Graduate Biomedical Sciences Programs
Graduate Programs
Mission
The mission of the Department of Biomedical Sciences graduate programs is to provide excellent academic programs that educate and train the next generation of scientists, educators, and health-related professionals through scholarship and research that fosters creativity, discovery, and community service.
Overview
The programs are flexible and cater to the needs and interests of individual students. Education is predominant through participation in research, taking advantage of opportunities for strategic collaboration between the basic and clinical sciences.
Research Areas in the Biomedical Sciences Department
The research of the faculty covers a wide range of disciples ranging from biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, organismal biology and translational research. Broadly the department is focused on two major thematic areas: neuroscience of hearing and hearing loss and cancer biology. The Department encourages collaborative research interaction with faculty in the Departments of Pharmacology, Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Medicine and Surgery; the Osteoporosis Research Center, The Boys Town National Research Hospital and the Veteran’s Administration Hospital.
Neuroscience (Neuroanatomy, Neurobiology, Neurophysiology)
David He: Auditory neurobiology and neurophysiology
Garrett Soukup: Role of MicroRNAs in neurosensory systems
Peter Steyger: Auditory neurobiology and neurophysiology
Hearing and Hearing Loss
David He: Cochlear sensory hair cells, outer hair cell motility, age-related hearing loss
Garrett Soukup: MicroRNAs in development and maintenance of sensory hair cells and neurons
Peter Steyger: Mechanisms of aminoglycoside antibiotics-induced hearing loss
Litao Tao: Epigenetic regulation of gene transcription in the cochlea
Cancer Biology
Laura Hansen: Prevention and treatment of skin cancer
Brian North: Molecular mechanisms of cancer, aging and age-related diseases
Molecular Structure and Function of Peptides
Sandor Lovas: Peptide chemistry, Structural bioinformatics and proteomics, biophysical chemistry
David Smith: Chemical synthesis of peptides
Masters in Biomedical Sciences
- Tobi Atale – affiliated with Dr. Soukup’s lab
- Meron Demeke – affiliated with Dr. Lovas’s lab
- Sneha Pradhan – affiliated with Dr. Xia lab
PhD in Biomedical Sciences
- Rodaina Hazem Ahmed – affiliated with Dr. North’s lab
- Celia Bloom – affiliated with Dr. Tao’s lab
- Aditi Charak – affiliated with Dr. Hansen’s lab
- Iman Ezzat – affiliated with Dr. Zallocchi’s lab
- Moynul Islam – affiliated with Dr. Hansen’s lab
- Samadhi Kulasooriya – affiliated with Dr. He’s lab
- Mahesh Nayak – affiliated with Dr. Renauld’s lab
- Khushboo Patel – affiliated with Dr. Tao’s lab
- Renju Pun – affiliated with Dr. North’s lab
- Vignesh Rathinavelpandian – affiliated with Dr. Steyger’s lab
- Dominika Rogalska – rotating labs
- Lauren Sullivan – rotating labs
- Sachin Wagh – rotating labs
MD/PhD Students
- David Doss – affiliated with Dr. Mahapatra’s lab
- Jonathan Fleegel – affiliated with Dr. Zallocchi’s lab
- Patrick Kuwong – affiliated with Dr. Hansen’s lab
