Department of Biology

My activities cover three main areas. First, I study aspects of cell biology in my research laboratory - specifically I and the people who work for me investigate how membrane-bound compartments within cells contain different activities (like rooms within houses) and how then the compartments communicate with each other by exchanging material.

Second, because of changes in research as a result of our ability to sequence genomes and understand gene expression on a global basis, I am involved in two science education efforts geared towards bringing modern biology to undergraduate classrooms. These two groups, the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT - http://www.bio.davidson.edu/projects/GCAT/GCAT.html) and the Genome Education Partnership (GEP - gep.wustl.edu), are both made up of faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions. All of us seek to train current students in current methodology, important for their future careers as scientists and other professionals.

Third, I am Co-Director of the new major in Biology of Global Health. This novel program aims to educate scientists broadly not only in scientific disciplines, but also in policy, bioethics, economics, law, etc. This program was available for the first time in 2008 and has been an unqualified success.