Molecular Cell Biology

Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For his innovative teaching of undergraduate biology and human physiology as well as graduate cell biology courses, he has received numerous awards. His laboratory has made contributions to our understanding of membrane trafficking through the Golgi apparatus and has cloned and characterized receptor proteins important for the movement of cholesterol into and out of cells, including the HDL receptor.Anthony Bretscher is Professor of Cell Biology at Cornell University. His laboratory is well known for identifying and characterizing new components of the actin cytoskeleton, and elucidating their biological functions in relation to cell polarity and membrane traffic. For this work, his laboratory exploits biochemical, genetic and cell biological approaches in two model systems, vertebrate epithelial cells and the budding yeast. Dr. Bretscher teaches cell biology to graduate students at Cornell University.Hidde Ploegh is Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. One of the world's leading researchers in immune system behavior, Dr. Ploegh studies the various tactics that viruses employ to evade our immune responses, and the ways in which our immune system distinguishes friend from foe. Dr. Ploegh teaches immunology to undergraduate students at Harvard University and MIT.Angelika Amon is Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Her laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms that govern chromosome segregation during mitosis and meiosis and the consequences-aneuploidy-when these mechanisms fail during normal cell proliferation and cancer development. Dr. Amon teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in cell biology and genetics.Kelsey Martin is Professor of Biological Chemistry and Psychiatry and interim Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the former Chair of the Biological Chemistry Department Her laboratory studies the ways in which experience changes connections between neurons in the brain to store long-term memories-a process known as synaptic plasticity. She has made important contributions to elucidating the molecular and cell biological mechanisms that underlie this process. Dr. Martin teaches basic principles of neuroscience to undergraduates, graduate students, dental students, and medical students.