Graduate Program in Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology
What is Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology?
Many drugs act on cellular signaling pathways. The molecular basis of cellular signaling and its control by
various drugs and hormones is a major aspect of modern pharmacology and this aspect is emphasized in
the Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology. The objective of the Graduate Program in
Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology is to equip students with the skills required to conduct state-of-theart biomolecular, biomedical, and pharmacological basic research. The Program assists students in
becoming independent investigators in these research areas.
Advances in biomedical sciences are often based on the development of new drugs which improve and save
the lives of millions of patients. Drugs with specific biochemical actions are also powerful research tools.
They provide pharmacologists and other biomedical scientists unique research opportunities which help to
elucidate cellular signaling cascades. Students of the Graduate Program will develop expertise in the
fundamentals of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology. They will be able to solve a variety of problems in
basic biomedical sciences involving the design of research strategies for the discovery of novel drugs or
gene therapy approaches to regulate aberrant signal transduction cascades.
The Program
The Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Graduate Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has
been ranked in the top Pharmacology programs nationwide, reflecting the outstanding teaching and
research quality of its members. The program is one of the Basic Science Programs of the University of
Wisconsin Medical School.
The objective of the Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology is to equip the students
with skills required to conduct state-of-the-art biomolecular, biomedical, and pharmacological basic and
translational research. The Program assists the students in becoming independent investigators in these
research areas.
Application & Pre-requisites
The Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology requires an undergraduate major in
biomedical science (e.g. Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology), chemistry, physics, or
engineering. http://molpharm.wisc.edu Accepted graduate applicants commonly have strong scientific
backgrounds, a passion for research, and significant laboratory experience.
All applicants are required to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), preferably by October of the
year preceding admission to ensure the scores will be available by December 1st. The GRE subject test is not
required. Application deadline is December 1st: https://www.gradsch.wisc.edu/eapp/eapp.pl
Grants & Financial Support
Faculty trainers are required to maintain extramural funding. Students are paid a competitive stipend, and
tuition is covered. All MCP graduate students receive a stipend (the recommended level for biological
sciences graduate students is $25,000 for 2013-14), full tuition remission, and low cost options for
individual or family comprehensive health insuranceContact
Theresa M. Duello, PhD
Diversity Initiatives
Collaborative Recruitment
5240 Medical Sciences Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1300 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
tmduello@wisc.edu
608-262-7456
Graduate Program in Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology Faculty
Elaine Alarid
Molecular mechanisms of steroid hormone action.
Kurt Amann
A molecular understanding of the mechanisms
underlying cell structure and motility.
Mark Burkard
Targeted therapy directed at protein kinases.
Baron Chanda
Mechanisms of modulation of voltage-dependent
gating in ion channels.
Richard A. Anderson
Molecular mechanisms regulating cell migration,
proliferation, and differentiation; implications for
cancer.
Edwin R. Chapman
Molecular mechanisms that underlie neuronal
exocytosis.
Anjon Audhya
Molecular mechanisms that regulate membrane
trafficking during development.
Lara Collier
Genetics of tumor initiation, progression, and therapy
resistance.
Ravi Balijepalli
Trafficking and regulation of voltage-activated cardiac
ion channels.
Vincent Cryns
Abnormalities in cell death contributing to the
pathogenesis of cancer and obesity, and translating
these insights into improved therapies.
David Beebe
Exploring a variety of engineered in vitro
microenvironments to probe the nature of cell
interactions that regulate cell behavior.
Cynthia Czajkowski
Structure and function of neurotransmitter receptors.
William Bement
Cytoskeleton controls over cell division and wound
healing.
Emery H. Bresnick
Stem Cell Biology, Molecular Hematology, and
Vascular Biology: From Fundamental Mechanisms to
Translational Medicine.
John Denu
Mechanism and biological function of reversible
protein modifications involved in modulating signal
transduction, chromatin dynamics, and gene
activation.
Ying Ge
Cardiac Systems Biology; Molecular and Cellular
Mechanisms in Heart Failure; Cardiac Regenerative
Biology and Medicine
Michael N. Gould
Basic and translational research in breast cancer.
Daniel S. Greenspan
Modulation of BMP signaling and formation of the
extracellular matrix scaffolding in development and
tissue remodeling.
Jeffrey D. Hardin
Epithelial migration and embryonic development.
Melissa Harrison
Molecular mechanisms driving the initial wave of gene
expression in the totipotent cells of the early embryo.
Troy Hornberger
Skeletal muscles sense mechanical information and
convert this stimulus into the molecular events that
regulate changes in muscle mass.
