Members

Dr. Jeffrey Skolnick
Regents’ Professor, Director, Center for the Study of Systems Biology, GRA Eminent Scholar

Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, and Systems Biology – Development of tools for the prediction of protein structure and function from sequence; functional genomics; automatic assignment of enzymes to metabolic pathways, prediction of protein tertiary and quaternary structure and folding pathways; prediction of membrane protein tertiary structure, prediction of small molecule ligands for drug discovery, prediction of druggable protein targets, drug design, equilibrium and dynamic properties of lipid bilayers; simulation of virus coat protein assembly.

skolnick@gatech.edu 404-407-8975

Dr. Shabbir Ahmed
Anderson-Interface Chair and Professor, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Dr. Ahmed’s research interests are in theoretical and computational aspects of stochastic and discrete optimization. Dr. Ahmed’s honors include a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, two Faculty Partnership Awards from IBM, and a Dantzig Dissertation award from the Institute of Operations Research and Management Science.

shabbir.ahmed@isye.gatech.edu 404-894-2330

Dr. Lawrence A. Bottomley
Professor Emeritus, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Bottomley’s research interests are in biological applications of scanning probe microscopy, microcantilever and microacoustic array sensors, and electroanalytical chemistry.

bottomley@gatech.edu 404-894-4014

Dr. Yury Chernoff
Professor, School of Biological Sciences

Dr. Chernoff is interested in yeast molecular genetics: genetic control of protein biosynthesis, folding and aggregation; prions and protein-based inheritance; chaperones and stress response.

yury.chernoff@biology.gatech.edu 404-894-1157

Dr. Jennifer Curtis
Associate Professor, School of Physics

The Curtis Lab focuses on the Physics of the Cell that directly influences biological function. We investigate several biological topics : pericellular matrix-modulated cell adhesion, phagocytosis, and active transport. In all three areas, we probe the coupling of the mechanical and chemical circuitry of the cell.

jcurtis6@gatech.edu 404-894-8839

Dr. Facundo Fernandez
Vasser Woolley Foundation Chair in Bioanalytical Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Biochemisty

In the last 20 years we have witnessed a revolution in Analytical Chemistry. This revolution has been caused by the need of rapid and accurate protein identification. Separation science and mass spectrometry are the two key fields where these changes are evident. Since the invention of the protein identification scheme known as ‘peptide mass fingerprinting’ in the late 80s’; a rapid succession of discoveries led to the creation of the broad field of proteomics. Proteomics is a technology driven field, and, as such, it relies on the development of instrumentation used for chemical analysis. Inspired by this revolution, in our laboratories we design, model and build new mass spectrometers based on orthogonal time-of-flight analyzers and monolithic ion-mobility drift cells. New microfabricated ion sources and ambient pressure ionization tools are also part of our research program. We believe that novel mass spectrometry-based instrumentation will ultimately lead to better diagnostics tools for disease, environmental monitoring and drug quality assessment. The multidimensional information generated by our instrumental platforms is mined using multivariate techniques to perform classification and quantitation in multidimensional space.

facundo.fernandez@chemistry.gatech.edu 404-358-4432

Dr. Richard M. Fujimoto
Regents’ Professor, School of Computational Science and Engineering, College of Computing

Dr. Fujimoto’s research interests are in: Parallel and distributed simulation, Grid computing, Computer network modeling and simulation, and Intelligent transportation systems.

richard.fujimoto@cc.gatech.edu 404-894-5615

Dr. Michael Goodisman
Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Undergraduate Education, School of Biological Sciences

The evolution of sociality represented one of the major transition points in the history of life. Dr. Goodisman and his lab are interested in understanding how evolutionary processes affect social systems and how sociality, in turn, affects the course of evolution. The principal subjects of their research is the social insects (ants, termites, bees, and wasps). They take an integrative approach to studying social systems. For example, they make use of a variety of techniques, including computer simulations, analytical theory, behavioral experiments, and field studies, as well as molecular genetic and genomic analysis. Their research primarily focuses on understanding the social structure and mating biology of invasive social insects. In addition, they study the process of development in the context of sociality.

michael.goodisman@biology.gatech.edu 404-385-6311

Dr. Brian Hammer
Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences

Quorum sensing is a bacterial process of cell to cell communication that allows microbial groups to coordinate gene expression and behave like multicellular organisms. This process is achieved by bacteria that make and subsequently respond to small signal molecules called autoinducers. Our goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms that enable information in the form of autoinducer molecules to be transferred into changes in expression of genes that control the behaviors of bacterial populations. We are taking an integrative approach uses molecular genetics, high- throughput genomic expression profiling, biochemistry, and mathematical algorithms. In particular, the focus of our research is on the bacterial pathogen Vibrio cholerae, which uses quorum sensing to control expression of traits necessary for its environmental survival and also for causing the pandemic disease cholera in developing countries.

