The Biotechnology Research Center has faculty members from a wide range of biotechnology related disciplines across campus. Departments of current members include biology, biomedical engineering, physics, mechanical engineering, forestry, math, chemistry, chemical engineering, kinesiology & integrative physiology. The BRC faculty currently has 40 members, with two new members joining the faculty in 2012. Several faculty were honored with election/appointment to posts in national/international level science organizations in the past year.

Susan T Bagley
Professor, Biological Sciences

  • microbial degradation and decomposition
  • microbial control
  • toxicology of environmental contaminants
  • Lanrong Bi
    Assistant Professor, Chemistry

  • molecular probes for DNA sequencing analysis
  • disease gene discovery
  • new therapeutic agents towards cancer and cardiovascular disease

  • Victor Busov
    Associate Professor, Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences

  • gibberellins
  • activation tagging
  • insertional mutagenesis

  • Jason Carter
    Department Chair and Associate Professor, Kinesiology and Integrative Physiology
    Associate Dean, Colleges of Arts and Sciences

  • regulation of arterial blood pressure
  • vestibulosympathetic reflex
  • adaptations to microgravity and exercise
  • Qing-Hui Chen
    Assistant Professor, Kinesiology & Integrative Physiology

  • Hypertension
  • Congestive heart failure
  • Tarun Dam
    Assistant Professor, Chemistry

  • Molecular basis of glycan 
  • Macromolecular communication
  • Biomolecular thermodynamics
  • Rupali Datta
    Associate Professor. Biological Sciences

  • phytoremediation
  • plant-microbe interactions
  • bioremediation

  • Shiyue Fang
    Associate Professor, Chemistry

  • organic synthetic methodology
  • asymmetric catalysis
  • nucleic acid chemistry
  • Megan Frost
    Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering

  • Novel anti-clotting coatings for implantable biomaterials
  • Oliver Gailing
    Associate Professor, Forest Resources and Environmental Science

  • Ecological Genetics
  • Adaptive evolution in plant populations
  • Jeremy Goldman
    Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering

  • vascular remodeling
  • lymphangiogenesis
  • Michael Gretz
    Professor, Biological Sciences
    Director, Biotechnology Research Center

  • algal extracellular polymers
  • cell wall polysaccharides
  • biogenesis of biopolymer

  • Patricia Heiden
    Professor, Chemistry

  • bio- and nanocomposites and biomaterials
  • nanoparticles, nanofibers & controlled release
  • environmentally benign synthesis & processing

  • Caryn Heldt
    Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering

  • Virus removal & detection 
  • Therapeutic targets for amyloid disease progression 
  • Chandrashekhar P. Joshi
    Interim Department Chair, Biological Sciences
    Professor, Forest Resources and Environmental Science

  • cellulose and lignin biosynthesis
  • wood development and tree growth
  • bioinformatics and genomics
  • Bruce Lee
    Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering

  • Biomimetic, bio-inspired materials
  • Antimicrobial and antifouling coatings
  • Nannotechnology
  • Kim Fook Lee
    Assistant Professor, Physics

  • nanoscale phase-space imaging
  • experimental quantum optics and biophotonics
  • Haiying Liu
    Associate Professor, Chemistry

  • bacterial biosensors
  • carbon and boron nitride nanotube arrays
  • luorescent conjugated glycopolymers

  • Adrienne Minerick
    Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering

  • Microdevices
  • Electrokinetics
  • Medical Devices

  • Pushpalatha Murthy
    Professor, Chemistry

  • signal transduction in plants
  • inositol phosphate metabolism
  • molecular biology of phytases

  • Keat Ghee Ong
    Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering

  • implantable biosensors
  • medical devices
  • wireless sensors
  • Ching-an Peng
    Professor, Chemical Engineering

  • Nanobiotechnology
  • Drug/Gene delivery
  • Cellular/tissue engineering
  • Rajachar

    Rupak Rajachar
    Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering

  • cell-instructive materials
  • vascular calcification
  • cell mechanotransduction
  • Qiuying Sha
    Associate Professor, Mathematical Sciences

  • statistics
  • statistical genetics

  • Reza Shahbazian-Yassar
    Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics

  • mechanical characterization of novel boron nitride and carbon nanotubes
  • mechanics of biomaterials and nanomaterials
  • David Shonnard
    Professor, Chemical Engineering

  • enzyme directed evolution
  • metabolic engineering
  • environmental life cycle assessment
  • Mi Hye Song
    Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

  • Centrosome biogenesis
  • Cell Cycle Regulation
  • Phosphoproteomics
  • Guiliang Tang
    Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

  • Gene silencing
  • RNA Interference (RNAi) and MicroRNA (miRNA)
  • Wheat germ extract
  • Xiaoqing Tang
    Assistant Professor, Biological Chemistry

  • Diabetes
  • Micro-RNAs
  • Martin J Thompson
    Associate Professor, Chemistry

  • posttranslational modification of proteins
  • acetylation dependence of gene regulation
  • histone-protein interactions
  • Ashutosh Tiwari

    Ashutosh Tiwari
    Assistant Professor, Chemistry

  • protein misfolding diseases
  • neurodegenerative diseases

  • Leah Vucetich

    Leah M. Vucetich
    Research Assistant Professor, Forest Resources and Environmental Sci.

  • conservation genetics
  • molecular genotyping
  • Isle Royale population dynamics

  • Hairong Wei
    Assistant Professor, Forest Resources and Environmental Science

  • Gene network construction
  • Gene regulation for wood development
  • Biological knowledge discovery via computational means
  • Thomas Werner
    Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences

  • Evolution of mushroom poison resistance in Drosophila
  • Development and evolution of butterfly wing patterns
  • Ramakrishna Wusirika
    Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

  • gene regulation by transposable elements
  • evolution of plant disease resistance genes
  • bidirectional promoters
  • Le Zhang
    Assistant Professor, Mathematical Sciences

  • employing mathematics, statistic and computer science knowledge to develop computational biology applications

  • Shuanglin Zhang
    Professor, Mathematical Sciences

  • statistics
  • statistical genetics
  • bioinformatics
  • Feng Zhao
    Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering

  • Engineering completely biological cardiovascular tissues for regenerative medicine
  • Biomimetic microenvironment for 3D tissue development
  • Wen Zhou
    Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering

  • Computational systems for biology and engineering
  • Bioenergy production from lignocellulosic biomass
  • Process engineering with environmental concerns