News & Events
Anatomy of An Experiment: CHASING DOWN THE CELL'S GATEKEEPERS
SUMMER 2009: TIME IS RUNNING OUT. JEN LIOU, NINE MONTHS PREGNANT, GUESSES HOW MANY HOURS SHE HAS UNTIL DELIVERY AS SHE RUSHES TO COMPILE RECORDS NEEDED TO DOCUMENT HER RESEARCH. OVER THE PREVIOUS YEAR, SHE HAS ENDURED PHYSICAL PAIN, JUGGLED DOZENS OF TASKS AND MADE METICULOUS PLANS TO GET TO THIS POINT.
The delivery in question is not the infant girl in her womb. Yes, the baby could arrive at any moment, but first Liou needs to submit the last bit of material required for publication of a paper that could resolve a fundamental question in biology: How does a cell signal its outer membrane to let in more calcium when it has depleted its store of the element?
“Baby, don’t come now,” Liou prays. “Mommy’s not ready. Just give me time to do this last thing.”
New technique for controlling protein activity could lead to cancer therapies
October 6, 2008: In the October issue of Nature Medicine CSB researchers Laura Banaszynski and Mark Sellmyer of the Wandless lab, in collaboration with Chris Contag's lab, demonstrate a valuable new technology for regulating protein function in living mice. This new approach allows researchers to tunably control the amount of a specific protein either expressed in or secreted from mammalian cells. Their studies show that therapeutically relevant proteins such as IL-2 and TNF-alpha can be regulated with high levels of control.
Researchers find enzyme that could prevent tissue damage
September 24, 2008: Marauding molecules cause the tissue damage that underlies heart attacks, sunburn, Alzheimer's and hangovers. But medical school researchers say they may have found ways to combat the carnage after discovering a new cog in the body's molecular detoxification machinery. The culprit molecules are oxygen byproducts called free radicals. These unstable molecules start chain reactions of cellular damage—an escalating storm that ravages healthy tissue. "We've found a totally new pathway for reducing the damage caused by free radicals, such as the damage that happens during a heart attack," said Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, professor of chemical and systems biology and the senior author of a study in the Sept. 12 issue of Science reporting the new findings.
Joanna Wysocka has been named a W.M. Keck Foundation Distinguished Young Scholar
September 23, 2008: Joanna Wysocka has been named a W.M. Keck Foundation Distinguished Young Scholar in Medical Research. Wysocka received $1 million as one of five awardees this year nationwide. The Keck award will allow her laboratory to study how members of a pivotal group of histone modifying enzymes turn genes on during the transition from embryonic stem cells to mature cells.
James Chen receives NIH Director's Pioneer Award
September 22, 2008: James Chen has been awarded a 2008 NIH Director's Pioneer Award. This prestigious award recognizes scientists of exceptional creativity who propose highly innovative approaches in biomedical research, and 16 of these $2.5 million grants were awarded this year. Dr. Chen will use the Pioneer Award to invent new technologies for imaging gene expression and protein function in live organisms, allowing scientists to directly observe the molecules that regulate tissue formation, function, and regeneration. These studies will complement methods previously developed by the Chen laboratory that enable control of embryonic gene expression with spatial and temporal precision.
This fall, Karlene Cimprich and Joanna Wysocka will be teaching Biology of Chromatin-templated Processes
September 10, 2008: This fall, Karlene Cimprich and Joanna Wysocka will be offering Biology of Chromatin-templated Processes Lectures and Literature Discussions: Mondays and Wednesdays 10 am to 11:30 am, CCSR 4105 Seminars by Guest Speakers: Fridays 12 pm to 1 pm, Clark Auditorium
Laura Banaszynski and Tom Wandless receive 2009 Nobel Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry
September 9, 2008: Laura Banaszynski and Tom Wandless recently received the 2009 Nobel Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. The citation recognizes the development of the new "destabilizing domain" technology as well as mechanistic studies of the immunosuppressive drug, rapamycin. Laura is currently pursuing postdoctoral studies with David Allis at Rockefeller University.
Karlene Cimprich selected as one of this year's Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholars in Aging.
September 8, 2008: Karlene Cimprich, Associate Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology, has been selected as one of this year's Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholars in Aging. Her work will focus on the relationship between DNA damage and epigenetics in aging. This prestigious award was given to 25 distinguished scientists, and Stanford received three awards this year. The other awardees were Irving Weissman in the Dept of Pathology and David Schneider in the Dept of Microbiology and Immunology.
ProteoTuner system regulates the quantity of a protein present in a cell
July 23, 2008: Based on work by the Wandless lab and licensed from Stanford, Clontech has launched the ProteoTuner system as a unique technology to regulate the quantity of your protein of interest present in a cell, quickly and directly. This new technique enables direct manipulation of the in vivo level of a specific protein of interest, making it a powerful tool for analyzing protein function.
Rapid control of protein level in the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii
December 14, 2007: Two recent papers in the December issue of Nature Methods report that technology developed in the Wandless lab is useful for conditionally regulating gene function in the Apicomplexan parasites, Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii.
Stanford Scientists Awarded $10.7 Million in Latest State Stem Cell Grants
December 14, 2007: CSB Assistant Professor Joanna Wysocka received CIRM New Faculty Award to fund research on the epigenetic mechanisms in stem cell differentiation.
PAC: Postdoc Anonymous Club
December 3, 2007: The Postdoc Anonymous Club (PAC) Postdoctoral fellows, or postdocs, are transitional scientists who reside somewhere between the worlds of student and faculty. While their formal education may be over, they are still learning and acquiring new skills as they transition to their professional careers. While the traditional academic career path dictates that the postdoctoral training period is a necessary step in order to pursue academic research, there are a myriad of possibilities out there for recently minted PhDs in both the academic and non-academic setting. Increasingly, postdocs are pursuing non-academic careers.
