Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Collaborative Research Efforts

UB 2020 is the university’s long-term strategic plan. It is designed to transform UB into a model 21st-century public university that will rise among the ranks of the nation’s public research institutions.

Faculty within the school participate in five of the plan’s eight strategic strengths, as follows:

Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan

Seeks to facilitate research pertinent not only to optimal aging, but to the promotion of health and disease prevention across the life span.

Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems and Bioinformatics

An integrated approach to medical and biological discovery and the transitioning of resulting information into treatments for human disease.

Integrated Nanostructured Systems

Studies objects thousands of times smaller than a speck of dust, forging into new territories that will benefit human health, the environment, industry and society.

Extreme Events: Mitigation and Response

Researches ways to increase resiliency to natural and human-caused disasters, improve outcomes and contribute to disaster prevention.

Civic Engagement and Public Policy

Aligns the university’s human, programmatic and financial resources to promote and enhance quality of life within the region, state and beyond.

Researcher Spotlight

Molecular Parasitology

6/19/14

Noreen Williams, PhD, studies parasitic protozoans, including Trypanosoma brucei, which causes African sleeping sickness, transmitted by the tse-tse fly; and Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes Chagas’ disease, transmitted by the reduviid bug.
Copper and Iron Transport

6/19/14

Daniel Kosman, PhD, studies how organisms acquire and metabolize iron and copper, intrinsically toxic metals essential to cellular respiration and oxygen transport. One of his goals is to develop antifungal drugs to treat infections in humans.
Comparative Genomics

6/19/14

Norma Nowak, PhD, studies global comparative genomics and differential gene expression analyses. She contributed to the creation of the BAC libraries used to sequence the human genome.
Diabetes

6/19/14

Suzanne Laychock, PhD, is investigating the cellular mechanisms regulating insulin secretion in pancreatic cells. Her group has used pancreatic cells in primary culture to develop in vitro systems that mimic aspects of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
Bacterial Pathogenesis

6/19/14

Thomas Russo, MD, is internationally known for his work with strains of E. coli that cause infections outside the intestine and result in morbidity worldwide due to pneumonia, urinary tract infections and meningitis.
The Neuropharmacology of Melatonin

6/19/14

Margarita L. Dubocovich, PhD, works to elucidate melatonin’s mechanism of action and role in modulating circadian rhythms. Her lab develops novel molecules targeting melatonin receptors to treat depression, sleep disorders and cardiovascular disease.