http://www.life.uiuc.edu/csb/home.html

Program of Study
The Graduate Curriculum in Cell and Structural Biology is designed to educate students for a career in academic or biotechnology research and teaching in the biological sciences. Departmental faculty members are concerned with the structural and functional aspects of cell and developmental biology, with research emphases upon eukaryotic cell and molecular biology, neurobiology, developmental biology, and molecular genetics. The department has embarked on a major program of expanding research strengths in molecular aspects of cell and developmental biology to complement existing faculty member interests. In the last three years we recruited nine new faculty members in these areas. Our students can elect to perform their thesis research under the direction of any faculty member in the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (more than 60 actively working laboratories). The program of study leads to the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Research Facilities
The Department has unique strength in the fields of cell development and neurobiology. See description of faculty research below and at http://www.life.uiuc.edu/csb. Facilities include modern, well-equipped laboratories for cellular, developmental, genetic, molecular, and structural studies. The University offers exceptional and broadly based research support services. These include the Fluorescence Dynamics Lab, an NIH multiphoton microscopy resource, the Center for Electron Microscopy, with state-of-the-art instrumentation; the Keck Center for Biotechnology, which includes facilities for gene chip production and analysis, DNA and protein synthesis and sequencing, and transgenic animals; the Cell Science Center, which houses and staffs an antibody production and hybridoma facility and flow cytometry unit; School of Molecular and Cellular Biology–subsidized shops; and a superb university library system, the third largest in the nation. The University offers outstanding computer services and is a National Center for Supercomputing Applications. The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology combines research in the physical and biological sciences. Many other units within the Schools of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Integrative Biology, and Chemical Sciences and the Colleges of Medicine; Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; and Engineering offer opportunities for interactions in the cellular and molecular sciences.

Financial Aid
Financial aid is available to qualified applicants in the form of University Fellowships (awarded on a competitive basis), teaching assistantships (awarded by the department), research assistantships, and tuition and fee waivers. Outstanding applicants are nominated for support from the Cell and Molecular Biology, Molecular Biophysics, or Systems and Integrative Biology Training Grants. The Department guarantees support for all enrolled students who make satisfactory progress in program.

Student Group
Faculty members currently supervise the research of approximately 65 graduate students. About 350 students are enrolled in graduate programs in the Schools of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Integrative Biology. Total enrollment at the UIUC campus is 37,000, of whom 8,800 are graduate and professional students.

Student Outcomes
Graduates advance to postdoctoral positions in top research institutions throughout the country and to professional research careers with industrial, governmental, and academic institutions.

Location
Champaign and Urbana, adjoining cities located in east-central Illinois, have a combined population of 100,000. The University’s Krannert Center offers an outstanding series in the performing arts. Excellent athletic and recreational facilities are located on campus and in the nearby area. The cities are approximately a 2-hour drive from Chicago and Indianapolis. Champaign and Urbana are readily accessible by air, rail, and interstate highways.

The University
The Urbana-Champaign campus is the original and largest campus of the University of Illinois, which was founded in 1867 as a land-grant institution of the state of Illinois. The University is recognized internationally for the high quality of its academic programs and for its achievement in research and graduate studies. The Graduate College faculty, numbering approximately 2,450, consists of the University’s most active scholars, who are recognized nationally and internationally for their research. The central campus comprises 705 acres and has 200 major buildings.

Applying
Applicants should have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (A = 4.0). Important factors in the evaluation of candidates are their general academic performance, background in the biological and chemical sciences and mathematics, scores on the Graduate Record Examinations, and letters of recommendation from college professors. Applicants from non-English-speaking countries are expected to submit TOEFL scores with their application materials. Although applications from qualified students are considered throughout the year, the deadline to ensure full consideration for fellowship support for the fall semester is January 15. The department accepts either paper applications (request at csbinfo@life.uiuc.edu) or electronic applications
(http://www.life.uiuc.edu/csb/admissions.html).

Correspondence and Information
For further information and application materials:
Chairperson, Graduate Admissions Committee
Department of Cell and Structural Biology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
B107 Chemical and Life Sciences Laboratory
601 South Goodwin Avenue
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Telephone: 217-333-6118
Fax: 217-244-1648
E-mail: csbinfo@life.uiuc.edu
World Wide Web: http://www.life.uiuc.edu/csb/


THE FACULTY AND THEIR RESEARCH

Michel Bellini, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Curie (France), 1993. Organization of the nucleus; chromosomes and other nuclear organells; RNA transcription and processing; ribonucleoproteins; nucleocytoplasmic trafficking; amphibian oocyte. Assemply of the nuclear transcription and prcessing machinery: Cajal bodies (coiled bodies) and transcriptosomes. Mol. Biol. Cell 10:4385–402, 1999 (with Gall et al.).

