The Stem Cell Biology PhD Training Program at Vilcek Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences promotes student achievement in a supportive and interactive environment. Our administration, research advisors, and faculty advisory committee supervise and guide students through the program.

After you choose a research laboratory, your research advisor supervises your independent laboratory research. Together, you and your advisor choose a faculty advisory or thesis committee. This committee meets at least once a year, or as determined during the committee meeting. Committee members mentor and offer advice and alternative points of view. Faculty mentors also evaluate students.

Mentoring Faculty

The following experts mentor students in the Stem Cell Biology PhD Training Program:

Iannis Aifantis, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology
Research interests: genetic and genomic studies addressing the balance between physiological stem cell differentiation and transformation leading to cancer

Karim-Jean Armache, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: molecular studies of chromatin structure and epigenetics

Erika Bach, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: role of JAK/STAT pathway in growth and stem cell self-renewal in Drosophila

Dafna Bar-Sagi, PhD
Executive Vice President and Vice Dean for Science, Chief Scientific Officer
The Saul J. Farber Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Professor, Department of Medicine
Research interests: role of Ras protein in cell proliferation and oncogenic transformation in pancreatic cancer

Kenneth Birnbaum, PhD
Associate Professor, NYU Department of Biology
Research interests: systems biology of plant regeneration

Jef Boeke, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: the biology of transposable DNA elements and their host—the eukaryotic chromosome

Andrea H. Brand, PhD
Member of the Faculty, Department of Cell Biology
Research interests: discovering how stem cells are maintained in a multipotent state and how their progeny differentiate into distinct cellular fates

Steven Burden, PhD
Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Cell Biology
Research interests: signaling mechanisms for neuromuscular synapse formation in mice

William L. Carroll, MD
The Julie and Edward J. Minskoff Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics
Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: genetic and epigenetic mechanisms leading to relapse of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia with emphasis on developing new rational therapies

Alesha Castillo, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery
Research interests: musculoskeletal biomechanics, mechanobiology, regeneration, and stem cell biology, with work grounded in engineering tools and analyses, state-of-the-art cell and molecular biology, and translational medicine

Pamela Cowin, PhD
Professor, Department of Cell Biology and the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology
Research interests: embryonic patterning pathways in mammary development and breast cancer

Jeremy Dasen, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology
Research interests: specification of neuronal identity and connectivity

Gregory David, PhD
Associate Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Urology
Research interests: contribution of chromatin modifiers to stress response in hematopoietic stem cells

Claude Desplan, PhD
The Silver Professor
Professor of Biology and Neural Science

Brian Dynlacht, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: epigenetic and transcriptional landscapes underlying skeletal muscle satellite (stem) cell identity

David Fenyö, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interest: the detailed understanding of the dynamics of cellular processes

Glenn I. Fishman, MD
The William Goldring Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine
Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Neuroscience and Physiology
Research interests: developmental biology and electrophysiology of cardiac stem cells

Robert Froemke, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Neuroscience and Physiology, and Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery
Research interests: organization and plasticity of cortical synapses and the relations between circuit dynamics and the control of perception and behavior

Eva Hernando-Monge, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: the role of microRNAs in differentiation and tumor initiation or metastasis

Liam Holt, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: synthetic biology, evolution, cancer, cell division, stem cell programming, systems biology

E. Jane Hubbard, PhD
Professor, Departments of Cell Biology and Pathology
Research interests: developmental and physiological control of stem/progenitor cells

Alec Kimmelman, MD, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology

Holger Knaut, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology
Research interests: in vivo analysis of dynamic processes that shape complex structures in zebrafish

Sergei Koralov, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: short noncoding RNAs in lymphocyte development and function

Philipp Leucht, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Cell Biology and Orthopedic Surgery
Research interests: investigation of the underlying mechanisms of bone regeneration using in vivo mouse models

David E. Levy, PhD
The Dr. Louis A. Schneider Professor of Molecular Pathology, Department of Pathology
Professor, Department of Microbiology
Research interests: interaction of signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, and metabolism in the growth and differentiation of stem cells

Dan Littman, MD, PhD
The Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Professor of Molecular Immunology, Department of Pathology
Professor, Department of Microbiology
Research interests: signaling pathways and transcriptional networks involved in the development of T lymphocytes and in their responses to inflammatory microbial signals

Susan Logan, PhD
Associate Professor, Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Urology
Research interests: regulation of androgen receptor in male development

Chengzu Long, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine

Catherine Pei-ju Lu, PhD
Assistant Professor, Departments of Cell Biology and Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery
Research interests: skin stem cells, sweat gland regeneration, and wound repair in human cells

Esteban Mazzoni, PhD
Assistant Professor, NYU Department of Biology
Research interests: precise and controlled differentiation of pluripotent stem cells into neuronal classes

Jeremy Nance, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology
Research interests: analysis of morphogenetic events that establish germ layers and organ primordia

Benjamin Neel, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine
Research interests: the biology of transposable DNA elements and their host—the eukaryotic chromosome

Christopher Y. Park, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pathology

Dimitris Placantonakis, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery
Research interests: regulation of human stem cell function in neurogenesis, brain tumors, and neuropsychiatric disorders

Boris Reizis, PhD
Professor, Departments of Pathology and Medicine

James Salzer, MD, PhD
Professor, Departments of Cell Biology, Neurology, and Neuroscience and Physiology
Research interests: axonal-glial interactions of myelinated fibers, including pathology of demyelination and role of stem cells/progenitors in remyelination

Rahul Satija, PhD
Assistant Professor, NYU Department of Biology
Research interests: single cell genomics, transcriptional regulation, and computational biology

Robert Schneider, PhD
The Albert Sabin Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Pathogenesis, Department of Microbiology
Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Research interests: development, progression, and metastasis of breast cancer as controlled by translational regulation

Markus Schober, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology and the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology
Research interests: homeostasis, regeneration, and carcinogenesis in skin epithelium

Farnaz Shamsi, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Pathobiology, NYU Dentistry
Research interests: adipose resident cells

Jane Skok, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: epigenetic regulation of lymphocyte development through chromosome dynamics and nuclear architecture

Susan Smith, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathology
Research interests: human telomere structure and function in stem cells, aging, and cancer

Mayumi Ito Suzuki, PhD
Associate Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology and Department of Cell Biology
Research interests: regulation of stem cells in cutaneous tissue regeneration

Richard Tsien, PhD
The Druckenmiller Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience and Physiology
Professor, Department of Neurology
Research interests: how neural networks meet the demands of information processing in the brain

Elaine Wilson, PhD
Professor, Departments of Cell Biology and Urology
Research interests: isolation and characterization of the stem and progenitor cell populations of the adult and the fetal prostate and their relationship to the etiology of prostate cancer

Kwok-Kin Wong, MD, PhD
The Anne Murnick Cogan and David H. Cogan Professor of Oncology, Department of Medicine

Michael N. Wosczyna, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery

Itai Yanai, PhD
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
Research interests: tumor evolution, host–pathogen interactions, developmental pathways, and single-cell genomics

Outreach Mentoring Activities for Students

Stem cell biology students can also be mentors to children by volunteering in the community.

Afterschool STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Mentoring Program

The New York Academy of Sciences Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program recruits graduate students and postdocs from New York City–area universities to volunteer to teach one afternoon a week in underserved fourth- through eighth-grade afterschool classrooms at organizations including the YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs.