Cell biology aims to understand the structure and physiological function of individual cells, how they interact with their environment, and how large numbers of cells coordinate with each other to form tissues and organisms. As such, cell biology is at the heart of all biological sciences and key to understanding the development and progression of human diseases.

Projects in our department are directed toward exploring and defining key physiological, cellular and molecular pathways that drive cell proliferation and differentiation, signaling, migration, metabolism and autophagy, and more – and a major focus of our studies is on understanding the underlying cause of wide-spread human disease including diabetes, cancer, inflammation and fibrosis. We use different model systems for our studies, ranging from cell lines and organotypic cultures to various animal models and combine diverse experimental approaches including a wide variety of cell-based assays, microscopy, molecular biology, genetics and genomics, biochemistry, genome engineering and in vivo studies. More information on the individual projects can be found under the links below.

Faculty conducting research in these areas: