Guy Benian

Guy Benian

Guy Benian

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Professor
Professor of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine
Professor of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine

Guy Benian is a professor of cell biology and pathology in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine. His research focus is on myofibril assembly and maintenance in the model genetic system, Caenorhabditis elegans; focus on the functions and structures of giant multi-domain proteins, and the mechanism by which myofibrils are attached to the muscle cell membrane and transmit force.

pathgb@emory.edu

404-727-5953

Office Location:
Biomedical Research Building 105E

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Systems Biology
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    We use the powerful model genetic organism, C. elegans, to discover new conserved aspects about muscle assembly, maintenance and regulation. Although our work is basic science, it has relevance to human diseases of muscle including cardiomyopathies and muscular dystrophies. Our main projects are: (1) The structures and functions of giant polypeptides in muscle, >700,000 Da, that consist of multiple Ig and Fn domains and one or two protein kinase domains. One focus is to determine the substrates for these kinases, and how they are activated (normally autoinhibited). The problem of activation is being studied in collaboration with structural biologist Olga Mayans (Univ. of Konstanz) and biomedical engineer Hang Lu (Georgia Tech). Recently, we have discovered that UNC-89 (human "obscurin") kinase activity is required for proper mitochondrial organization and function. This has initiated a collaboration with Jennifer Kwong in Emory's Pediatrics Dept. (2) The molecular mechanism by which the muscle contractile units (sarcomeres) are attached to the muscle cell membrane and transmit force. This involves "integrin adhesion complexes" (IACs) consisting of the trans-membrane protein integrin and many other proteins. C. elegans muscle has 3 such IACs, and through a mutant screen, we discovered a conserved protein (a GEF for Rac) that directs assembly specifically at one of these sites. (3) In collaboration with biophysicist Andres Oberhauser (UTMB), we are studying the mechanisms by which the conserved myosin head chaperone, UNC-45 folds or re-folds myosin heads, and we have recently discovered a role for UNC-45 in muscle aging (sarcopenia). This project has also branched into a screen for small compounds that increase the expression of UNC-45 and reduce sarcopenia. (4) We have a long-term collaboration with Dan Kalman in Emory's Pathology Dept. to study the beneficial effects of small molecules produced by the gut microbiome that promote healthspan, especially the attenuation of sarcopenia.

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    Steven Goudy

    Steven Goudy

    Steven Goudy

    Associate Professor
    Director, Division of Pediatric Otolaryngology Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
    CEO, BeeClear LLC

    Steven L. Goudy, MD, MBA, professor of otolaryngology, director of pediatric otolaryngology at Emory University School of Medicine, founding director of the ACGME-accredited pediatric otolaryngology fellowship at Emory, and medical director of otolaryngology at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, is dedicated to providing top-level surgical care to the children of Georgia. 

    His clinical practice focuses on maxillary development, Pierre Robin sequence, vascular malformations, and velopharyngeal insufficiency. Working closely with colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia Institute of Technology, and other local and state entities, Dr. Goudy and his team have developed novel and innovative solutions for care delivery that have brought value to families and improved treatment for patients. 

    Dr. Goudys research is focused on defining the biologic processes that guide facial formation for the development of better approaches to regenerating damaged and deficient facial bone and improving wound healing after surgery or injury. Current research projects include an NIH-funded studies to develop immunological approaches to improving oral cavity wound healing, leveraging the oral microbiome to improve oral wound healing and a project to devise cranial facial bone regeneration techniques for pediatric bone replacement procedures. 

    Dr. Goudy is dedicated to international service, particularly in the areas of surgical education and delivering surgical care to children with limited access to healthcare. He has traveled globally and performed mission work for more than 20 years in such countries as Guatemala and the Philippines, providing free surgical care to patients with cleft lip and cleft palate and engaging in medical education activities.

    steven.goudy@emory.edu

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    Dr. Goudy’s lab focuses on craniofacial bone regeneration and the basic biologic mechanisms that control facial bone and soft tissue regeneration. He currently collaborates with investigators at Georgia Institute of Technology and is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Children’s Research Trust.

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    Adam Klein

    Adam Klein

    Adam Klein

    Director, Emory Voice Center
    Chief, Division of Laryngology
    Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor in Voice
    Department of Otolaryngology - HNS

    Adam M. Klein, MD, FACS, is Willard and Lillian Hackerman Professor in Voice in the Department of Otolaryngology at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Klein serves as Director of the Emory Voice Center and as Chief of the Division of Laryngology. Board certified with the American Board of Otolaryngology, Dr. Klein's clinical specialties include general otolaryngology, laryngeal disorders and the professional voice. 