Andrew S. Belmont, Professor; M.D., Ph.D., Temple, 1983. Interphase movements of a DNA chromosome region modulated by VP16 transcriptional activator. Nature Cell Biol. 3:134–9, 2001 (with T. Tumbar).

Jo Ann Cameron, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1975. Regeneration of Xenopus laevis larval hindlimbs: Factors that determine the extent of hindlimb regeneration during premetamorphic stages that gradually lose the ability to regenerate. Developmentally-regulated genes that are active during limb development and regeneration. Dev. Dynamics, 218:681-697 (with Wolfe et al.).

Jie Chen, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Rice University, 1993. Mechanisms of signal transduction, regulation of mammalian cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation. Phosphatidic acid-mediated mitogenic activation of mTOR signaling. Science 294:1942, 2001 (with Yimin Fang, et al.)

Akira Chiba, Associate Professor; Ph.D., SUNY Albany, 1990. Developmental neurobiology: Neuro-imaging and single-cell analysis using Drosophila nervous system. Ritzenthaler, Suzuki, Chiba (2000). Myopodia: postsyantpic filopodia that interact with innervating motoneuron axons. Nature Neurosci. 3:10127.

David F. Clayton, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Rockefeller, 1985. Role of gene regulation in learning and memory; songbird model system. J. Biol. Chem. 275, 34393–8, Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 74:185–216, Nature Neurosci. 4, 170–5.

Brian C. Freeman, Assistant Professor: Ph.D., Northwestern, 1996, Gene regulation; molecular chaperone action; active disassembly of nuclear protein complexes. Disassembly of transcriptional regulatory complexes by molecular chaperones. Science 296:2232-2235. 2002 (with Keith Yamamoto).

Vladimir I. Gelfand, Professor; Ph.D., 1974, D.Sc., 1984, Moscow State. Cytoskeleton, molecular motors (microtubule motors and non-muscle myosins), mechanisms, and regulation of organelle transport in neurons and non-neuronal cells. Karcher RL, Roland JT, Zappacosta F, Huddleston MJ, Annan RS, Carr SA, Gelfand VI. Cell cycle regulation of myosin-V by calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Science. 2001 Aug 17;293(5533):1317-20.

Martha U. Gillette, Professor; Ph.D., Toronto, 1976. Molecular, cellular, and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the biological clock in the brain, and their regulation by interacting signaling pathways. PACAP: A pivotal modulator of glutamatergic regulation of the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96:13468–73, 1999 (with Chen et al.).

William T. Greenough, Professor; Ph.D., UCLA, 1969. Roles of experience in nervous system development; quantitative anatomy; cytoplasmic mRNA binding proteins; neurobiology of Fragile X mental retardation syndrome; cellular and molecular substrates of memory. Synaptic regulation of protein synthesis and the fragile X protein. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci, (US), 98: 7101-7106, 2001. (with Klintsova, Irwin, Galvez, Bates and Weiler).

Jonathan J. Henry, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Texas, 1984. Mechanisms of cell determination; development of the vertebrate lens; regeneration; wound healing; developmental basis for evolutionary change. Development, regeneration, and wound healing. Dev. Dyn. 217:377–87 (with Carinato and Walter).

Huey Hing, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Yale, 1996. Axon guidance: Development of the visual and olfactory systems, growth cone, signal transduction, actin cytoskeleton. Pak functions downstream of Dock to regulate photoreceptor axon guidance in Drosophila. Cell 97(7):853-63, 1999 (with Xiao et al.).

Peter L. Jones, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Emory, 1997. Chromatin function in repression of gene expression; regulation of chromatin structure; biochemistry to chromatin remodeling factors; epigenetics. J. Biol. Chem. 276(12) 8807-11, 2001 (with Y. Shi).

Benita S. Katzenellenbogen, Professor; Ph.D., Harvard, 1970. Mechanisms of hormone, antihormone, and growth factor action in normal and cancer cells; biochemistry and immunochemistry of steroid hormone receptors; regulation of gene expression and cell proliferation by hormones and growth factors. An estrogen receptor-selective
corregulator that potentiates the effectiveness of antiestrogens and represses the activity of estrogens Martini, P. G. V., Delage-Mourroux, R., Kraichely, D. M., and Katzenellenbogen, B. S. Prothymosin alpha selectively enhances estrogen receptor transcriptional activity by interacting with a repressor of estrogen receptor activity (REA). Mol. Cell. Biol., 20:6224-6232, 2000.

