The Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology strives to develop new knowledge through basic research about the function of living organisms with focus on the molecular and cellular levels of all branches of life - bacteria, plants, and animals. Our faculty research strengths are animal physiology and neurobiology, biochemistry, cell biology, developmental biology, microbiology and plant molecular biology. We are home to the undergraduate concentration in Cell and Molecular Biology that graduates nearly 200 students per year. Our General Public and Pre-College Students section offers answers to questions about biology. We hope you find our site informative!
Assistant Professor
Patricia Wittkopp
has been awarded the Henry Russel Award! This award is the most prestigious award the University has for junior faculty and rewards both outstanding scholarship and outstanding teaching. Patricia Wittkopp
Assistant Professor
Matt Chapman
has been awarded the 2009 Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award for his outstanding teaching of undergraduates. Read more.Matt Chapman
The Jakob Lab
has one of their figures featured on the cover of ARS for May 2009. View the cover figure.
Professor James Bardwell
and his research group
have recently discovered how a tiny protein helps protect disease-causing bacteria from the ravaging effects of stomach acid! One way that acid kills bacteria is by causing the proteins in them to unfold and stick together in much the same way that heating an egg causes its proteins to form a solid mass. It is also very difficult for bacteria to dissolve these protein clumps, so bacteria and most living things can die when exposed to acid or heat.
Disease-causing bacteria such as the notorious E. coli are protected from stomach acid by a tiny protein called HdeA. In the PNAS paper, the researchers describe how this protein works to protect bacteria.
Read the UM News Services article and USA Today article.
