https://graduate.ouhsc.edu/Programs Parent Page: Programs id: 30965 Active Page: Participating Mentorsid:30970

Participating Mentors

 *Denotes Faculty Currently Accepting Students (currently under revision and expanding)

Degree Granting Programs

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Bidichandani, Sanjay
* Chiao, Ann - aging, heart failure, mitochondria, mTOR signaling
* Csiszar, Anna
DeAngelis, Paul
* Diaz-Garcia, Carlos
Galvan-Hart, Veronica
Humphries, Kenneth - mitochondria, metabolism, heart, diabetes, and aging
Jonscher, Karen
Lewis, Tommy - neurobiology, mitochondria dynamics, neural development, neurodegeneration
Li, Guangpu 
Lin, Jialing - cell death, Bcl-2 family of proteins, mitochondria, protein biochemistry and biophysics, membrane proteins and lipids
Logan, Sreemathi
McEver, Rodger
*Miller, Benjamin - aging, skeletal muscle, mitochondria, protein turnover, metabolism
Mooers, Blaine - machine learning in structural biology, structural biology of RNA editing, cancer, drug design, protein crystallography
Olson, Ann L.
Pioszak, Augen GPCR structure/function and signaling, peptide hormones, molecular pharmacology, structural biology, drug design
Rezaie, Ray - coagulation, inflammation, serpins, protease-activated receptors, endothelial cells
Rice, Heather - Alzheimer's Disease, synaptic function, neuroinflammation, amyloid precursor protein, GABA receptors
Richardson, Arlan aging, cancer, inflammation, epigenetics
Sathyaseelan, Deepa - obesity, inflammation, necroptosis, cancer, aging
Sonntag, William
Ungvari, Zoltan
Unnikrishnan, Archana - nutritional epigenetics and aging
Vitiello, Peter
Wren, Jonathan - bioinformatics, data mining, statistics, network biology
*Xia, Lijun - glycosylation, thrombosis, vascular biology, inflammation/tumorigenesis
Yabluchanskiy, Andri

Cell Biology

Agbaga, Martin-Paul 
Ahmad, Mohiuddin - synapses, neurotransmitter receptors, GPCR, electrophysiology, social behavior
Alberola-Ila, Jose
Battiste, James
Bhattacharya, Resham cell signaling, cancer pathways, endothelial biology
*Cleuren, Audrey
Conley, Shannon - smooth muscle cells, cerebrovascular aging, retinal degeneration
Dawson, Dean
Dhanasekaran, Danny
Ding, Xi-Qin
* Donczew, Rafal - eukaryotic transcription, chromatin readers, transcriptomics, chromatin profiling
* Finn, Elizabeth
Forsthoefel,  David
Frazer, J. Kimble leukemia, lyphoma, B and T cell development, thymus, MYC
Gallucci, Randle
Gong, Yiyang
Gorbsky, Gary
Griffin, Courtney - vascular development, vascular integrity, endothelial cells, transcription, chromatin remodeling
Hannafon, Bethany - breast cancer, gynecologic cancers, exosomes, extracellular vesicles, tumor microenvironment, microRNAs, cancer progression, therapeutic resistance, drug development
Howard, Eric
Humphrey, Mary Beth - myeloid cells, cell signaling, microglia, stem cells
Janknecht, Ralf - cancer, gene expression, metabolism, posttranslational modifications
Kanie, Tomoharu
Kirkland, Jacob
Le, Yun
Li, Min pancreatic cancer, brain tumor, cancer signaling, cancer therapy
Lupu, Florea
Myers, Dean
Olson, Lorin - fibrosis, wound healing, growth factor signaling, mesenchymal progenitor cells, connective tissue development
Pereira, H. Anne
Pezza, Roberto - meiosis, mouse genetics, epigenetic
Plafker, Scott - optic neuritis, Nrf2, ketogenic diet, age-related macular degeneration
Queimado, Lurdes - cancer, DNA damage, cell signaling, stem cells, electronic cigarettes
Rajala, Raju
Rankin, Susannah
Rothblum, Lawrence - nucleolus, transcription, RNA polymerase I, ribosome biogenesis, ribosomopathy, chemotherapy
Sansam, Christopher - cancer, human development, cell division, DNA replication, chromatin structure
Sherry, David
Srinivasan, R. Sathish
Summers, Jody
Sun, Xiao-Hong
Tsiokas, Leonidas - Ca2+ signaling, TRP ion channels, ciliary biology, signal transduction
*Van De Weghe, Julie - cilia, ciliopathies, human genetics, Chlamydomonas, microscopy
Walters, Matthew - airway epithelial stem/progenitor cells, airway epithelial differentiation and repair, NOTCH signaling, cigarette smoking, chronic lung disease, SARS-CoV-2 host-virus interactions 
Webb, Carol - Lupus, transcription factor ARID3a, innate immunity, stem cells, chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Wirsig-Wiechmann, Celeste
Yu, Pengchun
* Zhang, Xinxing
Zimmerman, Kurt - monocytes, macrophages, kidney disease, single cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomic

