Cell Biology
Understanding the functions of cells is the basis for understanding both human health and disease. The goal of cell biology is to understand the fundamental processes by which cells accomplish their varied tasks, including cell division, protein trafficking, signal transduction, cell migration and the formation of tissues during development and wound healing. The curriculum in cell biology offers outstanding opportunities in graduate education for students interested in the problem of cell regulation and function. Since the experimental approaches to these problems are multidisciplinary, program faculty members apply a wide range of experimental methods to their investigations, including biochemical, biophysical, immunological approaches and modern morphological techniques such as digital and confocal microscopy and molecular biological and genetic manipulation of function at both the cellular and organismal levels.