KU Molecular Biosciences
We are an interdisciplinary group of faculty who perform cutting edge research in a wide range of areas including biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, bioinformatics, cancer biology, genetics, genomics, immunology, microbiology, virology, neurobiology, molecular, cellular and developmental biology.
Open Faculty Positions
The Department of Molecular Biosciences is excited to announce that we have 3 open faculty positions:
- Assistant Professor in Genomics
- Assistant Professor in Immunology
- Assistant Professor in Infectious disease
See our Job Opportunities page for more information about each position, details on how to apply, and contact emails for the Search Committee Chairs.
Initial review of applications for each position will begin November 15, 2021.
Ronak Tilvawala received a collaborative NCI U01 $3.8 M grant for the project entitled, "Engineering Native E. coli to Detect Report and Treat Colorectal Cancer " in collaborations with faculty from the University of San Diego, University of Florida, Illinois Institute of Engineering, and the University of Rochester. The Tilvawala lab will receive a total of $660,000 over the next five years.
Ronak also had a CBID CoBRE grant renewed under Phase II for the project entitled, "Host Substrate Profiling of coronoavirus Protease" in collaboration with Anthony Fehr.
Josephine Chandler was awarded a Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in a Health-related Research Program under her parent award NIH R35 GM133572 “Quorum sensing evolution and function in mixed microbial communities.” This supplement will be used to support two years of training of Blanca Rodriguez, a second-year graduate student in the KU Ecology and Evolutionary Biology PhD program.
Josie also donated an image of her bacterial colonies to the BioNexusKC fundraiser and it raised $1000 for Kansas City area STEM education.
Mizuki Azuma was selected as a Review Editor for Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.
Eileen Hotze has been successfully promoted to Associate Teaching Professor. Congratulations Dr. Hotze!
Graduate Program
Our graduate program in life sciences research is designed to provide world-class training in both the classroom and research laboratory to prepare students for the next stage of their careers.
Undergraduate Programs
We sponsor several undergraduate degrees covering a variety of current topics in the life sciences, from single molecules, to cells, development, and disease. Find more information regarding our majors.Presentations
Josie Chandler (associate professor) gave an invited talk "Quorum sensing and the evolution of antibiotic resistance* for the Brazilian Society for Microbiology Workshop on Pathogenesis. November 2021. (virtual)
Josie Chandler (associate professor) gave an invited talk "Adaptive mutations alter tobramycin susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LasR mutants" for the Conference on Environmental Microbial Signal Communication. Hangzhou, China. September 2021. (virtual at in-person meeting)
Publications
Mintoo M, Chakravarty A, and Tilvawala R.* N-Terminomics Strategies for Protease Substrates Profiling. Molecules.2021 *Corresponding Author.
Tilvawala R, Nemmara VV, Salinger AJ, Sorvillo N, Wagner DD and Thompson PR. The Role of SERPIN Citrullination in Thrombosis. Cell Chem Bio. 2021 in press.