brian.hammer@biology.gatech.edu 404-385-7701

Dr. King Jordan
Associate Professor and Director, Bioinformatics Graduate Program, School of Biological Sciences

My research program is focused on understanding the genome level determinants of the diversification between evolutionary lineages. The approach that I use towards this end is computationally based and consists of the comparative analysis of large-scale genomic sequence, expression and functional data sets. This approach is facilitated by the accumulation of genome-scale data sets and the continuing development of the computational applications and infrastructure needed to employ such data. Ultimately, I hope to integrate our understanding of how evolutionary forces play out at distinct levels of biological organization.

More specifically, I am interested in understanding the nature of evolutionary innovations that have led to the emergence of complexity in eukaryotic lineages. I currently explore three distinct research areas relating to the evolution of eukaryotic genome complexity: i-the contributions of transposable elements to host gene regulatory and protein coding sequences, ii-the tempo and mode of gene regulatory and expression divergence and iii-convergent evolution of gene function.

king.jordan@biology.gatech.edu 404-385-2224

Dr. Hang Lu
Love Family Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Dr. Lu’s research at Tech lies at the interface of engineering and neuroscience. Her group uses engineering principles to develop modeling tools and fabrication tools to design and manufacture unique BioMEMS (Bio Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) devices to answer neuroscience questions that are difficult with conventional techniques. She is interested in how neurons behave and function, how genes and environment together determine diseased states, and how genetic, chemical, and physical interventions can possibly treat these diseases in both lower organisms and mammalian systems. Applied to the study of fundamental biological questions, these new techniques allow us to gather quantitative data about complex neuronal systems. Her group is interested in signal transduction networks of the neurons (e.g. gene expression levels), activities of the neurons in the network (e.g. neuronal firing patterns), and the resulting complex behaviors of the animals (e.g. locomotion). In the same way, Dr. Lu plans to use these techniques to aid the discovery of therapeutic molecules and the development of therapeutic strategies in neurodegenerative diseases.

hang.lu@chbe.gatech.edu 404-894-8473

Dr. John McDonald
Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Assoc. Dean for Biology Program Development, Chief Research Scientist, Ovarian Cancer Institute

Retrotransponons and Evolution: Retrotransposons are the most abundant and wide spread class of eukaryotic transposable elements. For example, retrotransposons constitute ~10% of the Drosophila genome, ~20% of the rice genome, ~40% of the human genome, ~50% of the maize genome and >90% of the genome of some lilies. Our laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying retroelement evolution and the impact these elements have had on the evolution of the host genomes in which they reside. We combine molecular biology and computational genomics to address these questions in a variety of organisms ranging from yeast to humans.

Cancer: Our laboratory’s interests in retrotransposons extends to the role these elements may play in the alteration of chromatin structure and other epigenetic changes associated with tumorgenesis. In collaboration with the Ovarian Cancer Institute (Atlanta), we are engaged in efforts to identify molecular markers of early staged ovarian cancers using microarray (Affymetrix), 2-D gel and mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) technologies. We are also nterested in analyzing the molecular responses of different stages and classes of tumors to chemotherapy and in understanding the molecular basis of chemotherapy resistance.

john.mcdonald@biology.gatech.edu 404-385-6630

Dr. George Nemhauser
A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Institute Emeritus Professor, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Dr. Nemhauser’s current research interests are in solving large-scale mixed integer programming problems and he is actively working on several real world problems, especially the application of discrete optimization in logistics and transportation and in sports scheduling. He is one of the developers of MINTO, a software system for solving mixed-integer programs.

george.nemhauser@isye.gatech.edu 404-894-2306

Dr. Arkadi Nemirovski
John Hunter Chair and Professor, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Dr. Nemirovski’s current research interests are Convex Optimization, with emphasis on: Design of efficient algorithms for nonlinear convex; Programs, including extremely large scale ones; Conic and Semidefinite programming; Robust Optimization and other approaches to optimization under uncertainty; Applications of Convex Optimization in Engineering; and Non-Parametric Statistics.

arkadi.nemirovski@isye.gatech.edu 404-385-0769

Dr. Haesun Park
Regents’ Professor and Chair, School of Computational Science and Engineering

