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Research Faculty


Research Faculty
Mary H. Cheng
412-648-9614
hoc2@pitt.edu
Office: 845 MURD
Lab Website
Mary H. Cheng, PhD - Research Assistant Professor
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
I have modeling experience in a wide range of ion channels/transporters, including several types of sodium coupled neurotransmitter transporters, neurotransmitter-gated ion channels, voltage-gated ion channels/transporters, and gape junction Claudin-2. My research interest and expertise lie in protein modeling and medicinal chemistry, focusing on molecular mechanisms of i) transporter functions, i.e., transporter cycle; ii) ion transport through membrane protein channels, i.e. channel conductance and charge selectivity; iii) drug modulation of protein receptors, i.e. ligand binding sites and binding affinity; and iv) protein-lipid and lipid-lipid interactions. I am particularly interested in development/implement of multi-scale modeling technology to investigate biological systems at both molecular and cellular levels. I developed a hybrid molecular dynamics/Brownian dynamics methodology that can be applied to investigate ion permeation through membrane protein channels.
Cheng MH, Bahar I (2019) Monoamine transporters: structure, intrinsic dynamics and allosteric regulation Nat Struct. & Molec. Biol. 26: 545–556

Cheng MH, Torres-Salazar D, Gonzalez-Suarez AD, Amara SG, Bahar I (2017) Substrate Transport and Anion Permeation Proceed through Distinct Pathways in Glutamate Transporters. ELife. 6: e25850
Albert Gough
412-383-5915
gough@pitt.edu
Office: BST3
Lab Website
Albert Gough, PhD - Research Associate Professor
Ph.D. in Biology/Biophysics, Carnegie Mellon University
My research is focused on relating in vitro cellular systems models to in vivo biological functions. Using automated high content imaging systems we are able to create cellular models with readouts that indicate a wide range of cellular functions. Alterations in function at the tissue, organ and organism level, should be related to alterations in cellular functions. However, the interactions and heterogeneity at the cellular level complicates that relationship. Presently we are building a cellular model in which to analyze cancer pathway interactions and heterogeneity. The goal is to provide an approach to developing therapies that address the heterogeneity of biological systems.
Vernetti L, Gough A, Baetz N, Blutt S, Broughman JR, Brown JA, Foulke-Abel J, Hasan N, In J, Kelly E, Kovbasnjuk O, Repper J, Senutovitch N, Stabb J, Yeung C, Zachos NC, Donowitz M, Estes M, Himmelfarb J, Truskey G, Wikswo JP, Taylor DL (2017) Functional Coupling of Human Microphysiology Systems: Intestine, Liver, Kidney Proximal Tubule, Blood-Brain Barrier and Skeletal Muscle. Sci Rep. 7: 42296

Gough A, Stern AM, Maier J, Lezon T, Shun TY, Chennubhotla SC, Schurdak ME, Haney SA, Taylor DL (2017) Biologically Relevant Heterogeneity: Metrics and Practical Insights. SLAS Discov.. (3): 213-237
Maria Kapetanaki

mgkapetanaki@pitt.edu
Lab Website
Maria Kapetanaki, PhD - Research Assistant Professor
PhD, Molecular Biology, University of Crete Greece
No recent publications authored or co-authored by Kapetanaki, M found. Try searching pubmed.gov.
Mark T. Miedel
412-383-9893
mmiedel@pitt.edu
Office: W904 BST
Lab Website
Mark T. Miedel, PhD - Research Assistant Professor
PhD in Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Identifying the mechanisms that cause resistance in ER ligand binding domain mutants, and to use this information to develop novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of endocrine-resistant metastatic breast cancer.
Shanhang J, Miedel MT, Ngo M, Hessenius R, Wang P, Bahreini A, Li Z, Ding Z, Chen N, Shun TY, Zuckerman DM, Taylor DL, Puhalla SL, Lee AV, Oesterreich S, Stern AM (2017) Clinically observed estrogen receptor alpha mutations within the ligand-binding domain confer distinguishable phenotypes indicative of Darwinian-like somatic evolution Oncology.

