Please note: The following Principle Investigators at UCSF are currently mentoring IRACDA/ISIS Fellows. Scholars who apply for the ISIS Fellowship are not limited to training with these particular PI's. Fellowship applicants should consider applying for a postdoc position in any lab at UCSF that might be appropriate for them in terms of research and personal goals.
Dr. Holly Ingraham, PhD, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology. At the Ingraham lab, research focuses on the development of endocrine and brain tissues important in energy balance and reproduction. They are defining regulatory mechanisms underlying these early developmental events using biochemistry and vertebrate animal model systems, and they are investigating how environmental factors impact the fetal endocrine and neuroendocrine systems.
Dr. Alicia F. Lieberman, PhD, is the Irving B. Harris Endowed Chair in Infant Mental Health, Professor, Vice Chair for Academic Affairs at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, and Director of the Child Trauma Research Project at San Francisco General Hospital. The Child Trauma Research Project (CTRP) conducts treatment outcome research and builds models of intervention for children birth to five who have experienced violence-related trauma, including exposure to domestic and community violence. Evidence-based treatment developed at CTRP is aimed at improving the parent-child relationship, at helping both parent and child better modulate their feelings, and at helping the parent understand the child’s experience so that the parent can become more effectively protective.
Dr. Elliot Sherr, PhD, Department of Neurology. Dr. Sherr and his collaborators at UCSF are studying the genetic causes of disorders of cognition and epilepsy, as well as the brain malformations associated with these disorders. Their focus is on polymicrogyria (PMG), Dandy-Walker malformation (DWM), and disorders of brain development that affect the corpus callosum (ACC/DCC). They are studying the clinical features of these disorders to better understand the problems faced by individuals with these disorders. The goal of their research is to use a better understanding of the underlying genetic causes as a foundation to develop better treatments for these groups of patients.
Dr. Erik Ullian, PhD, UCSF Department of Opthalmology and Physiology. The Ullian laboratory is interested in the interactions between neurons and glia that are required for the proper development and function of the nervous system. To study these interactions they use a variety of techniques including purification of neurons and glia for cell culture, patch clamp recording from neurons both in culture and in slices, and gene chip and molecular techniques to look at genes and proteins that are regulated by neurons and glia. Using these techniques we have begun to identify both extrinsic signals produced by glial cells and intrinsic signals produced by neurons that regulate synapse number and function.
Dr. Valerie Weaver, PhD, UCSF Institute for Regeneration Medicine. In the Weaver lab, research focuses on several areas: (1) The role of physical force in human embryonic stem cell fate. (2) The molecular mechanism linked to JNK and SMRT pathways whereby alpha 6/beta 4 integrin activates RAC and NFkappa B to mediate apoptosis resistance in reconstituted basement generated MEC tissue structures in culture and in a transgenic mouse model. (3) The role of physical force and tissue architecture in culture and in transgenic models and clinically in the pathogenesis of therapy resistant breast cancers.
Dr. Alison W. Xu, PhD, UCSF Diabetes Center and the Department of Anatomy. The Xu lab is interested in understanding how hypothalamic neurons sense and integrate peripheral adiposity signals such as leptin and insulin. Researchers are currently using a combination of mouse genetic, physiologic and real-time imaging approaches to address the following questions: 1. What are the leptin and insulin target neurons in the hypothalamus, and what are the functions of these neurons in energy balance and glucose homeostasis? 2. What are the intracellular signaling mechanisms utilized by leptin in hypothalamic neurons? 3. What are the mechanisms of hypothalamic leptin and insulin resistance?