cluster Courses
Course Number	Course Name	Credit Hours
List A
BMR 651	Cancer Biology	4
PHS 666	Physiology of the Cell	3
List B
BMR 676	Cell Biology Research Cluster Journal Club	1
BMS 652	Cancer Biology Colloquium	1
BMR 631	Neuroscience and Developmental Biology Literature Review	1
ACB 640	Current Topics in Cellular Biology	1
MCB 622	Current Topics in Molecular Biology	1

Cluster Faculty

Faculty

Research Faculty	Research Interests
Ruhul Amin, PhD	Head and neck cancer; lung cancer; natural compounds
Subha Arthur, PhD	Gastro-intestinal cell physiology and transport
Lydia Bogomolnaya, PhD	Bacterial virulence; host-pathogen interaction; microbiota; enteric infections
Liquan Cai, PhD	Membrane-to-nucleus signaling; cell fate determination
Beverly Delidow, PhD	Cell adhesion; signaling in cancer
Piyali Dasgupta, PhD	Lung cancer; TRPC/TRPV channels
James Denvir, PhD	Bioinformatics
Philippe Georgel, PhD	Gene expression; epigenetics-cancer/metabolic
Trupti Joshi, PhD	Biomedical informatics and population analytics
Emine Koc, PhD	Mitochondrial proteomics
Jiang Liu, PhD	Na/K-ATPase expression and signaling; uremic cardiomyopathy and anemia
Marco Pessoa, PhD	Cardiac metabolism; tissue regeneration
Sandrine Pierre, PhD	Cell physiology; membrane transport; subcellular signaling
Juan Sanabria, MD	Liver primary malignancy; hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH)
Travis Salisbury, PhD	Signal regulated gene expression
Vincent Sollars, PhD	Heat shock proteins and cancer
Nalini Santanam, PhD	Metabolic signaling; microRNA; adipocyte biogenesis; epigenetics
Yevgeniy Shakirov, PhD	Genetic determinants of cellular homeostasis
Komal Sodhi, MD	Cell and metabolic signaling
Uma Sundaram, MD	Nutrition; inflammatory bowel disease
Wei Xu, PhD	Bacterial virulence and immune dysfunction in skin infection
Hongwei Yu, PhD	Bioengineering; biofilms; lung infections; cystic fibrosis