    Dr. Klein is a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute. He is a Fellow of The American College of Surgeons and American Laryngological Association. He holds professional memberships with American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Broncho-Esophagological Association, and Georgia Society for Otolaryngology.

    aklein4@emory.edu

    404-686-6774

    Office Location:
    Emory University School of Medicine

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Medical Device Design, Development and Delivery
    Additional Research:
    Medical and Surgical Device Design, Development and Delivery

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    Nicholas Boulis

    Nicholas Boulis

    Nicholas Boulis

    Associate Professor
    MD
    Director, Gene and Cell Therapy for Neurorestoration Laboratory

    Dr. Nicholas M. Boulis is a neurosurgeon in Atlanta, Georgia and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including Emory University Hospital Midtown and Grady Memorial Hospital. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and has been in practice for more than 20 years.

    nicholas.boulis@emoryhealthcare.org

    404-778-5770

    Office Location:
    Emory Clinic, Building B

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Chemical Biology
    • Neuroscience
    • Regenerative Medicine
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    Boulis is a functional neurosurgeon with significant expertise in the field of gene transfer to the nervous system. Dr. Boulis' Gene and Cell Therapy Translational Laboratory pursues advanced biological treatments for neurological disorders, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).

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    Robert Gross

    Robert Gross

    Robert Gross

    MBNA Bowman Chair & Professor
    Director and Co-Founder, ENTICe
    Director, Translational Neuro-Engineering Laboratory
    Director, Stereotactic, Functional Neurosurgery & Epilespsy Surgery

    Dr. Gross’s research interests include: restorative approaches (including cell and gene therapy) for Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders; physiology of movement disorders (Parkinson's disease, tremor, dystonia); novel surgical techniques for epilepsy (e.g. deep brain stimulation, cell and gene therapy). In particular, he has been elucidating the role of axon guidance molecules in the development and reconstruction of the nigrostriatal pathway, which degenerates in P.D. This approach, which encompasses molecular and cellular engineering in combination with neurotransplantation, may be generally useful in reconstructive approaches for many types of nervous system degeneration and injury. 

    In July of 2007, Dr. Gross, along with Steve M. Potter, Ph.D. of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, was the recipient of a prestigious grant from The Epilepsy Research Foundation (ERF) for translational research funding awards supporting innovative epilepsy products. The grant supports the development of a novel electrical stimulation approach that directly controls the activity of the brain to attain a more stable state from which seizures will not arise.

    rgross@emory.edu

    404-727-2354

    Office Location:
    Emory WMRB 6311

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Neuroscience
    • Regenerative Medicine
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    Neuromodulation using multielecrode arrays, closed loop control theory, and optogenetics for epilepsy and movement disorders. Computational modeling of epilepsy networks for model-based and non-model based feedback control of optogenetic and electrical neuromodulation. Neurorestoration using gene and cell-therapy based approaches for degenerative and injury conditions. The Translational Neuroengineering Research Lab uses neuromodulation for epilepsy using a combination of the following advanced techniques: 1) Multimicroelectrode electrical stimulation using novel parameters informed by optimization of input/output relationships (both model- and non-model based MIMO) using closed-loop control theory including adaptive learning and machine learning approaches; 2) Optogenetic activation and inhibition using all forms of available channels including step-function opsins. These approaches identify novel brain regions that have more widespread control and targets specific cell types for activation and inhibiton. Closed loop control using multielecrode arrays informs and controls neuromodulation. 3) Hardware independent 'luminopsins': novel gene therapy approaches combining bioluminescent proteins with optogenetic channels for hardware independent, widespread and activity-regulatable neuromodulation. We use a combination of in vitro models, animal models (mouse, rat, non-human primate) and human patients undergoing epilepsy and deep brain stimulation surgery as our experimental models. In addition, the laboratory has developed novel gene therapy vectors for neurorestoration targeting key pivotal proteins regulating axon outgrowth in regenerative situations, including for Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury and retinal degeneration.

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    Edmund Waller

    Edmund Waller

    Edmund Waller

    Professor of Medicine, Medical Oncology and Pathology
    Rein Saral Professor of Cancer Medicine
    Interim Associate Director, Clinical Research, Winship Cancer Institute
    Medical Director, Center for Stem Cell Processing and Apheresis
    Director, Emory Regenerative Engineering and Medicine Center

    Dr. Waller specializes in bone marrow transplants for acute leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, myeloproliferative neoplasms, lymphoma, aplastic anemia, sickle cell disease and in the management of graft-versus-host disease.

    ewaller@emory.edu

    404-778-2984

    Office Location:
    Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Cancer Immunotherapy
    • Regenerative Medicine
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    Dr. Waller's research focus is in enhancing immune reconstitution after stem cell transplant and developing cell and small-molecule based cancer immunotherapeutics. His current research activities include pre-clinical and clinical studies focused on the role of donor immune cells in optimizing anti-tumor immunity after allogenic transplantation, enhancing functional properties of chimeric-antigen-receptor T cells, and blocking novel immune check-point pathways in cancer. His NIH-funded basic and translational research lab uses mouse models and performs immunological analyses of clinical samples from patients. He has active translational research activities and serves as a principal investigator on institutional and national cooperative group clinical trials.

