STRENGTHS

Research in The Department of Physiology and Biophysics addresses a wide range of fundamental questions that are highly relevant to normal human physiology and to disease states, in particular cardiovascular disorders, hypoxia, hypertension and kidney disease, inflammation, cancer, skin disease, cirrhosis of the liver, Alzheimer's, and prion disease. A central goal of physiology is to understand how cells function at the molecular level, at the level of the cell membrane, and at the level of single cells, tissues, and organ systems. Biophysics contributes to these goals by providing analytical and quantitative approaches to cell physiology and protein structure-function relationships. Research in the Department is funded by various national agencies predominantly NIH, NSF, and AHA, and for the past several years departmental NIH funding has consistently ranked in the top ten Medical School Physiology Departments in the US. Strong department leadership has also resulted in the award of four NIH-funded program projects or centers and three different training grants. In addition, department faculty have important leadership roles in The Cleveland Center for Structural Biology, which provides advanced, state-of-the-art instrumentation, including a 900 MHz NMR spectrometer; and the newly created Center for Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, whose goal is to discover new structure-based medicines and help develop better therapeutics for treating both genetic and infectious diseases. All of the Department's faculty carry out basic research and actively direct the training of graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows. Major areas of study include the structure/function analysis of ion channels, and G-protein coupled receptors, protein folding, cytoskeleton and molecular motors, signal transduction, regulation of gene expression, regulation of vesicle trafficking and targeting, cell polarity, epithelial transport, synaptic transmission, metabolic regulation, and cell-cell interactions in various organ systems.

In addition to a major emphasis on laboratory research, our training programs offer graduate level courses in cell, membrane and organ physiology, cell signaling, molecular biology, and advanced cell and protein biophysics; a seminar series by outstanding outside speakers; and specialized journal clubs. The journal clubs provide for a high degree of interaction among the faculty, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. A biannual retreat serves a similar purpose. It is held off-site with research presentations by all departmental laboratories and students.