Leadership
CBRS Advisory Board
Hal Alper
Professor
Chemical Engineering
The Alper Lab rewires cellular metabolism to produce next generation biochemicals, polymer precursors, fuels, and pharmaceuticals. In doing so, the research group is addressing global challenges including sustainability, human health, circular bio-economies, and clean energy/energy security. Researchers rewire cells by uniquely merging the areas of synthetic biology, directed evolution and pathway engineering. To complement these efforts, the lab has developed many synthetic genetic toolkits, high-throughput screening techniques, evolution schemes, and culturing platforms - with a mission of enabling advanced biomanufacturing using rewired host organisms.
Contact: halper@che.utexas.edu
Amy Brock
Associate Professor
Biomedical Engineering
Amy Brock's lab is focused on understanding cancer as a complex biological system. Her research interests include cancer systems biology, heterogeneity and cell state plasticity, gene regulatory networks, chemotherapy drug resistance and normal differentiation and differentiation therapy.
Contact: amy.brock@utexas.edu
Bryan Davies
Professor
Molecular Biosciences, Medical Education
Bryan Davies is a professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences in the College of Natural Sciences and Dell Medical School’s Department of Medical Education. His research interests include antimicrobial discovery and development, bacteria-host interactions and microbe engineering. Davies completed a bachelor’s degree in in biochemistry, Ph.D. in molecular biology, and postdoctoral fellowship in infectious diseases.
Contact: bwdavies@austin.utexas.edu
Andreas Matouschek
Professor, Senior Associate Dean for Research and Resources Management
Molecular Biosciences, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Graduate Program
Andreas Matouschek recently served as Interim Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin where he has also held other principal roles including Associate Dean for Research and Facilities and director of the Center for Biomedical Research Support, guiding the college’s research strategy and infrastructure. Before UT Austin, he served in faculty and administrative posts at Northwestern University, including program leadership in cancer cell biology and graduate education. Matouschek trained in biology, biochemistry, and chemistry at University of Basel, Switzerland, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Munich.
Contact: matouschek@austin.utexas.edu
William Matsui
Vice Dean for Research, Professor
Dell Medical School
William Matsui, M.D., is the vice dean of research at Dell Medical School and a professor of oncology and internal medicine, specializing in blood and bone marrow cancers and bone marrow transplantation. He previously served as a professor and director of the Multiple Myeloma Program at Johns Hopkins University, where he also co-directed the Division of Hematologic Malignancies. Matsui earned an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Harvard University and a medical degree from UC San Francisco. He completed training at the University of Washington and Johns Hopkins. A leader in translational research, Matsui is known for pioneering work on cancer stem cells, first identifying them in multiple myeloma and later in other cancers. His lab has explored abnormal activation of developmental pathways in cancer stem cells and translated these findings into clinical trials of novel therapies.
Contact: william.matsui@austin.utexas.edu
Jennifer Maynard
Professor
Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering
Jennifer A. Maynard, Ph.D., is the ZD Bonner Professor of Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. A recognized leader in biomedical engineering, she is a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors and a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers. Her innovative research and teaching have earned numerous honors, including the University of Texas Emerging Inventor of the Year Award, the Texas Exes Teaching Award for the College of Engineering, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenge Award, the Packard Fellowship, the Dreyfus New Faculty Award, and the NIH National Research Service Award (F32). She earned a bachelor’s degree in human biology with Honors from Stanford University, a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from UT Austin, and completed postdoctoral training in microbiology and immunology at Stanford University.
Contact: maynard@che.utexas.edu
Samuel Poloyac
Dean, Professor
College of Pharmacy
Samuel M. Poloyac, PharmD, PhD, is the Dean and James T. Doluisio Regents Chair at The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. He previously served as Associate Dean at the University of Pittsburgh, where he built a career in pharmacy education and research. His work in critical care pharmacology has led to significant discoveries, over $9 million in NIH funding, and more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. A Fellow of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, Poloyac is also recognized for innovative teaching, earning the UT System Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. He is dedicated to advancing pharmacy education and research while preparing the next generation of leaders in the field.
Contact: samuel.poloyac@austin.utexas.edu
Tanya Paull
Professor, Professor of Oncology
Molecular Biosciences, Department of Oncology
Tanya Paull is the Burl and Lorene Rogers Chair in Human Health and a Professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at The University of Texas at Austin. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biological sciences from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from UCLA, followed by postdoctoral research at the NIH with Dr. Martin Gellert. Paull leads a research program on DNA double‑strand break repair in eukaryotes and the interplay between DNA damage, oxidative stress signaling, and protein homeostasis in human cells—work with direct relevance to cancer and neurodegeneration. She previously served as an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Contact: tpaull@utexas.edu
Core Advisory Boards
Biomedical Imaging Center
- Jennifer Beer, Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
- Jessica Church-Lang, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts
- Elizabeth Lippard, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical School
- Jon Tamir, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
- John Virostko, Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic Medicine, Dell Medical School
- Elena Zannoni,, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
Biological Mass Spectrometry Facility
- Jennifer Brodbelt, Chair, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
- George Georgiou,, Professor, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
- Jaime Lopez,, Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
- Edward Marcotte, Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
- Michael Marty, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
- Tanya Paull, Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
Genomic Sequencing and Analysis Facility
- Lauren Ehrlich, Professor, Department of Microbiology, College of Natural Sciences
- Andrea Gore, Professor, College of Pharmacy
- Ryan Gray, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School
- Hans Hofmann, Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
- Mikhail Matz, Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
- Dayne Mayfield, Research Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
- Steven Phelps, Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, College of Natural Sciences
- Stephanie Seidlits, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
Microscopy and Flow Cytometry Facility
- Amy Brock, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
- Lauren Ehrlich, Professor, Department of Microbiology, College of Natural Sciences
- Lief Fenno, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
- George Georgiou,, Professor, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
- Jeffrey Gross, Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
- Yi Lu, Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
- Emily Que, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
- Carla Vandenberg, Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy
Mouse Genetic Engineering Facility
- Aaron Baker, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
- John Digiovanni, Professor, College of Pharmacy
- Sung Eun Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Dell Medical School
- Robert Messing, Chair, former vice-provost, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
- Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy
- Steven Vokes, Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
Sauer Structural Biology Laboratory
- Zunlong Ke, Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
- Brian Korgel, Professor, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
- Manish Kumar,, Professor, McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering
- Jason McLellan, Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
- Susanne Ressl, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, College of Natural Sciences
- Michael Rose, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences
- David Taylor, Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences
- Yan Jessie Zhang, Professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences