Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean

The placenta plays a critical role in fetal and maternal health, yet research regarding its function and evolution is still nascent and continues to be underfunded. Julie is one of the few investigators who has devoted her career to understanding the importance of the placenta and how it affects human health. Along with this research, the Baker Lab also studies the role of cesarean sections in pregnancy diseases and how c-sections are connected to the rise in maternal mortality rates in the US.

 

areas of impact: pregnancy diseases, maternal and fetal health

 

The Baker Lab

Miriam studies touch—the first of our senses to develop, the last to fade, and the least understood. For cancer patients, chemotherapy can damage the nervous system causing pain that can be as bad, or worse, than that caused by the cancer itself. Miriam and her team are testing an existing anti-inflammatory drug to save the sense of touch in cancer patients.

 

areas of impact: cancer, chronic diseases

 

The Goodman Lab

Fear is an utterly important and life-saving emotion in mammals. However in the presence of fear, some people are crippled while others are energized. Andrew and his team want to learn how understanding the ‘fear brain’ allows us to sense, evaluate, and respond to the world around us. Using a state-of-the-art virtual reality platform, the Huberman Lab aims to understand what normal and pathologic human anxiety responses are at the neural, autonomic, and behavioral level, and to develop non-invasive tools to intervene.

 

areas of impact: anxiety, trauma, PTSD

 

The Huberman Lab

Life is a delicate balance between adaptability and stability—to survive, an organism must adapt to change while maintaining essential functions. Dan and his team aim to uncover the molecular mechanisms that balance these two opposing evolutionary forces. The Jarosz Lab discovered a fundamental mechanism that controls genes during development to enhance cell proliferation, and how this same mechanism—when activated inappropriately—can drive diseases like cancer. These discoveries have the potential to completely disrupt the way we think about gene regulation.

 

areas of impact: cancer, infectious diseases, genetic diseases

 

The Jarosz Lab

How does the shape of RNA determine its biological function? Jody has spent his entire career answering this question. Using very large magnets and a variety of chemical tricks, he and his team have developed new methods to look closely at RNA in motion and determine its structure. The Puglisi Lab researches ways to create drugs that target RNA processes that drive infectious diseases, like hepatitis C and HIV, and genetic disorders like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and cancers.

 

areas of impact: cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, viral infections

 

The Puglisi Lab

From fertilization until death, the cells in our bodies are constantly dividing. In each division, our chromosomes must be faithfully transmitted to new daughter cells. Aaron and his team study how chromosomes are organized within the cell, how they are replicated and passed on to daughter cells, and how genetic and epigenetic forces influence normal function and disease. The Straight Lab has made important discoveries, including how cells ensure faithful chromosome transmission, how the genome is regulated in the developing embryo, and how epigenetic forces control genome function.

 

disease areas: developmental and genetic disorders, initiation and progression of cancer

 

The Straight Lab