Isaac Chan, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Molecular Biology

Research Interest: Cancer is difficult to treat because cancer cells are constantly evolving. We are taking a different approach to treating cancer: We seek to define and therapeutically target innate immune responses that are shared between people. In particular, we focus on the signaling that regulate responses of host natural killer cells and epithelium.
Chan Lab website

Benjamin Drapkin, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine

Research Interest: We study small cell lung cancer (SCLC), with a particular focus on how this disease acquires cross-resistance to chemotherapy after relapse. In parallel, we investigate how non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can transform into SCLC when treated with oncogene-targeted therapies.

Jennifer Gill, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dermatology

Research Interest: Our research focuses on understanding the molecular and metabolic mechanisms that regulate melanoma tumor behavior. We are particularly interested in applying this knowledge to patient samples in order to identify novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Gill Lab website

Joshua Gruber, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine, Green Center for Reproductive Bio Sciences

Research Interest: Our goal is to develop new therapies for breast cancer through investigation of molecular mechanisms that control tumor cell growth and immunity. We are focused on chromatin pathways that control DNA compaction and also tumor immune receptors that reprogram the tumor microenvironment. Our long-term goal is to move new therapies from our laboratory into the clinic for patients.
The Gruber Lab website

Xiao-Fei Kong, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development

Research Interest: Our research has been focused on individuals with rare, severe and early-onset inflammations or infections affecting digestive organs. Through next generation sequencing, we are testing the central hypothesis that such individuals might have a genetic culprit that disturbs the immunological homeostasis.
Kong Lab website

Lenette Lu, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Immunology

Research Interest: We are interested in how the landscape of humoral immunity mediates host microbial interactions. More specifically, in tuberculosis we see divergent immunoglobulin profiles and functions in individuals with different states of infection and disease. Our goal is to delineate the mechanisms by which antibody features and effector functions modulate the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and impact these host outcomes, with implications in biomarker and vaccine development.
Lu Lab website

Panagiotis Mastorakos, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Neurological Surgery and Immunology, Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute

Research Interest: Elucidating the role of the immune system in damage and repair following ischemic and hemorrhagic insults to the brain. We are particularly interested in the dual role of the innate immune response in contributing to secondary injury but also promoting repair after cerebrovascular injury. We focus on aneurysm subarachnoid hemorrhage, hemorrhagic stroke and chronic subdural hemorrhage.
Mastorakos Lab website

Nikhil Munshi, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Internal Medicine, Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth & Development and Molecular Biology

Research Interest: Transcriptional and epigenetic control of cardiac rhythm; lineage conversion and cardiac pacemaker reprogramming; regeneration of cardiac rhythm.
Munshi Lab website

Evan Nair-Gill, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine, Center for Genetics of Host Defense

Research Interest: Our lab uses forward genetic screening in mice to identify new genes that control mammalian immune homeostasis. We combine immunological, biochemical, and imaging approaches with transcriptome and proteome analyses to reveal how these genes work at the cellular level and in the context of systemic immune responses. The overarching goal of our investigations is to define therapeutic targets that enable precise manipulation of the immune system to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer while preserving beneficial immune function.
Center for Genetics of Host Defense website

Suraj Patel, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine, Center for Human Nutrition

Research Interest: Our research focuses on understanding hepatic metabolism and how dysregulation of it contributes to obesity and insulin resistance. Our ultimate goal is to leverage this understanding to develop new therapies for improving the metabolic health of patients.
Center for Human Nutrition website

Sangeetha Reddy, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine

Research Interest: Our research focus is to target the tumor immune microenvironment of breast cancers and develop rational combinations of immunotherapy with other therapeutic modalities to improve patient outcomes. We are particularly interested in targeting innate immunity pathways to initiate anti-tumor immune responses.
Reddy Lab website

Jeffrey SoRelle, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Pathology

Research Interest: We are discovering the molecular pathways that regulate allergy and IgE responses by using a genetic approach in humans and mice. Several mutants increase or decrease IgE and we study the mechanism of these mutations and how they make some people more susceptible or resistant to allergies.
SoRelle Lab website

Josephine Thinwa, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Microbiology

Research Interest: Understanding the relationship between autophagy and viral infections that impact the central nervous system. We use classic molecular and virology techniques coupled with robust animal models of viral infections to uncover how autophagy becomes activated by viruses and regulates innate immune responses to infection.
Thinwa Lab website

Dan (Amanda) Tong, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine | Center for Human Nutrition

Research Interest: My lab studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases associated with systemic metabolic disorders, particularly heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and atrial fibrillation (AF), with an eye toward translating these findings into innovative solutions to clinical problems.
Tong Lab website

Todd Aguilera, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Radiation Oncology

Research Interest: Understanding and effectively targeting factors that render tumors and metastases resistant to the immune system and conventional therapy is critical to improving long-term outcomes in cancer patients. We study gastrointestinal cancers to develop new therapeutic approaches to improve anti-tumor immune responses and then aim to translate approaches to clinical trials. This approach combined with deep assessment of patient tissues could result in discoveries and improved outcomes that are much needed.
Aguilera Lab website

Jeffrey Browning, M.D.
Professor and Chair
Clinical Nutrition and Internal Medicine

Research Interest: Understanding metabolic derangements that lead to fatty liver disease, through the application of advanced imaging, and metabolic techniques.

