Research Mentors

Director, BIO5 Instituate
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests:
Biomedical Optics, Optical Coherence, Tomography, Fluorescence, Spectroscopy, Tissue Optics, Colon Cancer, Ovarian Cancer

Professor, Pathology
Research Topic:
Relationship between oxidative stress and disease processes, particularly cancer

Associate Professor, Immunology
Vice Chair, Cancer Biology Graduate Interdisciplinary Program
Research Topic:
Biology of capsid structure, viral entry, trafficking, uncoating, membrane penetration, and the innate cellular responses to HPV viral infection

Associate Professor, Otolaryngology
Research Topic: Molecular mechanisms promoting the development of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin, head and neck

Associate Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Research Topic:
Understanding the molecular basis of directed cell migration

Professor, Pharmacology
Research Topic:
Molecular mechanisms of oxidative injury and adaptation, stress signal transduction pathways, stress gene expression, senescence, apoptosis and cardiac hypertrophy

Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Research Topic:
How genetic and epigenetic variations interact with human diets (especially the modern Western diet) to drive inflammation and inflammatory disorders (including cardiovascular disease and cancer), as well as psychiatric/developmental disorders (ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and depression)

Research Professor, Medicine
Research Topic:
Early phase clinical development of cancer chemopreventive agents and development of biochemical and molecular biomarkers for evaluation of cancer risk and drug efficacy

Professor, Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Deputy Dean, Research Affairs, Coll. of Medicine
Research Topic:
Regulation of normal and cancer cell responses to environmental signals

Research Assistant Professor, Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Single-cell genomic technologies

Associate Professor, Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Genomic instability, cancer susceptibility, genetic analysis of colorectal cancers

Associate Professor, Medicine
Research Topic:
Use of medicinal compounds for disease treatments such as breast cancer

Professor, Natural Resources & the Environment
Research Topic:
Natural products and medicinal chemistry including isolation, characterization and partial synthesis of anticancer agents and their mechanisms of action

Associate Professor, Molecular & Cellular Biology
Research Topic:
Computational systems biology and population genetics; mathematical simulations of protein networks

Associate Professor, Basic Medical Sciences
Research Topic:
Antigen processing and immune recognition of melanoma

Professor, Surgery
Research Topic:
Molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis and prostate carcinoma epithelial-mesenchymal transformation; regulation of cadherins in vascular morphogenesis

Associate Professor, Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Study of the molecular changes in gaA leading to malignancy for the purpose of identification of molecular markers for detection or prevention of gastrointestinal cancer

Professor, Pediatrics
Research Topic:
Mechanisms of tumor-induced immunosuppression; promotion of anti-tumor immunity

Professor, Medicine
Research Topic:
Genetic biomarkers in prostate cancer; The role of multiple protein kinases and signal transduction pathways in regulating tumor growth

Professor, Medical Imaging
Research Topic:
Contrast agents, Molecular Imaging, PET, Nuclear Medicine, MR Imaging, Cancer, Neurology, Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis

Associate Professor, Pharmacology
Research Topic:
Cancer pharmacology/biology, cardiovascular pharmacology, molecular and biochemical pharmacology

Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Research Topic:
Radiation-induced salivary gland dysfunction; mechanisms of damage, clinical prevention measures, and restoration therapies

Associate Professor, Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Relationship between epigenetic and genomic instability; regulation of transposable elements and repeat-gene clusters

Chair, Cancer Biology Graduate Interdisciplinary Program
Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Prostate cancer, integrin interactions within the tumor microenvironment

Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Research Topic:
Determine the atomic structures of proteins and seek to understand how protein structure gives rise to protein function - both in vitro and in living cells

Assistant Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Invasion and metastasis of breast cancer through use of analytical cell biology and quantitative cellular microscopy

Associate Professor, Medicine
Research Topic:
Evaluation of the molecular mechanisms of action of novel experimental cancer therapeutics with an emphasis on targeting protein degradation and autophagy

Professor, Pathology
Research Topic:
Inflammation and tumor progression/metastasis; Racial disparities and cancer; Molecular diagnosis of cancer and other genetic diseases

Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Research Topic:
Hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC); Development of algorithms for the analysis of transcriptomic data; Transcriptional and metabolic reprogramming in response to physiochemical stimuli

Assistant Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
The Padi lab develops new computational approaches to integrate genomic “big data” and model how cellular networks are functionally altered by disease, genetic variation and epigenetics. Our ultimate goal is to identify drivers of disease, propose new therapeutic targets, and predict prognosis and drug response in a patient-specific manner.

Assistant Professor, Molecular & Cellular Biology
Research Topic:
The Paek Lab research focuses on understanding the heterogeneous response of cancer cells to chemotherapy treatment. The goal is to understand at the single cell level why some cells live while others die in response to treatment.

Assistant Professor, Immunobiology
Research Topic:
Molecular remodeling of cellular metabolic and lipid environments by viruses

Associate Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Regulation of centrosome duplication; Genomic instability and cancer

Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Research Topic:
Cellular and molecular mechanisms in mammary function; gene expression in cell proliferation and differentiation

Associate Professor, Medicine
Research Topic:
Clinical and translational research in gastrointestinal malignancies

Associate Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Research Topic:
The effects of exercise and stress on the immune system

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Research Topic:
Epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression, particularly their regulation through signaling pathways and their modulation by anti-cancer drugs

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Research Topic:
Angiogenesis; understanding the chemical and biological mechanisms of the antineoplastic, DNA-damaging natural product leinamycin; understanding inducible resistant mechanisms in human cancer cells to DNA-damaging anticancer drugs

Assistant Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Research Topic:
Molecular basis of aging and age-related disease

Associate Director, Basic Sciences, University of Arizona Cancer Center
Director, University of Arizona Cancer Center
Research Topic:
Genomic instability and mutations that result in human diseases, such as cancer

Assistant Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Reseach Topic:
Intestinal stem cells, kinase networks, drug discovery

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Research Topic:
The microenvironment of tumors is recognized as providing cancer cells with a selective advantage for growth. Using HER2+ breast cancer cells, we have been investigating the role of lactate and the lactate receptor, GPR81, in regulating cancer cell growth.

Assistant Professor, Immunobiology
Research Topic:
My lab is interested in uncovering why, despite being genetically closely related, only a limited subset of human papillomaviruses is associated with human cancers. My research program leverages evolutionary vidence to gain understanding of the complex, and medically relevant phenotypes. We use state-of-the-art molecular techniques including 3D (organotypic) skin models, genomics approaches, and confocal microscopy combined with thorough evolutionary analysis to address the genetic and molecular basis of tumorigenicity of HPV.

Assistant Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Understanding the biological mechanisms that allow cancer cells to survive in the hypoxic tumor microenvironment, with a focus on developing novel strategies to oppose hypoxia-mediated therapeutic resistance

Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Research Topic:
Genome instability in yeast and the mechanisms of genetic change

Assistant Professor, Immunobiology
Research Topic:
The Wilson lab's research focuses on understand how the dynamic relationship between innate immune sensors and the microbiota impacts chronic inflammation and cancer development at mucosal surfaces.

Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Epithelial cells and neurons:regulation of development and polarity

Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology
Research Topic:
Development of novel molecular agents for skin cancer chemoprevention and chemotherapy

Associate Professor, Molecular and Cellular Biology
Research Topic:
Cancer pathways using quantitative systems biology

Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
Research Topic:
Mechanisms that drive gastric epithelial regeneration and Helicobacter pylori-induced disease using in vitro and in vivo organoid systems