Welcome to the Cell Biology, Physiology, and Metabolism program!
Modern cell biology is a dynamic discipline that integrates multiple fields, including molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, metabolism, microbiology, physiology, developmental biology, cytology and genetics. Cell biologists investigate the basic structural and functional units of life: cells that compose all living organisms, and how they integrate into functioning organisms. Cell biologists within the program take advantage of several cutting edge methods, including advanced light microscopy, ultrastructural approaches such as CryoEM and CryoET, metabolomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, and utilize a diverse range of model organisms. Program faculty conduct research in cellular and organismal metabolism; cell motility, the cytoskeleton, and muscle physiology; intracellular trafficking and organelle function; membrane transport; and signal transduction and cell cycle regulation. The program is focused on quantitative fundamental biology, with a simultaneous constant eye on potential clinical relevance, leveraging the strength of being integrated in a large and active health system. CPM research at Penn has contributed to numerous advances in basic science and medicine in recent years, including those related to diabetes, blindness, muscular dystrophy, heart failure, and cancer.