| Faculty | Research projects/interest | |
|---|---|---|
| Juliane Beier, PhD | JIBEIER@pitt.edu | Dr. Beier's research program investigates interactions between environmental chemical exposures and lifestyle factors that increase risk of chronic liver disease. This work addresses how common dietary patterns and background health conditions transform manageable environmental exposures into severe hepatotoxic crises. The laboratory examines complex environmental chemical mixtures that reflect real-world exposures. The "Rust to Resilience" (R2R) research program investigates how legacy toxicants (lead, cadmium, arsenic) combined with emerging PFAS chemicals interact with Western dietary patterns to cause severe liver injury and activate carcinogenic pathways. Novel research examines how inhaled environmental toxicants cause rapid-onset liver pathology. Work on simulated military burn pit exposures demonstrates that inhalation of complex combustion emissions causes immediate hepatic dysfunction and cellular damage within two days of exposure. Following the East Palestine, Ohio chemical disaster, the first systematic liver function assessment in residents potentially exposed to vinyl chloride and other hepatotoxic chemicals was initiated, establishing critical baseline data for long-term health monitoring. Investigation continues into how underlying metabolic conditions—affecting over 30% of Western populations—create permissive environments where environmental exposures trigger severe hepatotoxicity and activate carcinogenic pathways. Available Graduate Projects: 1. Mechanistic studies investigate organelle dysfunction, epigenetic modifications, and transcriptomic pathway analysis to understand how environmental exposures alter liver disease progression. 2. Carcinogenesis research determines mechanisms by which low-level vinyl chloride and chemical mixtures promote tumor formation in metabolically compromised liver tissue. 3. Therapeutic intervention projects develop pharmacologic and genetic approaches to prevent or treat toxicant-diet interactions, while advancing sensitive biomarkers for early detection of environmental hepatotoxicity. 4. Environmental health surveillance conducts community-based research and develops rapid-response methods for environmental disasters. Translational Impact This research program bridges fundamental mechanistic studies with real-world environmental health challenges, providing critical insights for public health policy, environmental risk assessment, clinical biomarker advancement, and community health protection. Graduate students gain experience in RNA-sequencing, inhalation toxicology, electron microscopy, and community-based research methods while addressing pressing environmental health questions. |
| Yuri Bunimovich, MD, PhD | yxbderm1@pitt.edu | Neuro-immune regulation of cancer progression. Re-engineering of anti-tumor immunity for the development and testing of novel cancer immunotherapies. Pathogenesis of lipid redox dysregulation in the inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Role of ferroptosis in the neoplastic and inflammatory skin diseases. Glial functions in cancer, inflammation, wound healing and neuropathy. |
| Stephen Chan, MD, PhD, FAHA | chansy@upmc.edu | Stephen Chan, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist and cardiologist who leads a research program and clinical center investigating mechanisms of pulmonary hypertension (PH), endothelial biology, and heart-lung-brain axis communication in health and disease. He combines molecular and clinical bioinformatics with unique rodent and human experimental reagents to accelerate systems-wide discovery in vascular disease. Chan defined the genetic and acquired mechanisms of altered metabolism in PH, identifying iron-sulfur deficiencies and glutaminolysis as key disease drivers. This work serves as a basis for glutamine restriction as a dietary therapy for PH; clinical development of 18F-glutamine tracer for positron emission tomography (PET) diagnostic imaging; and formation of a biotech company testing therapeutic glutaminase inhibitors in humans. Chan also identified regulatory processes of inflammation and mechanosensing in PH. He was the first to demonstrate the systems-level importance of non-coding RNAs in PH. Chan established a genetic and metabolic paradigm that links lysosomal biology and oxysterol generation to endothelial inflammation and PH. He defined metabolomic signatures identifying persons at-risk for PH mortality and developed new lysosomal therapies for vascular disease. Dr. Chan published these seminal basic and translational discoveries across journals like Science, Cell, Cell Metab, J Clin Invest, Sci Transl Med, Circulation, and Circ Res. Dr. Chan served as primary mentor for >35 trainees with success across career development and independent research. He founded a humanitarian telemedicine organization, the Addis Clinic, serving east Africa. Finally, Dr. Chan directs the Pittsburgh Vascular Medicine Institute and was elected as ASCI Vice President, becoming President in 2027. |
