ILS Faculty
Dr. Leslie Pick (Ph.D. Albert Einstein College of Medicine)
Professor and Chair of Entomology
Dr. Pick teaches Genetics and Genomics for first-year students. Her research studies the regulatory genes and pathways that control embryonic development and Hox gene evolution, which has changed its expression pattern and protein sequence to switch its function from an ancestral homeotic gene to a segmentation gene in Drosophila. Additionally, she’s investigated modeling diseases of insulin-signaling pathways in Drosophila.
Dr. Karen Carlton (Ph.D. University of Colorado, Boulder)
Professor, Department of Biology
Dr. Carleton teaches Principles of Organismal Biology for first-year students. She studies the evolution of the visual system, working in fishes from Africa to the Great Barrier Reef. Many fish have diverse visual systems and can often detect a broader range of colors including ultraviolet light, than most mammals. By exploring the molecular basis of fish visual systems, she tries to understand what they see, how that impacts their behavior, and whether visual variation contributes to speciation.
Dr. Jason D. Kahn (Ph.D. UC Berkeley, 1990)
Associate Professor, UMD Chemistry and Biochemistry
Dr. Kahn is a biophysical chemist who studies DNA structure, flexibility, looping, and topology using a variety of physical and biochemical methods. His work has applications to diagnostics and to protein-DNA nanostructures.
At Maryland since 1994, he has mentored a Gemstone team that tried to improve conditions for algal growth for biofuel production, and he has mentored the UMaryland iGEM synthetic biology team since its 2014 inception. He teaches general chemistry, biochemistry, and graduate nucleic acids and regulation classes. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Biophysics Journal.
Dr. Edward Eisenstein (Ph.D. Georgetown University, 1985)
Associate Professor, Fischell Department of Bioengineering
Fellow, Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research
Dr. Eisenstein’s research is focused on engineering biological systems to understand molecular mechanisms and to make them more useful for a range of applications in health, energy and biomanufacturing. Synthetic biology as well as structural, biophysical and molecular genetic approaches are being used to develop next-gen plants with enhanced immune and stress response systems.
He has been an advisor to the University of Maryland’s award-winning iGEM team since its inception in 2014.
Dr. John P. Fisher (Ph.D. Rice University, 2003)
Department Chair and Fischell Family Distinguished Professor, UMD Engineering
As Director of the Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials Laboratory, he investigates biomaterials, 3D printing, stem cells, and bioreactors for the regeneration of lost tissues, particularly bone, cartilage, vasculature, and skeletal muscle. In 2012 Dr. Fisher was elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and in 2015 Dr. Fisher visited the National University of Ireland, Galway as a Fulbright Fellow. Dr. Fisher is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Tissue Engineering, Part B: Reviews, and Continental Chair Elect of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society International - Americas Chapter.