Microbiology and Immunology

Akins, Darrin
*Alberola-Ila, Jose
*Axtell, Robert
Ballard, Jimmy - bacteriology, microbial pathogenesis, bacterial toxins, vaccines
Brown, Kevin
Callegan, Michelle - microbiology, bacteria, pathogenesis, ophthalmology, infections
*Cox, Maureen
Cunningham, Madeleine - autoimmunity and infection, molecular mimicry, rheumatic heart disease and myocarditis, basal ganglia encephalitis
*Dalebroux, Zachary -bacterial pathogenesis, salmonella infection biology, phospholipid and lipopolysaccharide regulation, protein biochemistry, bacterial genetics, innate immunity, macrophage and mouse infections, lipid biochemistry
*Deshmukh, Umesh - autoimmunity, innate immunity, salivary gland, mouse
Farris, Darise - autoimmunity, T cells, human immunology, macrophages
Frazer, J. Kimble - leukemia, lymphoma, B and T cell development, thymus, MYC
*Fuller, Kevin - microbiology, infectious disease, immunology, vision science, mycology
*Gorman, Jacquelyn - immunology, autoimmunity, inflammation, infection, mechanisms of disease
*Hildebrand, William - HLA molecules & autoimmunity, HLA molecules & immuno-oncology, infectious disease and HLA, organ transplantation and HLA
Humphrey, Mary Beth - myeloid cells, cell signaling, microglia, stem cells
*James, Judith - immunology, autoimmunity, genomics, molecular medicine, mechanisms of disease
Jeffries, Matlock - osteoarthritis, epigenetics, DNA methylation, mouse models, microbiomics
Kovats, Susan - respiratory virus infection, innate immunity, myeloid cell biology
*Lang, Mark - antibodies, B cells, enteric infections, Covid-19
*Mehla, Kamiya- pancreatic cancer, immunometabolism, tumor induced local and systemic immunosuppression, novel immunotherapies, cancer cachexia
*Karla Rodgers - DNA recombination, DNA damage response and repair, protein-chromatin interactions, lymphocyte development
Sun, Xiao-Hong
Tweten, Rodney
Walters, Matthew - airway epithelial stem/progenitor cells, airway epithelial differentiation and repair, NOTCH signaling, cigarette smoking, chronic lung disease, SARS-CoV-2 host-virus interactions
Webb, Carol - Lupus, transcription factor ARID3a, innate immunity, stem cells, chronic lymphocytic leukemia
*Zenewicz, Lauren - cytokines, mucosal immunology, inflammation, infection, cancer, cell signaling
*Zhao, Meng - T cells, metabolism, mitochondria, mouse genetics, cancer immunotherapy, autoimmune, infectious disease
*Zimmerman, Kurt - monocytes, macrophages, kidney disease, single cell RNA sequencing, spatial transcriptomic

Neuroscience

Agbaga, Martin-Paul 
Ahmad, Mohiuddin
*Axtell, Robert 
*Balasubramanian, Priya- adipose metabolism, aging and caloric restriction, thermogenesis, vascular cognitive impairment, adipose-brain crosstalk, adiponectin signaling, endothelial dysfunction
*Beckstead, Michael - aging/neurodegeneration, drug abuse, electrophysiology, behavior, dopamine
Bhatti, Faizah
*Bidichandani, Sanjay
Callegan, Michelle - microbiology, bacteria, pathogenesis, ophthalmology, infections
*Csiszar, Anna
*Deshmukh, Umesh
*Elliott, Michael
Ethridge, Lauren
*Freeman, Willard - epigenetics, aging, neuroscience, bioinformatics
Ihnat, Michael
*Le, Yun
*Lewis, Tommy
Markham, Michael
*Ocañas, Sarah
*Paterno, Rosalia
Pereira, H. Anne - inflammation, antimicrobial peptides, Alzheimer's Disease, cornea infections, wound healing
*Plafker, Scott - optic neuritis, Nrf2, ketogenic diet, age-related macular degeneration
Rajala, Raju
*Rice, Heather - Alzheimer's Disease, synaptic function, neuroinflammation, amyloid precursor protein, GABA receptors
Sanghera, Dharambir
Sherry, David
*Sonntag, William
Standifer, Kelly 
Stout, Michael - metabolism, aging, interventional strategies, sex differences, hypothalamus
Summers, Jody
*Wren Jonathan - bioinformatics, data mining, statistics, network biology

