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

The Genomics of Myelination

6/19/14

Fraser J. Sim, PhD, studies the molecular mechanisms controlling stem and progenitor cell fate in the human brain. His lab seeks to develop novel drug- and cell-based therapies for repair and regeneration in demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.
Addiction: Rewiring the Brain

6/19/14

David Dietz, PhD, investigates cellular changes by which drugs “hijack” the central nervous system’s reward circuitry, causing addiction. He studies how differences in individuals’ molecular and behavioral plasticity mediate susceptibility to drug abuse and relapse.
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.
Improving Breast Cancer Treatments

6/19/14

Rajendram Rajnarayanan, PhD, studies interactomes of the human estrogen receptor, which is expressed in 70 percent of breast cancers. His lab seeks to design molecules to improve the effects of tamoxifen, a drug commonly prescribed to treat breast cancer.
Pesticide Biomarkers

6/19/14

James R. Olson, PhD, has traveled to Egypt to work with cotton laborers exposed to pesticides. His research links genetics, an individual’s degree of exposure to pesticides and effects on health, seeking to improve workplace and environmental health worldwide.
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.