| Yuan Chang, M.D. | yc70@pitt.edu | The Chang-Moore lab studies tumor viruses with projects directed at understanding how they transform the infected host cell. We are particularly keen on using these viruses as models for understanding basic cellular processes. Ongoing work: • Real time C-Trap fluorescent single-molecule visualization of DNA-protein interactions between the Merkel Cell Polyomavirus (MCV) replication proteins and the viral replication origin DNA—to gain insights into how cellular DNA replication is licensed. • MCV T antigen-mediated receptor tyrosine kinase signaling—intracellular modulation of pro-proliferative pathways. • Viral strategies to escape innate immune defenses Techniques range from recombinant DNA manipulation; RNA isolation/transcriptomic analysis; protein isolation; western blotting, chromatin immunoprecipitation; confocal fluorescence microscopy; cell culture; C-trap; and transfection/transduction/transformation. |
| Yuanyuan Chen, PhD | cheny1@pitt.edu | The pharmacological study of retinal degeneration. More information is available at Chen Lab |
| Wei Du, MD, PhD | duw@upmc.edu | The Du Lab studies underlying mechanisms regulating normal and abnormal blood production, and strives to apply novel concepts in the treatment of hematological disorders. More information is available at Wei Du Hematopoiesis Research Lab |
| Marco Fazzari, PhD | maf167@pitt.edu | 1) Nitro-nitrate fatty acid derivatives as novel cGMP-dependent and cGMP-independent signaling mediators 2) Neuroprotective actions of a fatty acid nitroalkene in Parkinson’s disease More information is available at Fazzari Lab |
| Stacy Gelhaus, PhD | gstacy@pitt.edu | Lung liver crosstalk in asthma and asthma with obesity More information is available at Gelhaus Lab |
| Sharon George, PhD | sageorge@pitt.edu | 1. Determining sex-specific mechanisms of chemotherapy induced cardiotoxicity. 2. Determining mechanisms by which chemotherapy modulates cardiac electrophysiology. More information is available at George Lab |
| Delphine Gomez, PhD | gomezd@pitt.edu | 1. The Gomez lab is focused on studying the functional role of epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms in controlling key properties of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) including cell differentiation, lineage memory and plasticity in the context of major cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis. 2. Control of smooth muscle cell differentiation and lineage memory; epigenetics/smooth muscle cell plasticity and atherosclerosis; epigenetic and inflammation in atherosclerosis. |
| Baoli Hu, PhD | baolihu@pitt.edu | 1) Development of a new class of drugs aimed at targeting the immune-suppressive microenvironment in glioblastoma. 2) Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying metastatic dissemination in medulloblastoma. |
| Yu Jiang, PhD | yuj5@pitt.edu | mTOR signaling in cell surface presentation. More information is available at Jiang Lab |
| Michael Jurczak, PhD | jurczakm@pitt.edu | • Over nutrition, abnormal mitochondrial function and the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and MASLD. • Mitochondrial quality control by the PARKIN-mediated mitophagy pathway. • Mitochondrial protein import regulation by the deubiquitinase USP30 and mitochondrial to nuclear retrograde signaling and cellular remodeling. • Zonal differences in hepatic metabolism and mitochondrial quality control during MASLD. • Metabolomics and use of isotopes to measure metabolic turnover and flux in vivo. • Gfral-independent effects of hepatocyte-derived GDF15. Implications for cancer immunotherapy and obesity/type 2 diabetes. • Senescence-induced changes in metabolism and mitochondrial function. • Cystic Fibrosis related diabetes, glucotoxicity and insulin resistance. More information is available at Jurczak Lab |