Pathology

Benbrook, Doris - cell death and survival pathways, drug development, carcinogenesis, and chemoprevention
Bennett, Lea D
*Bhattacharya, Resham - cell signaling, cancer pathways, endothelial biology
Castillo-Castrejon, Marisol
*Chandra, Vishal
*Csiszar, Anna
Dhanasekaran, Danny N
*Ding, Wei-Qun
Farris, Darise - autoimmunity, T cells, human immunology, macrophages
Fung, Kar-Ming MD, PhD
Gaffney, Patrick - genetics, functional genomics, epigenetics, autoimmune disease, bioinformatics
*Ghosh, Asish - chronic lymphocytic (CLL), signal transduction, extracellular vesicles, tumor microenvironment, drug targeting
Guthridge, Joel
Hannafon, Bethany
*James, Judith - immunology, autoimmunity, genomics, molecular medicine, mechanisms of disease
*Janknecht, Ralf - cancer, gene expression, metabolism, posttranslational modifications
*Lessard, Christopher
*Li, Min - pancreatic cancer, brain tumor, cancer signaling, cancer therapy
*Li, Shibo
Lupu, Florea
*McNally, Lacey
*Mehla, Kamiya - pancreatic cancer, immunometabolism, tumor induced local and systemic immunosuppression, novel immunotherapies, cancer cachexia
*Mukherjee, Priyabrata
Pereira, H. Anne - inflammation, antimicrobial peptides, Alzheimer's Disease, cornea infections, wound healing
*Ramesh, Rajagopal - lung cancer, nanomedicine, gene and drug delivery, extracellular vesicles, cytokines
*Rao, CV
Rao, Geeta
Ruiz-Echevarria, Maria J.
*Scofield, Hal
*Singh, Pankaj
Tanaka, Takemi
*Wellberg, Elizabeth - obesity, breast cancer, estrogen receptor, adipose tissues, growth factors
*Wu, Jie - protein kinase and phosphatase oncogenes, tumor biology, mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to cancer therapy
*Yoon, Wan Hee
Zhao, Zhizhuang (Joe)

Pharmaceutical Science

*Agrahari, Vibhuti
Awasthi, Shanjana
Awasthi, Vibhudutta - diagnostic imaging, drug delivery, shock, stroke, myocardial infarction
Benbrook, Doris - cell death and survival pathways, drug development, carcinogenesis, and chemoprevention
*Burgett, Anthony - drug development, cellular biology, medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, organic synthesis
*Dhanasekaran, Danny
Gallucci, Randle
*Garcia-Contreras, Lucila - design and optimization of pharmaceutical dosage forms, pharmacokinetics and drug disposition, pulmonary drug delivery, physical pharmacy, respiratory infectious diseases, lung cancer, gynecological cancers
Ihnat, Michael
*Joshi, Aditya - liver diseases, aryl hydrocarbon receptor, toxicology, drug discovery, and development
*Kim, Donoven - nanomedicine, theranostics (therapy + diagnostics), drug delivery system, multifunctional biomaterials
*McNally, Lacey
Pereira, H. Anne - inflammation, antimicrobial peptides, Alzheimer's Disease, cornea infections, wound healing
*Ramesh, Rajagopal
*Rao, CV
*Sanghera, Dharambir
Shankar, Nathan - enterococci, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, host-pathogen interactions, microbial pathogenesis, molecular microbiology
*Sharpe, Amanda - obesity, aging, behavior, neurocircuitry, mice
Sherry, David
*Standifer, Kelly
*Yue, Wei - drug transporters, sandwich-cultured primary hepatocytes, gene-knockout model, prediction of drug-drug interactions using pharmacokinetic model and simulation, pharmacogenomics

 

