Welcome to the University of Colorado School of Medicine on the Anschutz Medical Campus. We are a Top Ten Medical School in primary care, pediatrics, family medicine and rural medicine, and offer physical therapy and physician assistant programs.

Cell Biology

Cell biology is a dynamic discipline that combines the interests and methods of a wide variety of scientific fields. Studies of cell function are central to modern biological research as they focus upon investigating the basic structural and functional unit of life: the cell. By applying a wide range of experimental approaches to the study of cellular processes, including biochemical and physical analysis of molecules and cells in culture, and morphological methods, cell biologist have made major discoveries that have had a dramatic impact on human health. This key link between fundamental studies of cell function and their relevance to disease is highlighted by the work of the Cell Biology Faculty within the Graduate Program in Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development. Ongoing studies in the areas of membrane trafficking, membrane dynamics, cell signaling, motility, organelle composition and function, studies of the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix provide important insights and information that is ultimately crucial for developing effective treatments for cancer, heart disease, AIDS, and a host of other diseases that disrupt normal cell function.

Stem Cells

Stem Cell Biology Research offers enormous therapeutic potential for a wide range of clinical disorders including Parkinson's disease, diabetes, chronic heart disease, end-stage renal disease, liver failure and cancer. Realizing the promise of using stem cells in treating human disease will ultimately depend upon defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate cell proliferation and differentiation. These fundamental principles are at the heart of modern Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development and highlight the dynamic interdisciplinary work being undertaken by the faculty and graduate students in the Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development Graduate Program at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Development

All animals begin life as a single cell, the result of a fusion between sperm and egg. Through a staggering multitude of molecular, cellular and tissue level events, a properly organized, multicellular embryo is formed. In the last decade, our understanding of many of these processes has expanded dramatically due to the advent of cellular, molecular biological and genetic approaches. Intriguingly, many of these processes first recognized in developmental contexts have also been implicated in human disease. These types of fundamental studies form the core of cutting edge research in Developmental Biology by faculty of the Graduate Program in Cell Biology, Stem Cells and Development at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.