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    David Lynn

    David Lynn

    David Lynn

    Asa Griggs Candler Professor
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor

    David G. Lynn has contributed in the general areas of molecular recognition, synthetic biology and chemical evolution, and has developed chemical and physical methods for the analysis of supramolecular self-assemblies, of signal transduction in cellular development and pathogenesis, of molecular skeletons for storing and reading information, and of the evolution of biological order.

    Lynn has earned a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professorship, the Emory Scholar-Teacher Award, a fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the ACS Charles H. Herty Medal.

    During his tenure as Chair of the Department of Chemistry from 2006-2015, Lynn assisted in the renovation of the Atwood chemistry building. In 2018 and 2019, Lynn also served as a board member for the Atlanta Science Festival.

    dlynn2@emory.edu

    404-727-9348

    Office Location:
    Emerson E407

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Molecular Evolution
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    The David G. Lynn Group at Emory University works to understand the structures and forces that enable supramolecular self-assembly, how chemical information can be stored and translated into new molecular entities, and how the forces of evolution can be harnessed in new structures with new function. Some of our current research areas include the origins of prokaryotic and eukaryotic pathogenesis, template directed polymerization and dynamic combinatorial systems, amyloid diseases and protein self-assembly, and intelligent materials.

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    Khalid Salaita

    Khalid Salaita

    Khalid Salaita

    Associate Professor
    Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry
    Director for Graduate Studies in the Chemistry Department
    Program Faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology

    Khalid Salaita is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Chemistry, and Director for Graduate Studies in the Chemistry Department at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Khalid grew up in Jordan and moved to the US in 1997 to pursue his undergraduate studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia (USA). He worked under the mentorship of Prof. Nancy Xu studying the spectroscopic properties of plasmonic nanoparticles. He then obtained his Ph.D. with Prof. Chad Mirkin at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) in 2006. 

    During that time, he studied the electrochemical properties of organic adsorbates patterned onto gold films and developed massively parallel scanning probe lithography approaches. From 2006-2009, Khalid was a postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Jay T. Groves at the University of California at Berkeley (USA) where he investigated the role of receptor clustering in modulating cell signaling. In 2009, Khalid started his own lab at Emory University, where he is currently investigating the use of nucleic acids as molecular force sensors, smart drugs, and synthetic motors. 

    In recognition of his independent work, Khalid has received a number of awards, most notably: the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Camille-Dreyfus Teacher Scholar award, the National Science Foundation Early CAREER award, the Kavli Fellowship, and Merck Future Insight Prize. Khalid is currently the director of the Center on Probes for Molecular Mechanotechnology, and an Associate Editor of SmartMat. Khalid’s program has been supported by NSF, NIH, and DARPA.

    k.salaita@emory.edu

    404-727-7522

    Office Location:
    506 Atwood

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Cancer Biology
    • Molecular, Cellular and Tissue Biomechanics
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    In 2009, Khalid started his own lab at Emory University, where he currently investigates biophysical aspects of receptor-mediated cell signaling. To achieve this goal, his group has pioneered the development of molecular force probes and nano-mechanical actuators that are integrated with living cells. These materials are used to investigate the molecular mechanisms of a number of pathways where piconewton forces are thought to be important. These pathways include the Notch-Delta pathway, T cell receptor activation and the integrin-based focal adhesion pathway.

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    William Brent Keeling

    William Brent Keeling

    William Brent Keeling

    Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
    Chief, Cardiothoracic Surgery Service, Grady Memorial Hospital

    Dr. Keeling earned his medical degree at the University of Louisville in 2001, did his general surgery residency at the University of South Florida School of Medicine from 2001-2008, and completed his cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at Emory in 2011. Dr. Keeling directs the cardiothoracic surgery program at Grady Memorial Hospital and provides clinical service at Emory University Hospital Midtown. His clinical interests include reoperative cardiac surgery, valve repair and thoracic aortic pathology, and his research focuses on clinical trials as well as data-driven investigations of adult cardiac surgical sub-populations.

    brent.keeling@emory.edu

    404-616-0539

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    Research Focus Areas:
    • Regenerative Medicine
    Additional Research:
    Targeted clinical investigations of adult cardiac surgical sub-populations.

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    Mara Schenker

    Mara Schenker

    Mara Schenker

    Associate Professor
    Director of Orthopaedic Trauma Research

    Mara Schenker, MD is a clinician-scientist at Emory University. Her clinical practice is in orthopaedic trauma at Grady Memorial Hospital, and her interests include complex periarticular trauma, infection, nonunion, and malunion. Dr. Schenker performs approximately 600 complex trauma surgeries per year. Her research interests include host factors associated with delayed fracture healing (nutrition, infection, frailty, and others). Additional research interests include optimization of resident education.

    m.schenker@gmail.com

    404-778-1550

    Office Location:
    Grady Memorial Hospital

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