Senior Staff

We study mechanisms of protein biosynthesis in bacterial and eukaryotic cells, with a goal to understand bacterial drug resistance and identify new drug targets, using biochemical and high-resolution 3D cryo-EM techniques.

We use NextGen sequencing to determine frequencies and sequence dependence of polymerase errors, and computational methods for drug design, structure prediction, and elucidating chemical and conformational mechanisms.

We study the molecular basis of bacterial growth and cell shape determination in critical bacterial pathogens with “unusual” shapes. Our research helps us to understand how bacterial shape contributes to pathogenesis, and identifies vulnerabilities in understudied bacterial growth plans.

We examine the genetics of brain abnormalities and behavioral impairments associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Our current focus is identifying genes involved in abnormal forebrain connectivity and autism-relevant behaviors in mice.

We focus on understanding how human genetic variation influences disease susceptibility, morbidity and outcome by studying the relationships between gene variants and environmental factors.

We develop new technologies for fungal diagnostics and pathogenic mechanisms of Cryptococcus gattii and Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the etiologic agents of human cryptococcal meningitis and bat white nose syndrome, respectively.

Dr. Chave serves as the Director of the Tissue Culture and Media Core as well as the Protein Expression Core.

We investigate heterogeneous reactions occurring on ice, environmental particle and nanoparticle surfaces to better understand the atmospheric pollution processes and their impact on human health using spectroscopic techniques.

We study arbovirus adaptation and vector-virus interactions, focusing on West Nile virus and Culex mosquitoes. Areas of interest include mutant swarm dynamics, mechanisms of adaptation, microbial interactions and vectorial capacity.

We investigate ecological and genetic adaptation of Anopheles malaria vectors to environmental factors that impact vectorial capacity, population genetics/genomics, ecology and behavior, and novel ways to monitor and control vectors.

We focus on identifying conserved eukaryotic genes that control the activity of mobile retrotransposons and retroviruses for application as drug targets in the treatment of cancer, degenerative disease and AIDS.

We focus on developing and improving diagnostic tools for rabies. Additional research programs focus on studying rabies in bats within the laboratory and in field environments.

We study mycobacteria and use molecular genetic approaches to investigate: global gene expression, at both transcriptional and translational levels; the mechanism of distributive conjugal transfer; and synthetic genetic interactions.