People | Department of Biology | Johns Hopkins University

Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty

Karen Beemon

Professor
Research Interests: Role of TERT and microRNAs in oncogenesis, retroviral RNA stability

klb@jhu.edu 410-516-7289 | Lab 410-516-8236 20A Biology East

Xin Chen

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Epigenetic regulation of Drosophila germ cell differentiation from a stem cell lineage

xchen32@jhu.edu 410-516-4576 | Lab 410-516-6543 137 Levi Hall

Kyle Cunningham

Professor
Research Interests: Mechanisms of calcium signaling and cell death

kwc@jhu.edu 410-516-7844 |Lab 410-516-6638 203 Bio East

Ernesto Freire

Henry Walters Professor
Research Interests: Structure-based thermodynamics of molecular recognition and function

ef@jhu.edu 410-516-7743 | Lab 410-516-7742 114A Biology East

Andrew Gordus

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Understanding how novel and innate behaviors are encoded at the cellular and genetic level

agordus@jhu.edu 410-516-6509 206 Biology East

Rachel Green

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor

ragreen@jhmi.edu

Carol Greider

Daniel Nathans Professor & Director Molecular Biology & Genetics
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Research Interests: Telomeres, telomerase, cancer and age-related disease

cgreider@jhmi.edu 410-614-6506 725 N. Wolfe Street |office 603 PCTB

Edward Hedgecock

Professor
Research Interests: Developmental genetics of the nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans

ehedgec1@jhu.edu Lab 410-516-8381 16 Biology East

Vincent Hilser

Professor and Chair
Research Interests: protein conformational fluctuations and their role in function, adaptation and disease

hilser@jhu.edu 410-516-4693 | Lab 410-516-6757 Mudd 123

M. Andrew Hoyt

Professor
Research Interests: Yeast chromosome segregation with emphasis on mitotic motor proteins; cell cycle regulation

hoyt@jhu.edu 410-516-7299 |Lab 410-516-7293 Mudd 206

Robert Johnston

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Stochastic gene expression and nuclear architecture in fly eyes and human retinal organoids

robertjohnston@jhu.edu 410-516-4954 309 Mudd Hall

Christian Kaiser

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Single-molecule biochemistry studies of the machines and processes in protein translation, translocation, and folding

kaiser@jhu.edu 410-516-4486 205 Biology East

John Kim

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Deciphering the biological function of microRNAs and other small RNAs expressed in the genome

jnkim@jhu.edu 410-516-3286 | Lab 410-516-3463 389 UTL

Yumi Kim

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Chromosome dynamics during meiosis

yumi.kim@jhu.edu 410-516-6504 | Lab 410-516-6502 385 UTL

Rejji Kuruvilla

Professor
Research Interests: Control of neuronal development by target-derived neurotrophins

rkuruvilla@jhu.edu 410-516-2366 | Lab 410-516-7641 227 Mudd Hall

Young-Sam Lee

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Mechanism of nutritional signaling and homeostasis

ylee99@jhu.edu 410-516-4147 207 Biology East | Lab 209C Biology East

Rajiv McCoy

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Computational genomics; human evolution and functional genetic variation

rajiv.mccoy@jhu.edu 410-516-0942 UTL 383

Evangelos Moudrianakis

Professor
Research Interests: Assembly and dynamics of nucleoproteins and chromosomes; bacterial and chloroplast bioenergetics

vanm@jhu.edu 410-516-7305 | Lab 410-516-7303 20 B Bio East

Ulrich Mueller

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor

umuelle3@jhmi.edu

Bloomberg Distinguished Associate Professor of Computer Science and Biology
Research Interests: My research interests are Genome sequencing, Comparative Genomics, Single Cell and Single Molecule Biology, Bioinformatics

mschatz@jhu.edu (410) 516-5765

Joel Schildbach

Professor; KSAS Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education
Research Interests: Structural biology of bacterial conjugation

