Meet the newest members of the
Faculty of the School of Biological Sciences
2004-2005
Michael
Clegg
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Michael T. Clegg Received his BS and PhD
degrees in agricultural genetics and genetics respectively
at the University of California, Davis. In 1972 he joined
the faculty of Brown University moving from there to the University
of Georgia in 1976. From 1984 till his appointment at UC Irvine,
Dr. Clegg held the position of Distinguished Professor of
Genetics at UC, Riverside. He also served as Dean of the College
of Natural and Agricultural Sciences from 1994 to 2000 and
was the founding Director of the UC Riverside Genomics Institute.
He has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since
1990, and currently serves as its Foreign Secretary, succeeding
Sherry Rowland in that position. He is a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has served as President
of the American Genetic Association as well as the Society
for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
During an academic career of over than 30 years Michael Clegg
has made important research contributions in the disciplines
of Population Genetics and Molecular Evolution. He has published
about 150 research articles and book chapters and has authored
or edited seven books. Michael’s early work in population
genetics focused on the dynamical behavior of linked systems
of genes in plant and Drosophila populations. His current
work is concerned with the comparative genomics of plant gene
families, the molecular evolution of genes in the flavonoid
biosynthetic pathway, the use of coalescent models to study
crop plant domestication and the application of molecular
markers to avocado improvement.
Aimee Edinger Department of Developmental & Cell Biology
Aimee Edinger grew up in San Diego and did her undergraduate
work at UC Davis with the aim of pursuing her long-time goal
of becoming a veterinarian.
As an animal physiology major, Aimee began working with UC
Davis veterinary researchers studying the effects of altitude
on exercise physiology in horses and emus and enjoyed research
so much that she went on to complete a senior research project
in a molecular biology lab.
These experiences convinced her to enter the combined VMD/PhD
training program at the University of Pennsylvania. After
graduating from vet school in 1996, she completed her PhD
in the lab of Dr. Bob W. Doms studying the envelope proteins
of HIV and SIV (the simian form of the virus).
Dr. Edinger stayed at PENN to postdoc in the lab of Dr. Craig
B. Thompson who had just moved to PENN from the University
of Chicago. Studies that she initiated in the Thompson lab
suggested that molecules involved in the trafficking of nutrient
transporter proteins to lysosomes for degradation may represent
a novel class of tumor suppressor proteins. At UCI, the Edinger
lab is extending these studies and testing the role of these
proteins in cancer initiation and progression in mouse model
systems.
Paul
Gershon Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Dr. Gershon received his undergraduate degree from
the University of Liverpool, UK, and his Ph.D. from the Liverpool
School of Tropical Medicine. He has been working with poxviruses
for 19 years in the development of recombinant vaccines (
postdoctoral work at the Institute for Animal Virus Research,
Pirbright UK), in the area of vaccinia virus transcription
and mRNA modification (postdoctoral work at the Laboratory
of Viral Diseases, NIAID, NIH), and in the area of vaccinia
virus RNA processing enzyme structure, function and catalytic
mechanism (Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Texas
A&M University).
Dr. Gershon's research at UCI will continue in the area of
poxvirus protein structure and mechanism, and extend into
the area of proteomics and poxvirus structure.
Dr. Morrissette received a BA degree in Biochemistry from
Smith College and a Ph.D. degree in Biology from the University
of Pennsylvania, for her work on the characterization of microtubule
associated proteins in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii.
During her postdoctoral work at Rockefeller University and
the University of Washington she studied phagocytosis in macrophages
Naomi’s research uses Toxoplasma as a model organism
to explore how microtubules function in the Apicomplexa, a
group of medically important obligate intracellular parasites.
Plasmodium (agent of malaria), Cryptosporidium (an opportunistic
pathogen) and Toxoplasma (an opportunistic pathogen and cause
of birth defects and miscarriages) are all apicomplexans.
These protozoa share a common ancestor and have a number of
conserved traits which are quite unlike those of other eukaryotes.
The radically different organization, regulation and use of
microtubules in the Apicomplexa represent intriguing departures
from the behavior of microtubules in model organisms and these
distinctions can be exploited to develop novel anti-parasitic
therapies.
Diane
Pataki Department of Earth System Science/ Department of
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Diane Pataki was appointed as part of a new initiative in
global change research between the Schools of Biological Sciences
and Physical Sciences. She received her PhD from the Nicholas
School of the Environment at Duke University in 1998 was a
post-doctoral research associate at the Desert Research Institute
in Las Vegas for one year, and until arriving at UCI she was
a Research Assistant Professor of Biology at the University
of Utah and the Co-PI of a large NSF-Biocomplexity grant at
the University of Utah.
Diane plays a central role in recent synthesis activities
(i.e. merging science with policy) through her position as
Scientific Officer in the international program in Global
Change of Terrestrial Ecosystems. Dr. Pataki is a plant physiological
ecologist working in the general area global change biology
and science focused on understanding the relationships between
terrestrial ecosystems and global change. While ecologists
traditionally only consider processes in natural ecosystems,
Diane’s research program recognizes the need to branch
out and consider how the ecologically relevant biogeochemical
processes are impacted by urban conditions. Her research utilizes
stable isotope techniques where she runs her own samples and
trouble shoots the sophisticated mass
Markus
Ribbe Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Markus Ribbe received his BS, MS and Ph.D. degrees from the
University of Bayreuth, Germany, where he studied the unusual
thermophilic nitrogen-fixing organism Streptomyces thermoautotrophicus.
He carried out postdoctoral research at UCI, where he studied
structural and catalytic aspects of the enzyme nitrogenase.
Dr. Ribbe’s research contributes to the large filed
of biological nitrogen fixation, particularly in the model
organism Azotobacter vinelandii. His current research is focused
on the biosynthesis and assembly of the critically important
metalloclusters of nitrogenase molecules. These studies are
of interest not only for the field of nitrogen fixation, but
also for an understanding of metalloprotein assembly in general,
since nitrogenase serves as an ideal model system for research
in this area.
Christine Suetterlin received her M.S. and PhD from the Biocenter
of the University of Basel, Switzerland. She did her postdoctoral
work at UC San Diego where she became interested in the dynamics
of Golgi membranes during the cell cycle.
The research in Dr. Suetterlin's lab focuses on the regulation
of Golgi dynamics during mitosis and the crosstalk between
the Golgi apparatus, the centrosome and the cell cycle machinery.
The Golgi apparatus of mammalian cells localizes to the pericentriolar
region of the cell and becomes fragmented and dispersed as
cells enter mitosis. Mitotic Golgi fragmentation is required
for cell cycle progression. It is the aim of this research
to determine the functional and spatial relationship between
the Golgi apparatus and the centrosome and how the localization
of Golgi membranes in the vicinity of the centrosome is regulated
during the cell cycle. The lab will address this problem with
tools commonly used in cell and molecular biology combined
with life imaging techniques.
Dominik
Wodarz Department of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology
Dominik Wodarz received his BSc in Biology from Imperial
College, London, and his Ph.D. in Mathematical Biology from
Oxford. Prior to arriving at UC Irvine, he was an Associate
Member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle,
a before that, a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced
Study at Princeton.
Dominik was recruited to UCI as a result of a joint recruitment
by the Cancer Center and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology. His area of expertise is in theoretical and computational
biology, and he has published on a number of topics including
models of cancer progression and therapy, models of host defenses
against tumors, and theoretical treatments of infectious diseases
and immunology.
