Areas of Research

Introduction

Because of the extraordinary contributions of its founders and current faculty, the Department of Cell Biology at Yale is widely considered to be one of the strongest programs in the world. Created in 1973, it is also regarded as the cradle of modern cell biology because of the work of its founding faculty, including George E. Palade, M.D., who shared the Nobel Prize in 1974 for fundamental discoveries describing the structural and functional organization of the cell. Palade is recognized for i8mportant, fundamental insights into the cell gained through synthesis of biochemical studies with detailed structural information obtained in the early development of electron microscopy for cell imaging.

Today, Cell Biology at Yale comprises a dynamic and intensely interactive group of 25 faculty members who span every major area of investigation central to the field. They are joined by nearly 150 postdoctoral fellows and 50 graduate students in the laboratories of primary and secondary faculty members. While the department’s foundation is in cellular organization, membrane traffic and organelle biogenesis, faculty here have also become leaders in cytoskeletal dynamics (especially actin), cell polarity and morphogenesis, embryonic development and nucleic acid dynamics. In addition, because the field is developing rapidly at areas of interface between conventional molecular cell biology of single cells with more complex cellular systems, the department has recently developed unique programs in the cell biology of synaptic transmission, the immune response, microbial pathogenesis and stem cell biology.

In each interest area, a remarkable blend of techniques and experimental strategies is applied to a common goal. Genetics, informatics, molecular biology, structural biology and cell imaging are but some of the more popular techniques used. During the past five to 10 years, the department has developed outstanding resources for cell imaging, including the Center for Cell & Molecular Imaging (which performs state of the art electron microscopy and immunocytochemistry, as well as routine single and multi-photon confocal microscopy), and the CINEMA Lab (a world leader in the development of new optical techniques for live cell imaging and quantitative analysis). In short, Cell Biology at Yale is remarkable for its unique historical perspective and unparalleled array of scientific and intellectual resources, including those of Yale, one of the world’s leading institutions of higher learning in the life sciences, medicine and public health.