Physiology

*Ahamed, Jasim - TGF-beta, platelets, thrombosis, fibrosis
*Beckstead, Michael - aging/neurodegeneration, drug abuse, electrophysiology,behavior, dopamine
*Bennett, Lea
*Cai, Jiyang - retinal degeneration, neuroinflammation, aging, innate immunity, cytokine signaling
*Chen, Yan
*Csiszar, Anna
Elliott, Michael
*Freeman, Willard - epigenetics, aging, neuroscience, bioinformatics
Guo, Qing
Ihnat, Michael
*Jiang, Shaoning
*Lee, Chi Fung - cardiac physiology, metabolic signaling, NAD biology
*Lee, Sun Young 
*Lewis, Tommyneurobiology, mitochondria dynamics, neural development, neurodegeneration
*Li, Tiangang
Lim, Hui-Ying
Myers, Dean
*Ocañas, Sarah - aging, neurodegeneration, Alzheimer's disease, sex differences, microglia
Rajala, Raju
Richardson, Arlan 
*Rudolph, Michael
*Sanghera, Dharambir
Short, Kevin - pediatrics, obesity, diabetes, NAFLD, exercise, adolescents, metabolism
*Sonntag, William
*Ungvari, Zoltan
Van Remmen, Holly
*Vitiello, Peter
*Wang, Weidong
Xu, Jian - diabetes, angiogenesis, complications, endothelial dysfunction
*Zhang, Xin - tumor invasion and metastasis, angiogenesis and vascular inflammation, cell adhesion, endosome and extracellular vesicles, Alzheimer's Disease

 

Affiliated Centers

Stephenson Cancer Center

*Ahamed, Jasim - TGF-beta, platelets, thrombosis, fibrosis
Akins, Darrin
*Aravindan, Natarajan
*Awasthi, Shanjana
Awasthi, Vibhudutta - diagnostic imaging, drug delivery, shock, stroke, myocardial infarction
Battiste, James
Benbrook, Doris - cell death and survival pathways, drug development, carcinogenesis, and chemoprevention
*Bhattacharya, Resham - cell signaling, cancer pathways, endothelial biology
*Cox, Maureen
*Csiszar, Anna
*Dawson, Dean
DeAngelis, Paul
*Dhanaskaran, Danny
Ding, Wei-Qun
*Frazer, J. Kimble - leukemia, lymphoma, B and T cell development, thymus, MYC
*Freeman, Willard - epigenetics, aging, neuroscience, bioinformatics
*Gaffney, Patrick - genetics, functional genomics, epigenetics, autoimmune disease, bioinformatics
*Garcia-Contreras, Lucila - design and optimization of pharmaceutical dosage forms, pharmacokinetics and drug disposition, pulmonary drug delivery, physical pharmacy, respiratory infectious diseases, lung cancer, gynecological cancers
*Ghosh, Asish K. - chronic lymphocytic (CLL), signal transduction, extracellular vesicles, tumor microenvironment, drug targeting
*Gorbsky, Gary
Griffin, Courtney - vascular development, vascular integrity, endothelial cells, transcription, chromatin remodeling
*Hays, Franklin
Hildebrand, William
Humphrey, Mary Beth - myeloid cells, cell signaling, microglia, stem cells
Ihnat, Michael
*James, Judith - immunology, autoimmunity, genomics, molecular medicine, mechanisms of disease
*Janknecht, Ralf - cancer, gene expression, metabolism, posttranslational modifications
*Jones, Kenneth
*Lang, Mark - antibodies, B cells, enteric infections, Covid-19
Li, Guangpu
Li, Min - pancreatic cancer, brain tumor, cancer signaling, cancer therapy
*Li, Shibo
Lin, Jialing - cell death, Bcl-2 family of proteins, mitochondria, protein biochemistry and biophysics, membrane proteins and lipids
*Mehla, Kamiya- pancreatic cancer, immunometabolism, tumor induced local and systemic immunosuppression, novel immunotherapies, cancer cachexia
Mooers, Blaine - machine learning in structural biology, structural biology of RNA editing, cancer, drug design,protein crystallography
*Mukherjee, Priyabata
*Olson, Lorin - fibrosis, wound healing, growth factor signaling, mesenchymal progenitor cells, connective tissue development
*Pezza, Roberto - meiosis, mouse genetics, epigenetic
*Pioszak, Augen - GPCR structure/function and signaling, peptide hormones, molecular pharmacology, structural biology, drug design
Planas, Lourdes
Queimado, Lurdes - cancer, DNA damage, cell signaling, stem cells, electronic cigarettes
*Ramesh, Rajagopal
*Rankin, Susannah
*Rao, CV
Richardson, Arlan G. - aging, cancer, inflammation, epigenetics
Rothblum, Lawrence - nucleolus, transcription, RNA polymerase I, ribosome biogenesis, ribosomopathy, chemotherapy
Ruiz-Echevarria, Maria
*Sansam, Christopher - cancer, human development, cell division, DNA replication, chromatin structure
*Sathyaseelan, Deepa
Skrepnek, Grant
*Sonntag, William
Sun, Xiao-Hong
Tanaka, Takemi
*Tsiokas, Leonidas
Tweten, Rodney
Ungvari, Zoltan
Walters, Matthew - airway epithelial stem/progenitor cells, airway epithelial differentiation and repair, NOTCH signaling, cigarette smoking, chronic lung disease, SARS-CoV-2 host-virus interactions
*Wang, Weidong
*Webb, Carol - Lupus, transcription factor ARID3a, innate immunity, stem cells chronic lymphocytic leukemia
*Wellberg, Elizabeth - obesity, breast cancer, estrogen receptor, adipose tissues, growth factors
*Wren, Jonathan - bioinformatics, data mining, statistics, network biology
*Wu, Jie - protein kinase and phosphatase oncogenes, tumor biology, mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to cancer therapy
*Xia, Lijun - glycosylation, thrombosis, vascular biology, inflammation/tumorigenesis
Yabluchanskiy, Andriy
Yue, Wei
Zenewicz, Lauren - cytokines, mucosal immunology, inflammation, infection, cancer, cell signaling
*Zhang, Xin - tumor invasion and metastasis, angiogenesis and vascular inflammation, cell adhesion, endosome and extracellular vesicles, Alzheimer's Disease
Zhao, Zhizhuang (Joe)

