Faculty and Research

Our faculty is primarily made up of Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) investigators, each of whom have a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent academic degree and a distinguished record of scholarship and contributions to the scientific community.

Adjunct faculty members may supplement the permanent faculty. These may include visiting scientists from other research institutes, faculty members from local colleges or universities, postdoctoral fellows at VARI, or practicing professionals.

Meet the Faculty

Click on a laboratory link to learn more about a faculty member’s research.

• George Vande Woude, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Molecular Oncology
  Met oncogene expression/overexpression, HGF/SF-induced proliferation and invasion, Met-expressing transgenic mice, geldanamycin effects on glioma cell invasion and MAPK signaling in melanoma
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Arthur Alberts, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Cell Structure and Signal Integration
  Rho GTPases and their effectors, cytoskeletal remodeling in growth control and molecular targeting for myelodysplasia and leukemia
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Brian Cao, M.D. - Laboratory of Antibody Technology
  Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, Ab production, characterization, and engineering, human/humanized Ab approaches to brain and prostate cancer
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Greg Cavey, B.S. - Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics
  Protein identification and characterization, protein-protein interaction analysis and protein expression analysis
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Nicholas Duesbery, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Cancer and Developmental Cell Biology
  MEK signaling in tumor biology, therapeutic approaches to sarcoma and melanoma and therapeutic potential of anthrax lethal factor
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Kyle Furge, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Computational Biology
  Gene expression microarray analysis, analysis of large data sets and cluster (grid) computing infrastructure
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Brian Haab, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Cancer Immunodiagnostics
  Microarray-based protein analysis methods, cancer-induced changes to blood proteins, pancreatic and prostate cancer diagnostics and extracellular protein-protein interactions
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Rick Hay, Ph.D., M.D. - Laboratory of Noninvasive Imaging and Radiation Biology
  Noninvasive imaging of cancer and other diseases, prediction of radiation therapy side effects, translation of laboratory research to the clinic and adrenal, brain, and prostate cancer, osteosarcoma
  Biographical Sketch
• Jeff MacKeigan, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Systems Biology
  Ras/MAPK and PI3K/mTOR pathways, mathematical modeling of signaling pathways, non–small cell lung cancer and breast cancer, kinase and phosphorylase effects on cell survival
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Cindy Miranti, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Integrin Signaling and Tumorigenesis
  Integrin interactions and signal transduction, prostate cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis, integrins in prostate epithelial cell survival and CD82 and prostate cancer metastasis
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• James Resau, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Microarray Technology – Genomics and Analytical, Cellular, and Molecular Microscopy
  Quantification of imagery, protein patterns in disease progression, genetics-based classification of disease and Parkinson disease
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Pamela Swiatek, Ph.D., M.B.A. - Laboratory of Germline Modification
  Gene targeting, cytogenetics, embryo cryopreservation and mouse modeling technologies
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Bin Teh, M.D., Ph.D. - Laboratory of Cancer Genetics
  Kidney tumor heredity and genomics, in vivo modeling of renal cell carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma molecular therapeutics and head and neck cancers
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Steven Triezenberg, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Transcriptional Regulation
  Regulation of eukaryotic gene expression, herpes simplex virus, transcriptional activator proteins and plant (Arabidopsis) transcriptional activation
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Craig Webb, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Tumor Metastasis and Angiogenesis
  Multiple myeloma, XenoBase informatics system, molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Michael Weinreich, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Chromosome Replication
  Cdc7p kinase activation of DNA synthesis, cell cycle control of DNA replication and response to DNA damage during S-phase
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Bart Williams, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Cell Signaling and Carcinogenesis
  Lrp5 and Lrp6 function, Wnt signaling in bone development and disease and prostate and breast cancer, osteosarcoma
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail
• Eric Xu, Ph.D. - Laboratory of Structural Sciences
  X-ray crystallography, nuclear hormone (PPAR, steroid) receptors, Met tyrosine kinase receptor and G-Protein coupled receptors
  Biographical Sketch - E-mail