Synthetic Biology

Like the interplay between basic science and engineering, the application of molecular biology to basic questions in biology is paralleled by the applied discipline of synthetic biology where biological systems are designed to solve problems. The Department of Biology has many faculty members who are committed to developing and applying synthetic biology tools to solve practical problems.

Regular or Term Faculty

Synthetic Biology Regular or Term Faculty
Name	Research Interest
Robert Cumming	Brain Metabolism and Aging
Vava Grbic	Arabidopsis Developmental Genetics/ Genomics of plant-pest interaction/ Biotechnology
Kathleen Hill	Genome organization and integrity
Jim Karagiannis	Eukaryotic Cell Division
Gregory Kelly	Cell Signaling in Vertebrate Embryos
Susanne Kohalmi	Gene Families and Regulation
Anthony Percival-Smith	Molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis
Anne Simon	Genetics of Social Behavior
David Smith	Genome evolution and genetic diversity of microbial eukaryotes
Vera Tai	Microbial Ecology and Bioinformatics

Adjunct, Emeritus or Cross-Appointed Faculty

Synthetic Biology Adjunct, Emeritus or Cross-Appointed Faculty
Name	Research Interest
Sangeeta Dhaubhadel (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)	Gene expression and regulation, plant specialized metabolism, genomics and biotechnology, soybean and dry bean
Martin L. Duennwald (Dept. Pathology and Laboratory Medicine)	Protein misfolding, neurodegenerative diseases, cellular protein quality control
Abdelali Hannoufa (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)	Molecular Plant Stress Physiology, Plant Biotechnology, Regulation of Gene Expression, Functional Genomics
Rima Menassa (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)	Plant bioreactors for the production of veterinary vaccines and antibodies as alternatives to antibiotics