Trent University administrators are certainly grateful to have Dr. Robert Huber fully on board as an assistant professor within the department of Biology, and they can rest assured the former Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital Research Fellow is even more appreciative.

“I’m excited to contribute to a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary department that provides a rich training environment for undergraduates in the Department of Biology and graduate students in the Environmental & Life Sciences program,” says Professor Huber, who teaches Cell Biology and Molecular Biology.

“My lab offers students an exceptional opportunity to pursue disease-relevant research using a system that is very amenable to their training. I’m eager to recruit bright and enthusiastic students that are interested in contributing to the research in my lab.”

That research uses the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum as a model system for studying the functions of proteins linked to Batten disease, the most common form of childhood neurodegeneration, and to study the structure and function of the extracellular matrix, which is linked to cancer.

“I have worked with Dictyostelium throughout my career and feel it is an exceptional organism for student training,” notes Prof. Huber. “Students in my lab acquire broad research training that incorporates a diversity of highly desired techniques and approaches. In addition, they form an integral part of my research program, I involve students in all stages of research, from project design to publishing, and I seek to incorporate their interests and perspectives into our work together.”