Kara Headley
Kara Headley, Communications Specialist for the Departments of Cell and Developmental Biology, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, and Microbiology & Immunology. Kara graduated with her Masters in Strategic Communication from MSU in 2025, and her bachelors in Professional Writing from MSU in 2020.
Department News
How lungs recognize and protect against infection: Olivia Harlow receives F31 fellowship
Olivia Harlow, fourth year PhD student in the Shenoy lab, received an F31 fellowship through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to research how lungs recognize and protect against infection.
Department News
Building Better Ontologies
Huffman’s dissertation work is in ontology; in information science, this is how real-world entities and their relationships are represented. Modern bioinformatics is interested in representing this in a way that computers can understand.
Health Lab
The hidden life of parasites like Cyclospora
Michigan Medicine biologists and doctors explain how parasites infect people—and how to respond or reduce your risk
Medical School News
Thanh Hoang named Pew Biomedical Scholar
The Pew Charitable Trusts selected Thanh Hoang, PhD, as a 2026 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. Hoang joined a class of 21 scholars nationwide.
Health Lab
Studying neurons using neurons
Labs at the University of Michigan Medical School are exploring a new technology that leverages the biological capabilities of human neurons for artificial intelligence.
Department News
Improving care for patients with brain injuries
Emily Wittrup defended her dissertation this May, marking a successful end to her PhD journey.
Department News
Jackson Rapala receives fellowship for research on fungal pathogen
Jackson Rapala received a National Institutes of Health F31 fellowship for his outstanding research on Candida auris.
Medical School News
Celebrating outstanding teaching and research at the 2026 Endowment for Basic Sciences Awards
The 2026 Endowment for Basic Sciences Awards recognized nine faculty and nine research staff members for their accomplishments in teaching and research.
Department News
Celebrating Scientific Journeys: Inside CDB’s 2026 Annual Celebration
The Cell & Developmental Biology community gathered for the 2026 Annual Celebration on May 6. This event featured alum career talks, the annual awards ceremony and a reception.
Health Lab
Your gut is home to an entire ecosystem, and scientists are finding new residents
There is an entire ecosystem living in your gut, and researchers want to identify each microorganism that makes up this community. University of Michigan researchers recently found–and named– a previously unknown resident.
Department News
Improving critical patient care: Matt Hodgman successfully defended dissertation
Hodgman developed OTTO, a transparent machine learning model that can automate and improve outcomes of titrating diuretics for patients in critical care.
Department News
Advancing proteomics through computational innovation: Kai Li successfully defends dissertation
For his dissertation, Li built diaTracer, a computational framework that helps researchers analyze data. In proteomics research, mass spectrometry is widely used to identify and quantify proteins in complex biological samples.
Department News
Adam Hafner and Katy Krupinsky receive Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships
Two Microbiology & Immunology PhD students – Adam Hafner and Katy Krupinsky – are recipients of this year’s Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships.
Department News
Hüseyin Karabürk receives Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship
For his dissertation, Karabürk is investigating the molecular mechanisms of how cells move within the body.
Department News
Omenn Lecture explores how AI is transforming medicine
The Kahn Auditorium was standing room only for the ninth annual Ommen Lecture, this year presented by Aviv Regev, PhD.