Harold Hamm Diabetes Center

Friedman, Jacob (Jed)
Jones, Kenneth
Jonscher, Karen
Li, Tiangang
Rudolph, Michael
Unnikrishnan, Archana
Wellberg, Elizabeth - obesity, breast cancer, estrogen receptor, adipose tissues, growth factors

Center for Geroscience and Healthy Brain Aging

Ahn, Bumsoo
Agbaga, Martin-Paul
Beckstead, Michael - aging/neurodegeneration, drug abuse, electrophysiology, behavior, dopamine
Bieniasz, Magdalena
Chen, Yan
Chiao, Ann
Conley, Shannon - smooth muscle cells, cerebrovascular aging, retinal degeneration
Csiszar, Anna
Elliott, Michael
Freeman, Willard - epigenetics, aging, neuroscience, bioinformatics
Greenwood-Van Meerveld, Beverley - brain-gut axis, early life adversity, stress, visceral pain, epigenetics
Griffin, Timothy - skeletal, metabolism, exercise, aging, osteoarthritis
Humphrey, Mary Beth - myeloid cells, cell signaling, microglia, stem cells
Humphries, Kenneth
James, Judith - immunology, autoimmunity, genomics, molecular medicine, mechanisms of disease
Jeffries, Matlock - osteoarthritis, epigenetics, DNA methylation, mouse models, microbiomics
Jennings, Lee
Kinter, Michael
Kleszynski, Keith
Lewis, Tommy
Li, Tiangang
Logan, Sreemathi
Miller, Benjamin
Plafker, Scott - optic neuritis, Nrf2, ketogenic diet, age-related macular degeneration
Prodan, Calin
Rajala, Raju
Rice, Heather - Alzheimer's Disease, synaptic function, neuroinflammation, amyloid precursor protein, GABA receptors
Richardson, Arlan - aging, cancer inflammation, epigenetics
Sathyaseelan, Deepa
Scofield, Hal
Sharpe, Amanda
Sonntag, William
Stavrakis, Stavros
Stout, Michael - metabolism, aging, interventional strategies, sex differences, hypothalmus
Tarantini, Stefano
Teasdale, Thomas A.
Tipple, Trent
Ungvari, Zoltan
Unnikrishnan, Archana
Van Remmen, Holly
Wren, Jonathan - bioinformatics, data mining, statistics, network biology
Yabluchanskiy, Andriy
Yoon, Wan Hee