Welcome to The Department of Biological Sciences!

The department consists of a lot of people: faculty, administrative staff, technical staff, and graduate research/teaching assistants. One strong thing bonding us together is that we are working hard at things we really like, advanced biological education and research.

There is a lot to see on this website, so look around. You can get a very good overview of our research endeavors by visiting the web pages of the individual faculty members and their research labs. If you are a current or prospective undergraduate student, you will find detailed descriptions of our various majors, information about our courses and undergraduate research, and links to interdisciplinary opportunities. If you are looking around for opportunities at the graduate level, peruse the pages describing our doctoral programs in molecular cell biology, biochemistry, and integrative biology and neuroscience, or our highly focused master's program in molecular biology that is exclusively by distance.

If you have questions about any aspects of our department, feel free to e-mail any faculty member or post-doctoral scientist, or any member of our administrative or technical staff. Anyone will be glad to answer your questions or put you in touch with someone who can.

Anna Gumpert

Using various microscopy techniques combined with functional assays and molecular, biochemical and immunological techniques, her research focuses on elucidating pathways and mechanisms involved in gap junction degradation. She has been conducting her dissertation research in the laboratory of Prof. Matthias Falk.

Gap junctions are assembled from channel-forming transmembrane proteins, which allow neighboring cells to modulate direct exchange of ions and small molecules. This type of intracellular communication is essential in a wide variety of physiological processes during all stages of cellular life. The extent of communication facilitated by gap junctions has been observed to fluctuate depending on cellular needs and can be achieved by opening and closing or by the addition and removal of gap junction channels from the cellular interface. Anna’s work specifically concentrates on characterizing the mechanism(s) involved in gap junction removal and subsequent degradation. Her work shows a novel application for the classical clathrin-mediated endocytic pathway known to internalize extracellular cargo from the plasma membrane. Using RNA interference technology (RNAi) she was able to show that proteins involved in this cellular machinery are also required in the internalization of gap junctions. In this process large double-membrane vesicles are formed as sections of plasma membranes, from cells connected by gap junction channels, are simultaneously internalized. Understanding how communication via gap junctions is regulated promises to provide insight into mechanisms that regulate cell and tissue development, cell migration and wound healing. It could lead to the development of strategies to combat cell communication disorders, which are known to cause dermatological conditions, deafness, cataracts, developmental disturbances and neuropathies.

Dr. Falk’s research is funded through a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Department of Biological Sciences
Lehigh University
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