The Mochly-Rosen lab were invited to contribute an Annual Review
November 12, 2007: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Therefore, identifying therapeutic targets is a major focus of current research. Protein kinase C (PKC), a family of serine/threonine kinases, has been identified as playing a role in many of the pathologies of heart disease. However, the lack of specific PKC regulators and the ubiquitous expression and normal physiological functions of the 11 PKC isozymes has made drug development a challenge. Here we discuss the validity of therapeutically targeting PKC, an intracellular signaling enzyme. We describe PKC structure, function, and distribution in the healthy and diseased heart, as well as the development of rationally designed isozyme-selective regulators of PKC functions. The review focuses on the roles of specific PKC isozymes in atherosclerosis, fibrosis, and cardiac hypertrophy, and examines principles of pharmacology as they pertain to regulators of signaling cascades associated with these diseases.
inaugural UK LifeSciences meeting in Glasgow, UK.
November 12, 2007: Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5174, U.S.A. Mitochondria mediate diverse cellular functions including energy generation and ROS (reactive oxygen species) production and contribute to signal transduction. Mitochondria are also key regulators of cell viability and play a central role in necrotic and apoptotic cell death pathways induced by cardiac ischaemia/reperfusion injury. PKC (protein kinase C) epsilon plays a critical role in cardioprotective signalling pathways that protect the heart from ischaemia/reperfusion. Emerging evidence suggests that the cardioprotective target of PKCepsilon resides at the mitochondria. Proposed mitochondrial targets of PKCepsilon include mitoK(ATP) (mitochondrial ATP-sensitive K(+) channel), components of the MPTP (mitochondrial permeability transition pore) and components of the electron transport chain. This review highlights mitochondrial targets of PKCepsilon and their possible role in cardioprotective signalling in the setting of ischaemia/reperfusion injury.
Light-controlled gene silencing in Zebrafish embryos
October 10, 2007: Ilya Shestopalov has developed a method for controlling gene expression using light, as described in his new Nature Chemical Biology paper. Light-controlled gene silencing in Zebrafish embryos Ilya A Shestopalov, Surajit Sinha and James K Chen
Wysocka named as a 2007 Searle Scholar
March 29, 2007: Joanna Wysocka, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology, has been named one of this year's Searle Scholars. This highly prestigious award supports young scientists who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishment and innovation. This year 182 newly-appointed assistant professors were nominated for Searle Scholar Awards; 15 scientists, from 14 universities, received the coveted award. Stanford was the only university to receive two awards this year. The other awardee was Or Gozani in the Dept. of Biological Sciences, who, like Dr. Wysocka, studies epigenetic regulation.
Building protein switches, the competitive way
March 28, 2007: In the wake of her new paper on substrate competition and ultrasensitivity in mitosis, published this month in Cell, our own Sun Young Kim is becoming a celebrity in her native Korea.
Substrate Competition as a Source of Ultrasensitivity in the Inactivation of Wee1
March 28, 2007: Sun Young Kim and James E. Ferrell Jr.
New Ph.D. program in Chemical and Systems Biology approved
November 30, 2006: The Stanford Faculty Senate today approved the creation of a new interdiscipliinary Ph.D. program in Chemical and Systems Biology. "This is an exciting step forward," said Jim Ferrell, Chair of the Dept. of Chemical and Systems Biology. "The fields of chemical biology and systems biology include some of the most creative science happening today, and the Senate clearly recognized that." The first class of graduate students for the new degree program will matriculate in September 2007.
Department renamed to reflect shift in focus
October 18, 2006: The molecular pharmacology department has a new name that more accurately reflects its work. Introducing: the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology.
Voilà! New laboratory tool makes proteins vanish faster
September 27, 2006: Turn it up, turn it down and, if you want to, turn it off. Scientists at the School of Medicine have developed a faster way to temporarily eliminate a targeted protein within a cell. The technique could potentially be used by researchers worldwide.
New senior associate dean for research building bridges from bench to bedside
January 18, 2006: As the new senior associate dean of research, Mochly-Rosen aims to foster those kinds of translational discoveries: the application of basic research to therapies for patients. She hopes to encourage researchers to look beyond their areas of expertise and to make it easier for them to cross barriers they might encounter along the way.
Stanford Report features the Stanford High-Throughput Bioscience Center
October 6, 2004: The Stanford Report recently published an article describing the High-Throughput Bioscience Center and the new experimental capabilities it brings to Stanford.
Chemical and Systems Biology creates the Stanford High-Throughput Bioscience Center
September 15, 2004: To advance high-throughput methodologies in biomedical research, the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology has established the High-Throughput Bioscience Center as a community-wide resource for Stanford researchers.
Chemical and Systems Biology and Chemistry establish the Quantitive Chemical Biology Training Program
September 1, 2004: As part of the NIH Roadmap Initiative, the Departments of Chemical and Systems Biology and Chemistry have created a new training program for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows that emphasizes interdisciplinary research.
The San Francisco Chronicle features new Clark Center
October 20, 2003: Calling Stanford University's new James H. Clark Center a "formula for scientific innovation," a new San Francisco Chronicle piece talks about the future of scientific research at Stanford and beyond.
Stanford Report looks at Molecular Pharmacology
October 15, 2003: The Stanford Report recently published an article taking a close look at our recent faculty additions and other exciting changes in Chemical and Systems Biology.
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