| Adrian Lee, PhD | leeav@upmc.edu | The Lee-Oesterreich lab studies the molecular basis of breast cancer development and resistance to therapy, with the goal to improve precision medicine and outcomes for breast cancer patients. We employ a systems biology approach, utilizing a combination of single cell, spatial and bulk sequencing, novel computational biology approaches, and new biological models to identify and validate drivers and therapeutic targets. More information is available at Lee Lab |
| Melissa McGovern, PhD | mcgoverm@pitt.edu | 1) Molecular biology including gene and protein expression assays of inner ear tissue to investigate effects of gene deletion or expression on cellular identity. 2) Injection of viral particles into the inner ear to investigate targeting and reprogramming for development of a gene therapy. 3) Bioinformatics analysis including multiome sequencing and CUT&RUN (transcription factor binding) sequencing of the inner ear. More information is available at McGovern Lab |
| Mark Miedel, PhD | mmiedel@pitt.edu | My research uses human biomimetic liver microphysiological systems (MPS) to model both normal and disease-state liver physiology. My focus is on implementing the coupled use of liver MPS with quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) as an integrated platform for identifying mechanisms and biomarkers of MASLD/MASH disease progression and as a drug testing platform to inform precision medicine therapeutic strategies for drug discovery that can be applied to select patient cohorts using patient-derived primary and/or iPSC liver cells. Using this approach, we have identified key differences in MASLD progression and response to therapeutics in liver MPS constructed with patient cells harboring the PNPLA3 I148M mutation, a key known genetic variant known to be associated with more severe MASLD phenotypes. I also have interest in utilizing liver MPS to examine the impact of the liver tumor microenvironment on metastatic phenotypes that are associated with the progression of different cancer types (metastatic melanoma and breast cancer) as well as using 3D bioprinting technology to generate higher throughput liver MPS for larger drug screening efforts. |
| Paul Monga, PhD | smonga@pitt.edu | Wnt signaling in liver zonation. Using zone specific knockout of beta-catenin, we can determine impact on gene expression. • Characterization of new model to study hepatocyte to bile duct transdifferentiation and identifying signaling mechanisms to address this process. • New treatments for beta-catenin mutated liver cancer |
| Logan Myler, PhD | lmyler@pitt.eduu | Our lab studies the fundamental mechanisms of DNA double-strand break repair and telomere maintenance in order to understand cancer cell growth and develop new targeted treatments for cancer. We use in vitro biochemistry, single-molecule and structural biology, and cell biology to determine mechanistic details of these processes in order to understand how these critical proteins function. Current projects include understanding the mechanisms of ATM and ATR kinase activation, determining how telomerase activity is regulated at telomeres, and visualizing the interplay of DNA repair enzymes as they process DNA ends. For more information, check out our website at mylerlab.org or reach out directly to lmyler@pitt.eduu. |
| Roderick O'Sullivan, PhD | osullivanr@upmc.edu | We explore the physiological contribution of epigenetic dysfunction of telomeres in uncurable cancer subtypes. We use diverse approaches including proteomics, nanopore sequencing and molecular biology in this research. The goal is to delineate mechanisms and novel potential targets for those cancer subtypes. More information is available at The O'Sullivan Lab |
| Abby Olsen, MD, PhD | abby.olsen@pitt.edu | Gene environment interactions in Parkinson's disease, developing new glial-based therapeutic targets in Parkinson's disease. More information is available at the Olsen Lab |
| Ben Orsburn, PhD | orsburn@pitt.edu | Current projects in the lab center on improving both sample preparation and informatics of high throughput and single cell proteomics. Current projects that could fit cleanly into a rotational project include: 1) Extracting metabolites and proteins from single human cells. 2) Comparison of correlation algorithms combining metabolomic and proteomic data extracted from the same tissues. 3) Fine tuning low cost robotic solutions to automate proteomic and single cell proteomic sample preparation and analysis. |
