Faculty Research Interests              

Department of Biological Sciences
Science Building, 1st floor
Kean University
Ph: 908.737.3650         Fx: 908.737.3666

Name	Research Interests
Eric Boehm Assistant Professor web page	Dr. Boehm is a microbiologist. His research emphasizes the molecular systematics of microbial agents of plant disease, specifically fungal plant pathogens. Field work, taxonomy, microscopy, establishing genetically pure cultures, molecular biology and bioinformatics are all used to develop gene genealogies, in order to address evolutionary questions among a group of unusual NJ ascomycetous fungi found on woody substrates. For more information, please visit Dr. Boehm's web page.
Sylvio Codella Associate Professor web page	Dr. Codella is an evolutionary ecologist and entomologist who specializes in the insect order Hymenoptera (sawflies, wasps, ants, bees). His research interests include defense strategies, chemical ecology, social biology and, most recently, urban ecology and biodiversity. Undergraduate researchers in the Codella Lab collaborate on a variety of activities, including field work, curation of a large insect research collection, microphotography and statistical analysis. For more information, please visit Dr. Codella's web page.
Jeffry Fasick Assistant Professor web page	Dr. Fasick's research interests fall into two quite diverse fields, cancer biology and marine mammal vision. His lab is currently working on developing immunotherapeutics against colon and pancreatic cancer by developing antibodies against tumor associated antigens. They are also examining the retinal layer of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) eye and characterizing a recently discovered light sensitive pigment, melanopsin. For more information, please visit Dr. Fasick's web page.
Patrick Field Associate Professor	Dr. Field's research interests are centered around the use of case studies in the classroom. His publications in this field include original case studies developed for his courses and research conducted via surveys of students' perceptions of the method as a pedagogical tool.
Eric Hayat Distinguished Professor	Dr. Hayat's research interests include immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization of human carcinomas, including lung, breast, prostate, colorectal, pancreatic, ovarian, gastrointestinal, and liver. He is also interested in cancer imaging using MRI, CT, PET, ultrasound, mammography, color DOPPLER imaging, SPECT, and various combinations of these modalities.
Roxie James Professor
Denise Mancarella Professor Department Chairperson
Angela Porta Professor web page	Dr. Porta's lab is concerned with obtaining a better understanding of the function of calcium binding proteins, particularly calbindin. At the present time, she is Activng Director for Research and Sponsored Programs. For more information, please visit Dr. Porta's web page.
Rongsun Pu Assistant Professor web page	Dr. Pu's lab is investigating the role of a multifunctional protein, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, in learning and memory using wildtype and mutant Drosophila melanogaster. For more information, please visit Dr. Pu's web page.
Judith Rosenthal Professor
Daniela Shebitz Assistant Professor	Dr. Shebitz is a plant ecologist whose research interests involve ethnobotany, restoration ecology, and studying the effects of human activity on plant communities. She has focused on working with indigenous groups to restore culturally-important plants that have declined due to development, unsustainable harvesting, succession, and the absence of traditional ecological management (particularly anthropogenic burning).
Farshad Tamari Assistant Professor web page	Dr. Tamari is a geneticist; he studies the molecular genetics and evolutionary biology of a mating system called distyly and its associated self-incompatibility in the angiosperm family Linaceae, some members of which are commercially valuable. He conducts classical genetics studies to examine the inheritance of distyly. He also conducts molecular genetics studies. He maps DNA regions of interest, and identifies and characterizes genes that might influence reproduction, such as the genes for polygalacturonase (PG) and alpha-dioxygenase (a-diox). He uses statistical tools to assess the degree of contribution of genes and gene products to the fertilization process. Finally, he compares morphological and molecular data across species to deduce evolutionary relationships among taxa. For more information, please visit Dr. Tamari's web page.
Brian Teasdale Assistant Professor web page	Dr. Teasdale's research interests include algal systematics and seaweed biogeography, including the evolution of group-I introns found in certain red algal (Rhodophyta) species. He is also currently involved in collaborative work studying the taxonomy of the morphologically variable brittle star Ophioderma sp. found in the Bahamas. Dr. Teasdale encourages all students interested in plant or marine science research to contact him about developing a research project. For more information, please visit Dr. Teasdale's web page.
Evros Vassiliou Assistant Professor web page	Dr. Vassiliou's research focuses on the effects of arachidonic acid metabolites on the immune system. Research work is divided into two main projects. The first project is investigating the effects of prostaglandins on human plasmacytoid dendritic cells. The second projects is investigating what type of arachidonic acid metabolites are being generated when gastrointestinal commensal bacteria interact with the gastric epithelium. For more information, please see Dr. Vassiliou's web page.
Xiaobo Yu Professor web page	Dr. Yu studies the morphology, phylogeny and evolution of early bony fish (osteichthyans) and early sarcopterygian fish (lungfish and crossopterygians). He conducts research on Chinese fossil fishes in collaboration with colleagues at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also interested in systematics, comparative anatomy, and evolutionary patterns and processes. For more information, please see Dr. Yu's web page.
Frank Zhang Associate Professor web page	Dr. Zhang's research focuses on marine ecology and computer modeling of ecosystem dynamics. Dr. Zhang is also interested in working with students in the study of environmental science, conservation biology, landscape ecology, and urban ecology. For more information, please see Dr. Zhang's web page.