UMDNJ - ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL
DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE

Experimental Biology

The purpose of the Division of Experimental Pathology is to advance our understanding of biological mechanisms that operate in normal and disease states. This mission is accomplished through basic biomedical research and through graduate- and postgraduate level teaching.

Located on the second floor of the Research Tower of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School on the Rutgers University Busch Campus in Piscataway, NJ it serves as home to several faculty members who participate in the core activities of the Division. Dr. Chavela Carr is studying the molecular mechanisms of membrane fusion using yeast genetics and biochemical techniques. Dr. Sunita Kramer is investigating the roles of receptors and ligands such as slit and robo in muscle and heart development using Drosophila genetics. Dr. Martha Soto, who just joined the faculty, will be working on early cell fate determination in the nematode. Dr. William Wadsworth studies axonal guidance and basement membrane using nematode genetics. Dr. Donald Winkelmann investigates the structure and function of motor proteins and associated cytoskeleton components and their defects in cardiomyopathies. Drs. Peter Yurchenco and Shaohua Li study the structure-function relationships of basement membrane in early embryogenesis and neuromuscular axis and the defects that develop in congenital muscular dystrophies. In addition to individual laboratories, the Division is served in common by an electron microscopy (EM) facility, a light/immuno and confocal microscopy facility, a bio-imaging computer facility, a tissue culture facility, and a core of shared equipment. The EM facility also provides clinical diagnostic services and research services to the outside research community.

Departmental research websites:

Carr
Foran
Wadsworth
Winklemann
Yurchenco & Li - Matrix Biology Laboratory
EM laboratory