Melissa Marcucci, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biology
Contact:
Phone: 860.231.5248
E-mail:
mmarcucci@sjc.edu
Driven by the desire to dig deep beneath biological concepts, Dr. Marcucci built a research and teaching career based on the concepts of active learning and assimilation. “I strive to build individual biology concepts into a framework of what I refer to as the ‘big picture,’ in order to demonstrate why it is so important that we learn seemingly minor facts,” she said. “It is evident to me that students who actively read, discuss, and share their knowledge with others in group settings, retain the material, and most importantly, incorporate the information into their own growing body of knowledge.” As such, Dr. Marcucci facilitates this unique learning style by introducing concepts that students can independently “assemble, disassemble, and reassemble.”
Drawn to Biology by her work undergraduate in proteins, she spent part of her graduate career researching type II diabetes in a lab that worked on systemic glucose metabolism. “For me, it wasn’t enough to accept the basic function of how diabetes worked,” she recalled. “I needed to know why. This desire to understand more led me to pursue my Ph.D. and to focus my graduate work on how specific proteins bend membranes in both muscle and neurons.”
Dr. Marcucci readily shares her enthusiasm and expertise with her students — creating a learning environment that both informs and stimulates. “I am excited that I work in a profession that forces me to consistently read, modify my thinking, and incorporate new knowledge so I can stimulate others,” she said.
Academic Degrees:
Ph.D., Cell Biology, Yale University (May 2004)
M.S., Physiology, Boston University
B.A., Psychology, Boston University
Recent publications, presentations, and/or events:
Davis Educational Foundation Educational Technology Grant (January 2009) Title: “Implementation of virtual dissection and physiological modeling software in anatomy and physiology laboratory to enhance student learning”
Evergren, E., Marcucci, M., Tomilin, N., Low, P., Slepnev, V., Gad, H., Brodin, L., De Camilli, P., and Shupliakov, O. Amphiphysin participates in the formation of clathrin-coated pits during synaptic vesicle recycling in the lamprey giant axon. Traffic (2004) 5:1-15.
Petzold, G. C., Marcucci, M., Butler, M. H., van Landeghem, F. K. H., Einhäupl, K. M., Solimena, M., Valdueza, J. M., and De Camilli, P. Rhabdomyolysis and paraneoplastic stiff-man syndrome with amphiphysin autoimmunity. Ann. Neurol. (2004) 55(2): 286-290.
Lee E., Marcucci M., Daniell L., Pypaert M., Weisz O.A., Ochoa G.C., Farsad K., Wenk M.R., and De Camilli P. Amphiphysin 2 (Bin1) and T-tubule biogenesis in muscle. Science. (2002) 297(5584):1193-6.
