Cell Biology News

Cell Biology is pleased to welcome Michael Deans, PhD, who will join the department January 1, 2025 as Associate Professor. Dr. Deans was previously Associate Professor in Otolaryngology at the University of Utah. His new lab, located on the 5^th floor of WBRB, will investigate developmental mechanisms guiding planar cell polarity, cellular morphogenesis and innervation essential for auditory and vestibular function.

James Zheng, PhD, Professor of Cell Biology, was appointed to the Emory School of Medicine Faculty Committee on Appointments and Promotions (FCAP)(2024-2027).

Dorothy Lerit, PhD, Associate Professor of Cell Biology, received the ​2024 Emory School of Medicine ​Hidden Gem Award for her outstanding leadership and service as DEI committee chair.​

David Katz, PhD, was recognized by Emory School of Medicine for his recent membership to the National Wormboard. 

The WormBoard is a representative group of working scientists and educators who use C. elegans or related nematodes as their primary model organism. WormBoard will meet in odd-numbered years at the biennial International C. elegans meeting, and if possible at one of the topic or regional meetings in even-numbered years. Additional business will be conducted by email or teleconference. Since its inception the C. elegans field has relied on the voluntary efforts of community-minded individuals to develop and organize key resources and meetings. As the field enters its second half-century, continued growth necessitates a more formal structure for such efforts. The International C. elegans Board (ICB), a.k.a. WormBoard, was formed in 2015 to advocate for C. elegans research internationally and to foster the continued development of community resources.

Hyojung J. Choo, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, and collaborators at Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech), published a paper, “All-in-one wearable drug efficacy assessment systems for bulbar muscle function using amyotrophic lateral sclerosis animal models,” in Nature Communications, August 2024.

Dr. Choo and and her GA Tech collaborators also published a paper, “Automatic Clinical Assessment of Swallowing Behavior and Diagnosis of Silent Aspiration Using Wireless Multimodal Wearable Electronics,” in Advanced Science, July 2024.

Alan Emanuel, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, received the Emory-Udall Parkinson's Disease Center Pilot Grant titled, “Tactile Processing in Mouse Models of Parkinson’s Disease”.

The Emory Udall Center administers a pilot grant program to encourage Parkinson's disease research at Emory which includes up to three grants annually for meritorious high-impact projects that generate preliminary data for larger grant applications. The Emory National Primate Research Center, Emory School of Medicine, The Jean and Paul Amos Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Program and Emory College provide financial support for this pilot program. 

Sandra Garraway, PhD, Associate Professor of Cell Biology, received a grant from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation titled, “Peripheral mechanism of pain after SCI: Role of Nav and TrkB signaling in neuronal hyperexcitability”.

The Hochman lab published a paper, “Emergent epileptiform activity in spinal sensory circuits drives ectopic bursting in afferent axons and sensory dysfunction after cord injury,” in PAIN, August 2024. Neuroscience Program grad student Matt Bryson is first author, and the work included collaborative efforts from the Garraway, Noble and Au Yong labs.

Recent publications in the Moberg Lab:

In collaboration with the Corbett lab in the Biology Department, the Moberg lab published the paper, “The RNA-binding protein Nab2 regulates levels of the RhoGEF Trio to govern axon and dendrite morphology,” in Molecular Biology of the Cell. 

The lab published the paper, "The Drosophila EcR-Hippo component Taiman promotes epithelial cell fitness by control of the Dally-like glypican and Wg gradient," in eLife.

People Behind the Papers. 

Latest Publication:

Matthew Rowan, PhD, Assistant Professor in Cell Biology, published a paper, “Entorhinal cortex vulnerability to human APP expression promotes hyperexcitability and tau pathology,” in Nature Communications, September 2024.

New Multi-PI NIH Grant:

Dr. Rowan is part of a multi-PI NIH grant, “Searching for the Goldilocks Zone of Innate Immunity in Alzheimer's Disease,” with Todd E. Golde, MD, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, and Yona Levites, PhD, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology.

Jill Ward, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology, received the Emory Seeds to Pursue Diverse Funders pilot grant titled, “High-Resolution EMG for Motor Units following Spinal Cord Injury,” in collaboration with Sam Sober, PhD.

The Office of the Senior Vice President for Research supports collaborative projects that cross disciplinary boundaries and academic units. Up to three grants are awarded annually. These grants are intended to catalyze new collaborations in support of a multiple investigator proposal submission to extramural funding programs in order to strengthen and diversify Emory’s external funding for interdisciplinary research beyond the Department of Human Health Services funding umbrella.

Peter Wenner, PhD, Professor in Cell Biology, and his lab published the paper, “GABAergic synaptic scaling is triggered by changes in spiking activity rather than AMPA receptor activation,” in eLife, June 2024.