joel@jhu.edu 410-516-5966 UTL 379

Robert Schleif

Professor
Research Interests: Protein-DNA interactions and regulation of gene activity

schleif@jhu.edu 410-516-5206 239 Mudd Hall

Trina Schroer

Professor
Research Interests: Microtubule-based motor proteins and their roles in cellular architecture

schroer@jhu.edu 410-516-5373 | Lab 410-516-5374 203 Biology East

James Taylor

Ralph S. O'Connor Associate Professor of Biology and Associate Professor of Computer Science
Research Interests: Regulation of transcription, chromatin structure, computational genomics and bioinformatics

jxtx@jhu.edu 410-516-0152 391 UTL

Mark Van Doren

Professor
Research Interests: Germ cell development and gonad formation

vandoren@jhu.edu 410-516-4717 | Lab 410-516-4830 305B Mudd Hall

Beverly Wendland

James B. Knapp Dean of the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
Professor
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of endocytosis in yeast and mammalian cells

bwendland@jhu.edu 410-516-4065 381 UTL

Carl Wu

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor
Research Interests: Eukaryotic chromatin structure and function. Biochemistry of nucleosome remodeling and gene transcription, and live cell-single molecule imaging of histone and nuclear protein dynamics

wuc@jhu.edu 410-516-7496 387 UTL

Haiqing Zhao

Professor
Research Interests: Function and development of olfactory sensory neurons

hzhao@jhu.edu 410-516-7391 | Lab 410-516-7641 226 Mudd Hall

Joint Appointments

Douglas Barrick

Associate Professor, Department of Biophysics
Research Interests: Determination of an atomic-level description of structure and function in proteins

barrick@jhu.edu 410-516-0409

Gregory Bowman

Associate Professor, Department of Biophysics
Research Interests: Chromatin structure and nucleosome remodeling

gdbowman@jhu.edu 410-516-7850

Karen Fleming

Professor, Department of Biophysics
Research Interests: Structure, energetics and folding of membrane proteins

karen.fleming@jhu.edu 410-554-1244

Bertrand E. Garcia-Moreno

Professor, Department of Biophysics
Research Interests: Biophysical chemistry of regulatory interactions in proteins, nucleic acids, and their assemblies

bertrand@jhu.edu 410-516-4497

Alfredo Kirkwood

Professor, Department of Neuroscience (School of Medicine)

kirkwood@jhu.edu 410-516-6410

Lynn Johnson Langer

Director of Regulatory Science and Enterprise Programs, Advanced Academic Programs

llanger@jhu.edu 301-294-7063

Juliette Lecomte

Professor, Department of Biophysics
Research Interests: NMR spectroscopy and protein structure

juliette@jhu.edu 410-516-7019

Hey-Kyoung Lee

Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience
Research Interests: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity underlying memory formation

heykyounglee@jhu.edu 410-516-5712

Kristina Obom

Director of the Center for Biotechnology Education and the Program Director for the Master of Science in Bioinformatics and for the Master of Science in Biotechnology program, Advanced Academic Programs

kobom@jhu.edu 301-294-7159

Steven Rokita

Professor, Department of Chemistry
Research Interests: Mechanistic and structural studies of enzymes, reversible but covalent reactivity of nucleic acids

rokita@jhu.edu 410-516-5793

Craig A. Townsend

Professor, Department of Chemistry
Research Interests: Synthesis of natural products, stereochemical and mechanistic studies of enzyme action

ctownsend@jhu.edu 410-516-7444

Sarah Woodson

Professor, Department of Biophysics
Research Interests: Determination of three-dimensional folding of RNA

swoodson@jhu.edu 410-516-2015

Adjunct Appointments

Alex Bortvin

Staff member, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Genetic and epigenetic controls of germ cell development and function in vertebrates

bortvin@ciwemb@edu 410-246-3034

Donald Brown

Staff member, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Amphibian metamorphosis

brown@ciwemb@edu 410-246-3052

Orna Cohen-Fix

Senior Investigator, The Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, NIDDK, NIK
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Methods and Logic in Biology