Anna Huttenlocher
Cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate cell
migration; implications to tumor invasion and
metastasis and inflammation.
Meyer B. Jackson
Synaptic transmission in the central nervous systems.
Michelle Kimple
Guanine Nucleotide Binding Proteins, pancreatic betacell biology, insulin secretion, diabetes
pathophysiology
Pamela Kreeger
Systems biology to identify treatment approaches for
ovarian cancer and endometriosis.
Youngsook Lee
Molecular mechanisms regulating cardiovascular
development and disease.
Bo Liu
Molecular mechanism underlying vascular
inflammation; molecular mechanism underlying
occlusive vascular diseases; development of new
materials for biomedical applications.
Xuelin Lou
Development and function of central nerve terminals
and neural circuits.
Thomas F.J. Martin
Molecular approach to exocytosis of
neurotransmitters.
Colin R. Jefcoate
Physiological mechanisms associated with P450
cytochromes.
Kristyn Masters
Issues in cell-material interactions to create 'smarter',
bioactive materials that are capable of directing cell
function.
Jeffrey Johnson
Molecular Neuropharmacology/Neurotoxicology.
Shigeki Miyamoto
Rel/NF-kB transcription factors.
Joan Jorgensen
Identify genes that are sexually dimorphic during
sexual differentiation, characterize their functional
significance, and understand how they are regulated.
Deane F. Mosher
Biochemistry of cell adhesion and movement.
Robert Kalejta
Mechanisms of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)
replication and pathogenesis.
Ned Kalin
Neurobiological basis of fear, anxiety, and depression
at preclinical and clinical levels.
Timothy J. Kamp
Cardiac ion channels and embryonic stem cell-derived
cardiomyoctyes.
Patricia J. Keely
Integrin and small GTPase signaling events in
differentiation and transformation.
Judith Kimble
Germline stemcells (GSCs) and their regulation in the
nematode C. elegans
William F. Murphy
Bio-inspired non-covalent assembly of materials.
David Pagliarini
Mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolism; cell
signaling; proteomics.
J. Wesley Pike
Transcriptional mechanisms of steroid hormone
action in the skeleton.
Luigi Puglielli
Lipid signaling in the aging brain and molecular
pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.
Ron Raines
Chemical biology; protein design and engineering;
enzymology.
Alan C. Rapraeger
Syndecan regulation of cell adhesion and growth
factor signaling.
Avtar Roopra
Understand the epigenetic mechanisms behind
transcriptional regulation and chromatin structure.
Lixin Rui
The mechanisms of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway in
lymphomagenesis, investigation of the F-box protein
FBX010
Krishanu Saha
Using human stem cells together with emerging
engineering methods in material science and synthetic
biology.
Linda Schuler
Physiologic growth, differentiation, and functional
activity of the breast.
Nathan Sherer
HIV-1 assembly and spread; host-pathogen
interactions; retroviral gene regulation; virus
trafficking; cell-cell communication; live cell imaging.
Vladimir Spiegelman
Molecular mechanism of cancer development and
progression.
Rupa Sridharan
Epigenetics of cell fate change
Robert Striker
Working on naturally occurring and lab generated
mutants in the polymerase affects fidelity, replication,
and processivity.
John Svaren
Role of EGR and NAB proteins in peripheral nerve
myelination.
James A. Thomson
Focusing on understanding how a cell can maintain or
change identity, how a cell chooses between selfrenewal and the initial decision to differentiate, among
other cell related potentials.
Randal S. Tibbetts
Genome surveillance; DNA damage-induced signal
transduction.
David A. Wassarman
Transcriptional regulation by histone modifying
complexes in Drosophila.
Beth A. Weaver
Regulation of chromosome segregation during mitosis.
Deric Wheeler
Mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies.
Yongna Xing
Cell signaling pathways related to cancer.
Wei Xu
Transcriptional regulation of estrogen receptor (ER)
signaling pathways.
Jay Yang
Basic mechanisms of clinically relevant problems such
as pathological pain, heart failure (diabetic
cardiomyopathy), and sepsis using cellular, molecular,
and electrophysiological techniques.
Jerry Yin
Molecular genetics of learning and memory formation
in Drosophila and mice (molecular neurobiology,
nervous system function and dysfunction).
Su-Chun Zhang
Working on how functionally diversified neuronal and
glial subtypes are born in the making of our human
brain.
Xinyu Zhao
Focusing on understanding the molecular mechanisms
that regulate neural stem cells and neurodevelopment,
with the goal of applying this knowledge in the
treatment of neurological disorders and injuries.