Program Faculty
- Qi Yang
- Associate Professor
- Department: Department of Pediatrics
- Graduate Program(s): Cell & Developmental Biology | Physiology & Integrative Biology
- Major Research Interest(s): Aging, Immunology, Neuroscience, Pathogenesis
- Research Techniques: Bioinformatics / Computational, Cell Biology, Single Cell RNA Techniques
- Research Organism(s): Humans, Mice
- Rotation Faculty
- Phone: 1.7322354501
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Child Health Institute of New Jersey CHI
- 89 French Street
- New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1935
- Key Words: neuroimmunology, immune cell-neuron interaction
- Lab Site URL
The research in the Yang laboratory focuses on the most current topics in the intersecting fields of immunology and neuroscience. Recent research has shed new light on the close interaction between the immune system and the brain, challenging the traditional notion of the immune privilege of the brain. At the forefront of this exploration, we are committed to advancing our understanding of the role played by brain-associated lymphocytes in regulating brain barrier integrity, neuroinflammation, and cognition.
Our work, featured in Nature Immunology (2022) and the Journal of Experimental Medicine (2020), focuses on unraveling the inflammatory mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. We welcome students with a keen interest in immunology or neuroscience to join us in delving into this exciting field.
Our ongoing projects cover a diverse array of areas:
- Investigating the role of tissue-resident lymphocytes in maintaining the integrity of brain barriers and their impact on the brain's physiological function.
- Exploring the interactions between brain-infiltrating immune cells, glia cells, and neurons, particularly in the context of aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular dementia.
- Profiling the spatial and single-cell atlas of immune cells in the brain across various disease states.
- Igor Shmarakov
- Assistant Professor
- Department: Department of Animal Sciences
- Graduate Program(s): Biochemistry | Physiology & Integrative Biology
- Major Research Interest(s): Immunology, Metabolism / Nutrition, Organelle biology, Pathogenesis, Signaling
- Research Techniques: Biochemistry, Bioinformatics / Computational, Cell Biology, Cell culture, Single Cell RNA Techniques
- Research Organism(s): Cell lines, Humans, in vitro, Mice
- Rotation Faculty
- Phone: 1.8489325617
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - School of Environmental and Biological Sciences
- Foran Hall, Room 326
- 59 Dudley Road
- New Brunswick, NJ 08901
- Key Words: Retinoids, Lipids, Metabolism, Inflammation, Acute Lung Injury
- Lab Site URL
The central focus of my lab has been on understanding the metabolic and signaling role of retinoids (vitamin A and its metabolites) that act as transcriptional regulators of genes controlling cellular proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, and apoptosis. Specifically, my research is directed toward understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of how retinoids, as well as retinoid-interacting proteins, are involved in maintaining the physiological functions of hepatic, adipose, pulmonary, and intestinal cells in the context of whole-body metabolism. My lab is interested in understanding how the disruption of retinoid metabolism and signaling contributes to the development of functional alterations in the adult lungs as well as in metabolic disease, including obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver disease.
- Tejbeer Kaur
- Assistant Professor
- Department: Department of Otolaryngology
- Graduate Program(s): Cell & Developmental Biology
- Major Research Interest(s): Neuroscience
- Research Techniques: Cell Biology, Fluorescent and super resolution microscopy, Genetics, Imaging
- Research Organism(s): Mice
- Phone: 1.7322357311
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- Daniel I. Kessler Teaching Laboratories, Room 211
- 675 Hoes Lane West
- Piscataway, NJ 08854-5627
- Key Words: Auditory system, Neuroimmunology of hearing and hearing loss, Neurodegeneration, Ototoxicity, Macrophages
Sensorineural hearing loss due to ototoxic side effects of certain medications, noise trauma, infections or healthy aging is associated with inflammation and robust activation and increase in numbers of macrophages. However, the precise functions of macrophages and inflammation are unclear. In the Kaur Lab, the research aims to understand the complex biology and interactions of immune cells and their effector molecules with the sensory cells in the cochlea of the inner ear and how these interactions influence hearing, hearing loss and sensory cell development, degeneration, repair, survival, and plasticity.
- Jason T. Kaelber
- Associate Research Professor
- Department: Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine
- Graduate Program(s): Biochemistry | Physiology & Integrative Biology
- Major Research Interest(s): Computational Biology, Nanobiology / nanotechnology, Structural Biology, Virology
- Research Techniques: Atomic or Electron microscopy, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Cell culture, Protein Structure / Crystallography
- Research Organism(s): Cell lines, in vitro, Viruses
- Phone: 1.8484455302
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine
- Center for Integrative Proteomics Research CIPR, Rm 010D
- 174 Frelinghuysen Road
- Piscataway, NJ 08854-8076
- Key Words: cryo-EM, virology, gene therapy, electron microscopy, nanoimaging
Dr. Kaelber invents improved viral gene therapy vectors through structure-based engineering and discovers mechanisms of virus gene delivery through cutting-edge cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) methods, including in situ cryo-electron tomography. He is also interested in reconstructing the ancient evolutionary history of viruses and in methods development for cryoEM. In general, his lab focuses on leveraging structural and nanoimaging methods to open problems in virology, with particular focus on ssDNA and other small viruses. He also serves are director of the Rutgers CryoEM & Nanoimaging Facility and is the 3DEM Advisor to the RCSB Protein Data Bank.
- Ricardo Iván Martínez Zamudio
- Assistant Professor
- Department: Department of Pharmacology
- Graduate Program(s): Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology
- Major Research Interest(s): Cancer Biology, Computational Biology, Epigenetics/ Chromatin, Gene regulation
- Research Techniques: Biochemistry, Bioinformatics / Computational, Cell culture, Genomics, Single Cell RNA Techniques
- Research Organism(s): Cell lines, Humans, Mice
- Rotation Faculty
- Phone: 1.7322355955
- Email:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
- RWJMS Research Tower, Room 517
- 675 Hoes Lane West
- Piscataway, NJ 08854-8021
- Key Words: Transcription Factor Networks; Cell Fate Transitions; Senescence; Multiomics; Timeseries; Perturbation
- Lab Site URL