Ezra Burstein, M.D.
Professor
Internal Medicine and Molecular Biology

Research Interest: Understanding the regulation of the inflammatory response at a molecular level, and elucidating how these events may participate in human disease. We are particularly interested in pathways that regulate inflammation in the gastrointestinal mucosa, and their potential role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease.
Burstein Lab website

Kenneth Chen, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Pediatrics and Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern

Research Interest: How mutations in childhood kidney cancer regulate tumor formation and progression at a molecular level, especially mutations that affect microRNA processing.

Stephen Chung, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern

Research Interest: Understanding the molecular mechanisms that regulate normal and malignant hematopoiesis, with a goal of identifying novel therapeutic vulnerabilities in myeloid malignancies such as the myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia. In particular, we are interested in utilizing novel dysregulated cell surface antigens to study the cell of origin in these diseases. Areas of interest also include understanding the role of dysregulated translation in disease stem cells, as well as understanding the relationships between hematopoietic stem cell aging, clonal hematopoiesis, and myeloid malignancies.
Chung Lab website

Luke Engelking, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Center for Human Nutrition

Research Interest: Elucidating the roles of lipids in the control of epithelial homeostasis of the digestive tract, and revealing how particular lipids, such as cholesterol, contribute to human diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease and gastrointestinal cancers. We have a particular focus on the transcriptional regulation of intestinal lipid biosynthesis by SREBPs, a critically important family of transcription factors that controls cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the body.
Engelking Lab website

Tamia Harris-Tryon, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dermatology and Immunology

Research Interest: Skin is the largest organ in the body and harbors bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites on the surface and within skin appendages. Using a range of experimental approaches, we investigate the interactions between skin bacteria and the immune system. The goal of our research group is to gain a greater understanding of how bacteria on the skin surface affect skin health and diseases.
Harris-Tryon Lab website

Sarah Huen, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Pharmacology

Research Interest: Understanding how metabolic adaptation can promote survival and tissue protection during inflammatory states such as sepsis. We are particularly interested in understanding the role and regulation of kidney metabolism in health and disease.
Huen Lab website

Lu Le, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor
Dermatology

Research Interest: Dr. Le’s scientific work bridges the fields of Cancer Biology, Developmental Biology, and Stem Cell Biology that focus on identification of the tumor cells of origin and investigating how genetic and tumor microenvironmental factors interplay to regulate cancer development.
Le Lab website

Ravikanth Maddipati, M.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern

Research Interest: Our focus is to understand how cellular and molecular heterogeneity develops and impacts normal tissue growth, tumor formation, metastatic progression, and therapy resistance. We are particularly interested in pancreatic cancer and employ novel murine models, screening tools, and informatics based approaches to address these fundamental questions.
Maddipati Lab website

David McFadden, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Biochemistry

Research Interest: The McFadden lab uses genetically engineered mice and human cancer cells to identify new genes and small molecules that regulate cancer cell growth. Current projects involve Ewing sarcoma, thyroid cancer, and small cell lung cancer.
McFadden Lab website

Deepak Nijhawan, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Internal Medicine and Biochemistry

Research Interest: We aim to discover the mechanism of action for small molecules with anti-cancer activity. Using this approach, we expect to unveil new biological pathways, and in some cases, provide lead molecules for therapeutic development.
Nijhawan Lab website

Michael Shiloh, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Internal Medicine and Microbiology

Research Interest: Our long-term goal is to elucidate host-pathogen interactions that govern the ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) to cause disease in humans. We are taking an integrated approach, using powerful new molecular genetic, cell biologic, bioinformatic and metabolomic tools to test novel hypotheses and challenge existing paradigms. Our ultimate aim is to use this knowledge to develop new vaccines and treatments for Mtb.
Shiloh Lab website

Peter Tsai, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Neurology & Neurotherapeutics, Neuroscience, Pediatrics and Psychiatry

Research Interest: We are interested in understanding the molecular, cellular, and circuit mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders in order to leverage those discoveries into translational opportunities. Recent studies from the laboratory have cast light on the contribution of non-canonical, but strongly clinically implicated brain regions to these disorders. We are using a combination of functional neural modulation, electrophysiology, precision behavioral, circuit, cellular, and molecular phenotyping to elucidate the contributions of these brain regions. Concomitantly, we are demonstrating the translational potential of modifying these pathways to benefit these disrupted phenotypes with the goal of translating these findings into therapies that will benefit individuals with these often devastating disorders.
Tsai Lab website

Emre Turer, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Internal Medicine and Center for the Genetics of Host Defense

Research Interest: We are interested in finding genes with novel functions in intestinal immune homeostasis. Our projects generally involve a mix of experimental approaches examining both the intestinal epithelium as well as hematopoietic causes of intestinal inflammation.
Turer Lab website

Rafael Ufret-Vincenty, M.D.
Associate Professor
Ophthalmology

Research Interest: Improving our understanding of the mechanisms of disease in early age-related macular degeneration and the mechanisms of retinal recovery from injury using animal models.
Ufret-Vincenty Lab website

Richard Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dermatology

Research Interest: Glucose transport and metabolism, DNA tumor viruses
Richard Wang Lab website

Sam Wang, M.D.
Associate Professor
Surgery

Research Interest: 1) Understanding the functional effects of chromatin remodeling molecule mutations in foregut malignancies. 2) Dissecting the molecular mechanisms behind gastric cancer outcome disparities associated with patient ethnicity and race.

Jeffrey Zigman, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor
Internal Medicine and Psychiatry

Research Interest: Understanding the mechanisms by which the gut-brain axis controls body weight, eating, blood glucose, and mood in normal and disease states by studying the hormone ghrelin.
Zigman Lab website