Stephen J. Kaufman, Professor; Ph.D., Colorado, 1971. Role of _7_1 integrin and extracellular matrix in muscle development, in formation of the neuromuscular junction, and in neuromuscular disease. Cell & Tissue Res. 296: 183-190, 1999. Enhanced expression of the a7b1 integrin reduces muscular dystrophy and restores viability in dystrophic mice. J. Cell Biology. 152:1207-1218, 2001.

Byron W. Kemper, Professor; Ph.D., Stanford, 1969. Regulation of cytochrome P-450 gene expression; cytochrome P-450 structural determinants for cellular localization, substrate recognition, proteins assembly, and membrane interaction. Kim, J., Min, G., and Kemper, B. (2001) Chromatin assembly enhances binding to the CYP2B1 phenobarbital-responsive unit (PBRU) of nuclear factor-1 (NF-1), which binds simultaneously with constitutive androstane receptor (CAR)/retinoid X receptor (RXR) and enhances CAR/RXR mediated activation of the PRBU. J. Biol. Chem. 276:7559-7567.

Tzumin Lee, Assistant Professor; M.D., National Yang-Ming (Taiwan), 1989; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1996. Development of the Drosophilia central nervous system: The molecular mechanisms underlying formation and reorganization of the CNS neural circuits. Mosaic analysis with a repressible cell marker for studies of gene function in neuronal morphogenesis. Neuron 22:45161 (with Luo).

Lyne Lévesque, Research Assistant Professor; Ph.D., University of Toronto, 2000. Import of molecules into the nucleus and export of molecules from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Biochemical dissection of protein-protein interactions and other mechanisms between transported molecules and nuclear pore complex components that underlie translocation. Nucleocytoplasmic transport of RNA. Mechanisms and consequences of disease-related disruption of the nuclear transport. J. Cell Biol. 276:44953-62, 2001.

Jay E. Mittenthal, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Johns Hopkins, 1970. Theoretical biology; design and evolution of molecular networks. Designing bacteria, in Thinking About Biology, eds. Stein and Varela, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, Lect. Note Vol. III. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993 (with Clarke et al.).

Craig A. Mizzen, Assistant Professor, Ph. D., Toronto, 1993. Mechanisms of signal transduction acting on histones and other nuclear proteins to regulate gene transcription, DNA replication and repair, mitosis and apoptosis. Developing new methodologies for protein characterization. Requirement of Rsk-2 for epidermal growth factor-activated phosphorylation of histone H3. Science 285: 886-891, 1999 (with Sassone-Corsi et al).

Phillip A. Newmark, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1994. Planarian regeneration; stem cell biology; germ cell determination. Nature Reviews Genetics 3: 210-219, 2002.

David H. Rivier, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Oregon, 1988. Epigenetic regulation of transcription; regulation of gene silencing; coordinate regulation of silencing, DNA replication, and telomere length. SAS4 and SAS5 are locus-specific regulators of silencing in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 153:25–33, 1999 (with Xu et al.).

Hugh M. Robertson, Professor; Ph.D., Witwatersrand (South Africa), 1982. Molecular evolution of DNA transposons in animals; molecular genetics of insect olfaction; comparative insect genomics; molecular evolution of nematode chemoreceptors. Molecular evolution of an ancient mariner transposon, Hsmar 1, in the human genome. Gene 205, 203–17, 1997.

Christopher J. Schoenherr; PhD, California Institute of Technology. 1995. Chromatin and gene regulation; genomic imprinting; regulation of DNA methylation. CTCF mediates methylation-sensitive enhancer-blocking activity at the H19/Igf2 locus. Nature. 2000 May 25; 405:486-9
(with Hark et.al.)

Mary A. Schuler, Professor; Ph.D., Cornell, 1981. Molecular biology: Pre-mRNA processing; plant and insect P-450 monooxygenases.

James A. Weyhenmeyer, Professor; Ph.D., Indiana, 1977. Cellular and molecular biology of neuronal and glial receptors; molecular mechanisms of neuronal cell death and their role(s) in neurodegenerative disorders; signal transduction; neuronal growth and differentiation. Expression of 75 kDA TNF receptor and its role in contact-mediated neuronal cell death. Mol. Brain Res., 62:111–21, 1998 (with Sipe et al.).

Benjamin D. Williams, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Yale, 1986. Genetics and molecular genetics of C. elegans muscle development; cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Genes critical for muscle development and function in Caenorhabditis elegans identified through lethal mutations. J. Cell Biol. 124:475–90, 1994 (with Waterston).

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