| Anita Saraf, PhD | saraf@pitt.edu | Role of neonatal hypoxia in myocardia function: We are investigating if neonatal hypoxia causes chronic myocardial dysfunction in mice and humans using a mouse hypoxia model and a clinical database. We will also be investigating the role of ketone bodies in modifying this disease risk. |
| Orlando Scharer, PhD | ors51@pitt.edu | The Scharer laboratory investigates the roles of DNA repair pathways in modulating responses to antitumor agents. The overarching hypothesis of our research is that a mechanistic understanding of DNA repair pathways in conjunction with cancer genetics can contribute to improved therapeutic outcomes. In this context, the following rotation projects are currently available: • Studying how transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair determines the response to trabectedin and lurbinectedin in sarcomas and small cell lung cancers (Nat Comm, 2024, 15:1388). • Investigation of the molecular mechanisms of damage recognition and dual incision in human nucleotide excision repair (BioRxiv, doi.org/10.1101/2025.05.20.655039; DNA Repair, 2024, 141, 103728). |
| Francisco Schopfer, PhD | fjs2@pitt.edu | Project 1: Establish new reactions of carbohydrates with nitrogen oxides responsible for physiological meal-induced vasorelaxation. Project 2: Define the role of allosteric regulation of proteins to sense metabolic state and cell responses. Project 3. Establish the mechanism of action of chemically-modified lipids being developed as drugs. Learn more at Schopfer Lab |
| Sruti Shiva, PhD | sss43@pitt.edu | Understanding the role of platelet mitochondrial signaling in pulmonary hypertension and aging. |
| Jesus Tejero Bravo, PhD | jet68@pitt.edu | 1. Development of heme protein based carbon monoxide antidotes and oxygen carriers. 2. Albumin-Heme-NO complexes as vasodilators - mechanisms of endocytosis and activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase 3. Structure and function studies of novel globins – Cytoglobin, Neuroglobin, Androglobin |
| Mohamed Trebak, PhD | trebakm@pitt.edu | Current projects include: • Mechanisms of receptor evoked cytosolic Ca2+ oscillations in non-excitable cells and the role of native STIM, Orai and IP3 receptors in shaping the cytosolic Ca2+ microdomains that control the activation of nuclear factor for activated T cells (NFAT) transcription factors isoforms. • The role of the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter (MCU) and the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCLX) in transcriptional programs that control cell growth, metabolism, and invasion of colorectal cancer. • Control of transcriptional and metabolic reprogramming of smooth muscle remodeling in hypertension and asthma by Ca2+ signals through CRAC channels. • Regulation of brown adipose tissue function, thermogenesis, and obesity by Orai3-mediated Ca2+ signaling. • Molecular make-up of CRAC channels in B lymphocytes and contribution of Orai isoforms to B cell activation, antibody production and humoral immunity. • Interorganellar Ca2+ transfer between cytosol-mitochondria-endoplasmic reticulum and role in cellular bioenergetics, mitochondrial dynamics, and transcriptional regulation. Visit Trebak Lab |
| Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD | thanos@pitt.edu | Our research has been focused on the synaptic properties and plasticity of brain circuits and neurons. We have discovered novel synaptic mechanisms in the auditory brainstem, thalamus and cortex, as well as their effects during normal and pathological auditory processing in animal models of hearing loss and tinnitus. Moreover, we are currently pursuing drug discovery and gene therapy for tinnitus and hearing loss. |
| Jean-Pierre Vilardaga, PhD | jpv@pitt.edu | 1) Druggability of the parathyroid hormone receptor for the treatment of prostate cancer, osteoporosis, and aortic valve calcification 2) Molecular mechanisms of GPCR signaling Learn more at Vilardaga Lab |
| Qiming (Jane) Wang, PhD | qjw1@pitt.edu | (1) Novel targeted combinatorial therapy for castration-resistant prostate cancer. (2) Targeting intrinsic neuronal survival mechanisms of ischemic stroke. (3) Development of PKD-targeted PROTAC for castration-resistant prostate cancer Learn more at Wang (Jane) Lab |
| Peter Wipf, MD, PhD | pwipf@pitt.edu | • Synthetic organic chemistry • Medicinal chemistry Learn more at Wipf Group |
| Cheng Zhang, PhD | chengzh@pitt.edu | 1. Study GPCR signaling in HEK293 cells. 2. Production of GPCR signaling complexes for cryo-EM studies. Learn more at Cheng Zhang Laboratory |
[updated: 7/18/2025]