ornacf@helix.nih.gov

Victor Corces

Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Biology, Emory University
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Genetics, cell and developmental biology

vcorces@emory.edu 404-727-4250

Chen-Ming Fan

Staff Member, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Molecular patterning and embryonic induction during mouse early development

fan@ciwemb@edu 410-246-3022

Steven Farber

Staff Member, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Associate Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Visualization of lipid metabolism and signaling in the zebrafish

farber@ciwemb.edu 410-246-3072

Joseph Gall

Staff Member, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Chromosome structure and function; nucleic acids in development

gall@ciwemb@edu 410-246-3018

Marnie Halpern

Staff Member, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Zebra fish neural development

410-246-3018

Nicholas Ingolia

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology, UC Berkeley
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Biology

ingolia@berkeley.edu 510-664-7069

Michael Lichten

Deputy Chief, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute,NIH
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Methods and logic in biology

mlichten@helix.nih.gov

Christopher Ruff

Professor, Center for Functional Anatomy & Evolution, School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Biology

cbruff@jhmi.edu 410-955-7126

George Scangos

CEO & Director, Vir
Adjunct Professor, Biology

Robert Siliciano

Professor, School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Biology

rsiliciano@jhmi.edu 410-955-2958

Allan Spradling

Director, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Drosophila genomics

spradling@ciwemb.edu 410-246-3021

Yixian Zheng

Staff Member, Department of Embryology, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Adjunct Professor, Biology
Research Interests: Mechanisms of cell division and genome organization in development, homeostasis, and aging

zheng@ciwemb.edu 410-246-3032

Research Faculty

Maurice J. Bessman

Research Professor and Professor Emeritus
Research Interests: Metabolism of nucleotides and nucleic acids; proteomics

zoot@jhu.edu 410-516-7776 18 Biology East

Ludwig Brand

Academy Professor and Professor Emeritus
Research Interests: Conformation and activity of biological macromolecules with emphasis on applications of fluorescence techniques

ludwig.brand@jhu.edu

Jocelyne DiRuggiero

Associate Research Professor
Research Interests: Molecular microbial ecology of extremophiles; molecular mechanisms of stress response

jdiruggiero@jhu.edu 410-516-8498 |Lab 410-516-7744 235B Levi Hall

Cristina Gil Sanz

Assistant Research Professor

cristinagil@jhmi.edu

Ru Chih Huang

McElroy Honorary Research Professor
Research Interests: Gene regulation, molecular virology, retrotransposition, and chromosomal structure and function

rhuang@jhu.edu 410-516-5181 |Lab 410-516-7314 250 Levi Hall

Yuan Chuan Lee

Academy Professor and Research Professor
Research Interests: Glycobiology, glycotechnology, and glyconanotechnology

yclee@jhu.edu 410-516-7322 Levi 141 A

Michael McCaffery

Director, Integrated Imaging Center
Research Professor, Biology

jmccaffery@jhu.edu 410-516-3321 |Lab 410-516-8042 102 Dunning Hall

Richard McCarty

Professor Emeritus
Research Interests: Structure, mechanism, and regulation of the chloroplast ATP synthase; chloroplast metabolite transport

rem1@jhu.edu 410-516-5356

Peter Privalov

Research Professor
Research Interests: Physical basis of the structure of biological molecules and their complexes

privalov@jhu.edu 410-516-6532 | Lab 410-516-6037 129A Levi

Lecturers

Anna Coppola

Lecturer
Research Interests: Effect of dietary nutrients on metabolic regulatory mechanisms, with particular emphasis on the role of proteins and amino acids in the development of behavioral and metabolic diseases.

anna.coppola@jhu.edu 36B Levi

Emily Fisher

Director of Undergraduate Studies, Associate Teaching Professor
Research Interests: How and with whom students work to learn biology. Development of effective teaching practices in science communication.

efishe21@jhu.edu 410-516-8044 181 UTL