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Two students working on a laptop in a laboratory setting.

About the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Back to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  • Overview
  • Academics
  • Our Faculty
  • Holowczak Memorial Fund
  • Basic Science Departments Administration
On This page
  • About
  • Message from the Chair

About

The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is a department that has a rich history of excellence in research, education and service. Our faculty contributes to the education of medical, graduate and undergraduate students in the classroom and in the laboratory; carries out research at the forefront of biomedical science while training the next generation of research scientists; and serves the medical school, university, national and international scientific communities.

Contact Us

Message from the Chair

Headshot of Celine Gelinas

Welcome to the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Our research programs cover diverse areas of basic and translational research including:

  • DNA replication enzymology,
  • heterochromatin assembly,
  • epigenetics,
  • mechanisms and regulation of gene expression from DNA to RNA to protein,
  • proteostasis,
  • protein design and evolution,
  • growth regulation by nutrients and hormones,
  • lysosome biology,
  • bacterial signal transduction,
  • bacterial toxins and antitoxins, molecular mechanisms of disease ranging from neurodegenerative diseases, to infectious diseases, cancer and therapeutic target discovery.

Faculty members are recognized nationally and internationally as experts in their fields, earning prestigious honors including member of the National Academy of Sciences, Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and of the American Academy of Microbiology, and President of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) among others.

Our faculty publish their research in top-tier scientific journals and serve on journal editorial boards and grant review panels from federal and other agencies. As such, they are often called upon to serve on journal editorial boards and grant review panels.

Extramural research funding has been competitively awarded to our faculty from a range of federal, state and private agencies including:

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH),
  • National Science Foundation,
  • Department of Defense,
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
  • New Jersey Stem Cell Commission,
  • New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research,
  • Human Frontiers Science Program,
  • American Cancer Society,
  • and Stand Up To Cancer, to name a few.

Our faculty also directs NIH training grant awards devoted to increasing the participation of underrepresented minorities in biomedical science and training postdoctoral fellows. 

In addition to research, there are many departmental contributions to education and community service. Faculty lead and/or participate in numerous teaching activities for medical and graduate students. Our faculty teach in core and non-core courses within the graduate programs of the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) and have been instrumental in the development of the Masters of Biomedical Sciences Program in SGS at the medical school. The department is responsible for organizing and teaching within the GI, Metabolism, and Nutrition course in the curriculum for medical students, and for teaching in many other blocks within the first- and second-year medical school curriculum.

Please explore the research interests of our faculty, learn more about the graduate programs and training opportunities in which we participate, and contact us with any questions.

Céline Gélinas, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Senior Associate Dean for Research,
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

On This page
  • Biomedical and Health Sciences Graduate Programs
  • Life at Rutgers

Biomedical and Health Sciences Graduate Programs

Biomedical and Health Sciences Graduate Programs

The Rutgers University Biomedical and Health Sciences graduate programs in New Brunswick/Piscataway, NJ provide personalized academic support for Master's, Ph.D., and M.D./Ph.D., and Certificate programs to prepare graduate students for success.

  • Explore Biomedical and Health Sciences Graduate Programs

Life at Rutgers

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Envision Yourself Here

Rutgers is located in central New Jersey in the city of New Brunswick and across the Raritan River in Piscataway. Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon counties rank fourth in per capita income nationwide. It is a manufacturing center, agricultural center, high-tech corporate center, and small-town America rolled into one.

  • Explore Life at Rutgers
On This page
  • Who We Are
  • Resources

Who We Are

Our department is comprised of full-time, adjunct, and emeritus faculty.

Accordion Content

  • Explore the list of accomplished faculty comprising the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

    View Our Faculty Listing

  • Emine Ercikan Abali, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Edward Arnold, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Lori Covey, PhD
    Adjunct Associate Professor

    Philip Furmanski, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Michael Leibowitz, MD, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Gaetano Montelione, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Michael Newlon, PhD
    Adjunct Associate Professor

    Nicola Partridge, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Stuart Peltz, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Danny Reinberg, PhD
    Adjunct Professor

    Victor Stollar, MD
    Adjunct Professor

    Vasily Studitsky, PhD
    Adjunct Professor 

    Yuh-Hwa Wang, PhD
    Adjunct Associate Professor

    Lawrence Wennogle, PhD
    Adjunct Assistant Professor

  • Gad Avigad, PhD
    Emeritus Professor

    Terri Kinzy, PhD
    Emeritus Professor

    Masayori Inouye PhD
    Emeritus Professor

    Peter Lobel, PhD
    Emeritus Professor

    Michael Hampsey PhD
    Emeritus Professor

    Masayori Inouye, PhD
    Emeritus Distinguished Professor

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On This page
  • About the Fund

About the Fund

Dr. John A. Holowczak
Dr. John A. Holowczak

This fund was established in 1986 and serves to honor Dr. John A. Holowczak who was cherished by students, fellows and other members of the faculty and school as an outstanding researcher and educator.  It was expanded in 2020 in honor of John’s wife Mary Ann (Kugler) Holowczak, who made early contributions in characterizing messenger RNA structure.

Dr. Holowczak was a member of the legacy UMDNJ Department of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology (MGMI) for 18 years before his untimely death in 1986. Upon realignment of selected UMDNJ faculty and the merger with Rutgers University, MGMI was renamed the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB). Mary Ann (Kugler) Holowczak passed away in 2020 and had served for 16 years as a grants accountant at Rutgers’ Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM).

The fund was established to support research advancement in the BMB department, including fellowships and awards for meritorious graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.  Funds may also be donated to support cutting edge basic biomedical research on DNA/RNA/protein biology, the molecular mechanisms of disease ranging from cancer, to infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and therapeutic target discovery; to support distinguished lectures; and/or for critical research instrumentation/infrastructure to help advance discoveries.  

We are extremely grateful to our donors for their generous gifts to help advance important research at the forefront of biomedical science and train the next generation of research scientists.

Donate to the Fund

For questions, please contact Dr. Gélinas’ assistant Evelyn Blas at blasev@rwjms.rutgers.edu.

On This page
  • Staff Listing

Staff Listing

The Basic Science Departments Administration supports the non-clinical departments at the medical school: The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; The Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology; The Department of Pharmacology.

Responsibilities include general administration and operations; finance and budget; human resources and international student and scholar services; pre and post award grants and contracts administration; procurement and acquisitions. 

Jonathan Weininger, CRA
Business Administrator
Research Tower R136
732-235-5068
weininja@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Caryn Carroll
Principal Management Assistant
Research Tower R136
732-235-4580
carrolcc@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Letice Smith
Administrative Analyst
Research Tower R125
732-235-4551
smithla@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Mayra Paz
Program Assistant
Research Tower
mp1753@rutgers.edu

Jamie Carr
Senior Grants Administrator
Research Tower R133
732-235-2107
carrj1@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Deshanda Porter
Senior Grants Administrator
Research Tower R134
732-235-4603
dp987@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Toni Napier
Senior Grants Administrator
Research Tower R134A
732-235-5249
toniann@rwjms.rutgers.edu

Bella Mercado
Principal Lab Assistant
732-235-5659
mercadbg@rwjms.rutgers.edu

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