Shi S, Luke CJ, Miedel MT, Silverman GA, Kleyman TR (2016) Activation of the Caenorhabditis elegans degenerin channel by shear stress requires the MEC-10 subunit. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 291(27): 14012-22
Mark E. Schurdak
412-648-3090
mes234@pitt.edu
Office: 10045 BST3
Lab Website
Mark E. Schurdak, PhD - Research Associate Professor
Ph.D. in Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine
My research interests center on applying a systems biology/pharmacology approach to develop more effective drug discovery strategies that utilize integrated phenotype/function-based analysis (where all targets involved are functioning in a more physiologic relevant environment) and to better understand the molecular mechanisms that cause drugs to succeed or fail in the clinic.
Gough A, Stern AM, Maier J, Lezon T, Shun TY, Chennubhotla SC, Schurdak ME, Haney SA, Taylor DL (2017) Biologically Relevant Heterogeneity: Metrics and Practical Insights. SLAS Discov.. (3): 213-237

DAiuto L, Zhi Y, KumarDas D, Wilcox MR, Johnson JW, McClain L, MacDonald ML, DiMaio R, Schurdak ME, Piazza P, Viggiano L, Sweet R, Kinchington PR, Bhattacharjee AG, Yolken R, Nimgaonka VL (2014) Large-scale generation of human iPSC-derived neural stem cells/early neural progenitor cells and their neuronal differentiation ORGANOGENESIS. 10: 365-377
Andrew M. Stern
412-648-9897
Sternam@pitt.edu
Office: 10048 BST3
Lab Website
Andrew M. Stern, PhD - Research Associate Professor
Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry, University of California at Los Angeles
The overarching goal of our research is to identify mechanisms involved in complex human disease progression and use this knowledge to develop novel therapies for individual patients. We apply a holistic clinically relevant quantitative systems biology and pharmacology approach. This involves the development, implementation, and integration of several high throughput and high content molecular and cell-based technologies and models to comprehensively define fundamental biological processes that are perturbed in particular diseases.
Uttam S, Stern AM, Furman S, Pullara F, Spagnolo D, Nguyen L, Gough AH, Sevinsky C, Ginty F, Taylor DL, Chennubhotla SC (2020) Spatial domain analysis predicts risk of colorectal cancer recurrence and infers associated tumor microenvironment networks Nature Communications. 11: 3515

Bahreini A, Li Z, Wang P, Levine KM, Tasdemir N, Cao L, Weir HM, Puhalla SL, Davidson NE, Stern AM, Chu D, Park BH, Lee AV, Oesterreich S (2017) Mutation site and context dependent effects of ESR1 mutation in genome-edited breast cancer cell models. Breast Cancer Res. 19(1): 60
Larry Vernetti
412-383-5856
vernetti@pitt.edu
Office: BST3
Lab Website
Larry Vernetti, PhD - Research Associate Professor
Ph.D. in Toxicology, University of Arizona
The focus of my research is developing early in vitro safety assessment and in vitro ADME models to identify risky compound candidates and allowing the drug developer to focus on fewer but more likely to succeed candidates. An important part of this research is the identification of the molecular mechanism of toxicity (MOA) within the cell, and then understanding how this can be used to predict target organ toxicity. The need for such an application is clear just by considering liver toxicity as an example. Despite decades of extensive animal testing, only half of the pharmaceutics which eventually produced clinical liver toxicity showed evidence of liver damage during animal trials. Bridging this gap is a necessary step forward to developing safer and effective drugs.
Vernetti L, Gough A, Baetz N, Blutt S, Broughman JR, Brown JA, Foulke-Abel J, Hasan N, In J, Kelly E, Kovbasnjuk O, Repper J, Senutovitch N, Stabb J, Yeung C, Zachos NC, Donowitz M, Estes M, Himmelfarb J, Truskey G, Wikswo JP, Taylor DL (2017) Functional Coupling of Human Microphysiology Systems: Intestine, Liver, Kidney Proximal Tubule, Blood-Brain Barrier and Skeletal Muscle. Sci Rep. 7: 42296

Vernetti L, Gough A, Baetz N, Blutt S, Broughman JR, Brown JA, Foulke-Abel J, Hasan N, In J, Kelly E, Kovbasnjuk O, Repper J, Senutovitch N, Stabb J, Yeung C, Zachos NC, Donowitz M, Estes M, Himmelfarb J, Truskey G, Wikswo JP, Taylor DL (2017) Corrigendum: Functional Coupling of Human Microphysiology Systems: Intestine, Liver, Kidney Proximal Tubule, Blood-Brain Barrier and Skeletal Muscle. Sci Rep. 7: 44517