Prof. Park’s current research interests include numerical algorithms, pattern recognition, bioinformatics, information retrieval, and data mining. In bioinformatics, she has explored effective and efficient algorithms for gene selection and missing value estimation in microarray analysis, and protein structure prediction. She has published over 100 research papers in the refereed journals and conference proceedings in these areas. Prof. Park served on numerous conference committees and editorial boards of journals. Currently she is on the editorial board of BIT Numerical Mathematics, SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications, and International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications.

hpark@cc.gatech.edu 404-385-2170

Dr. C. David Sherrill
Professor, School of Chemisty and Biochemisty

Research in the Sherrill group focuses on the development of ab initio electronic structure theory and its application to problems of broad chemical interest, particularly in noncovalent interactions, highly reactive systems, photochemistry, and systems with unusual bonding. High-quality descriptions of energy landscapes for both strongly and weakly interacting systems is a focus of our research.

sherrill@chemistry.gatech.edu 404-894-4037

Dr. Joel S. Sokol
Professor, H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Dr. Sokol’s research interests include networks, linear programming, inverse optimization, and combinatorial optimization, as well as the application of operations research techniques to logistics, transportation, and network design problems. He is also interested in applications in biology, social logistics, and sports modeling.

jsokol@isye.gatech.edu 404-894-6484

Dr. Eberhard O. Voit
Professor, David D. Flanagan Chair, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Systems Biology, The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University

The goal of our lab is to understand biological systems. We work toward this goal by performing studies that target the fine-tuned synergism between genes, proteins and metabolites, and investigate the resultant, usually very effective functioning of healthy cells and organisms in comparison to those that are mutated or diseased. Milestones along the way are insights into the rationale for the intricate design and operation principles that govern biological systems. The work in our lab is strictly mathematical and computational, but we collaborate with several superb experimental groups that provide us with data and appreciate our modeling efforts as tools for explanation and hypothesis generation.

eberhard.voit@bme.gatech.edu 404-385-5057

Dr. L. DeEtte Walker
Research Scientist I, School of Biological Sciences

Dr. Walker’s research interests include ovarian cancer and evolutionary biology and ecology of various organisms. Currently she is using molecular tools in an attempt to understand the molecular biology of ovarian cancer, particularly the microenvironment of the cancerous cells. Instead of using bulk tumor tissue that is a heterogeneous collection of cells, she uses laser capture microdissection to dissect only the cells of interest (i.e., only cancer cells or only stromal cells).

lila.walker@biology.gatech.edu 404-385-6629

Dr. May Dongmei Wang
Professor, Kavli Fellow, Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Cancer Scholar,The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University

Dr. Wang’s research interests are: Biomedical Informatics, Biomedical Image Analysis, Biological and Medical Data Visualization, Telemedicine, GoMiner – a tool for biological interpretation of ‘omic’ data including data from gene expression microarrays.

maywang@bme.gatech.edu 404-385-2954

Dr. Zhong Lin ‘ZL’ Wang
Hightower Chair in MSE, Regents’ Professor, Materials Science and Engineering; Adjunct Professor Chemistry and Biochemistry, Adjunct Professor ECE,

Dr. Wang’s research interests include:

• Science and applications of nanoparticles, nanowires and nanobelts
• Functional oxide and smart materials for sensing and actuating
• Nanomaterials for biomedical applications and nanodevices

zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu 404-894-8008

Dr. Soojin Yi
Professor, School of Biological Sciences

Research Interests: Comparative Genomics, Molecular Evolution, Bioinformatics, Population Genetics

My work focuses on understanding the genetic basis of naturally occurring variation within and between species. What causes differences between individuals in phenotypic traits (such as hair color, smell, disease susceptibility and so on), and how do these variations within a species relate to the evolution of different species? The evolution of human specific traits is an especially exciting example of such topics. We use multidisciplinary approaches, ranging from computational methods to advanced biochemical analyses. I have ideas for several exciting and specific projects, with various amount of projected duration time to fit different needs of investigators.

soojin.yi@biology.gatech.edu 404-385-6084

Dr. Hongyi Zhou
Senior Research Scientist, Center for the Study of Systems Biology

Computational Biophysics and Bioinformatics:

• Development of tools for prediction of protein structure from sequence.
• Prediction of protein-protein, protein-DNA interactions.
• Elucidation of protein folding mechanism/pathways.
• Equilibrium and dynamic properties of protein binding.

hzhou3@mail.gatech.edu

Dr. Bartosz Ilkowski
Senior Research Technologist

ilkowski@mail.gatech.edu 404-407-8982

Jessica Forness
Center Manager

jessica.forness@biosci.gatech.edu 404-407-8976