Janel Cabrera

Assistant Professor of Biology

My goal as a teacher is to promote science literacy among undergraduate students, as stem cells, genome editing, and sequencing are becoming increasingly influential, from the lab bench to the clinic. I hope to foster critical thinking and problem-solving strategies in the classroom in order to help students develop learning skills in real-life situations.

What I Love About Emmanuel: 

I love the inclusive and open community here at Emmanuel College. It is really unique and I believe that it is what makes it a wonderful place for students to learn and build strong relationships with faculty and fellow peers.

Ph.D., Florida State University; B.S, Villanova University

  • BIOL 1105 Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Biology
  • BIOL 1106 Introduction to Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
  • BIOL 2115 Determinants of Health and Disease
  • BIOL 2135 Anatomy & Physiology I

Publications

  • Miller, D.H., Jin, D.X., Sokol, E.S., Cabrera, J.R., Superville, D.A., Goreloy, R.A., Kuperwasser, C., Gupta, P.B. BCL11B drives human mammary stem cell self-renewal by inhibiting basal differentiation. Stem Cell Reports. 2018 Mar 13;10(3):1131-1145.
  • Lauriol, J., Cabrera, J.R., Roy, A., Keith, K., Hough, S.M., Damilano, F., Wang, B., Segarra, G.C., Flessa, M.E., Miller, L.E., Bronson, R., Lee, K., and Kontaridis, M.I. Aberrant Endothelial-Myocardial Crosstalk Causes Cardiac Hypertrophy in Noonan Syndrome with Multiple Lentigines. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2016 Aug;126(8):2989-3005
  • Cabrera, J.R. Olcese, U., and Horabin, J.I. Heterochromatin protein 1a collaborates with Polycomb/Trithorax group proteins to regulate Drosophila transcription. Epigenetics & Chromatin. 2015 Apr 30;8:17
  • Mulvey, B.M., Olcese, U., Cabrera, J.R., and Horabin, J.I. An interactive network of long non-coding RNAs facilitates the Drosophila sex determination decision. BBA: Gene Regulatory Mechanisms. 2014 Sep;1839(9):773-84

Dr. Janel Cabrera received a three-year grant of $447,650 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) marking the largest NSF grant in the College’s history. Funding will enable Cabrera, who serves as the project’s principal investigator (PI), to engage student researchers in investigating mechanisms that affect gene expression during the early stages of development, using Drosophila melanogaster—the fruit fly—as a model organism.

My research focuses on understanding the dynamic process of cell differentiation. I am particularly interested in studying how epigenetic modifying complexes are involved in regulating gene expression during the early stages of embryonic development using Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) as a model organism. Using biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology techniques we are able to dissect the mechanism by which genes are activated or repressed for proper cell differentiation.