Sarafan ChEM-H


Showing 101-200 of 217 Results

  • Paul S Humphries

    Paul S Humphries

    Alliance Director, Sarafan ChEM-H

    Current Role at StanfordAlliance Director, Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA)

  • Juliana Idoyaga

    Juliana Idoyaga

    Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Idoyaga Lab is focused on the function and biology of dendritic cells, which are specialized antigen-presenting cells that initiate and modulate our body’s immune responses. Considering their importance in orchestrating the quality and quantity of immune responses, dendritic cells are an indisputable target for vaccines and therapies.

    Dendritic cells are not one cell type, but a network of cells comprised of many subsets or subpopulations with distinct developmental pathways and tissue localization. It is becoming apparent that each dendritic cell subset is different in its capacity to induce and modulate specific types of immune responses; however, there is still a lack of resolution and deep understanding of dendritic cell subset functional specialization. This gap in knowledge is an impediment for the rational design of immune interventions. Our research program focuses on advancing our understanding of mouse and human dendritic cell subsets, revealing their endowed capacity to induce distinct types of immune responses, and designing novel strategies to exploit them for vaccines and therapies.

  • Peter K.  Jackson

    Peter K.  Jackson

    Professor of Microbiology and Immunology (Baxter Labs) and of Pathology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCell cycle and cyclin control of DNA replication .

  • Christine Jacobs-Wagner

    Christine Jacobs-Wagner

    Dennis Cunningham Professor, Professor of Biology and of Microbiology and Immunology

    BioChristine Jacobs-Wagner is a Dennis Cunningham Professor in the Department of Biology and the ChEM-H Institute at Stanford University. She is interested in understanding the fundamental mechanisms and principles by which cells, and, in particular, bacterial cells, are able to multiple. She received her PhD in Biochemistry in 1996 from the University of Liège, Belgium where she unraveled a molecular mechanism by which some bacterial pathogens sense and respond to antibiotics attack to achieve resistance. For this work, she received multiple awards including the 1997 GE & Science Prize for Young Life Scientists. During her postdoctoral work at Stanford Medical School, she demonstrated that bacteria can localize regulatory proteins to specific intracellular regions to control signal transduction and the cell cycle, uncovering a new, unsuspected level of bacterial regulation.

    She started her own lab at Yale University in 2001. Over the years, her group made major contributions in the emerging field of bacterial cell biology and provided key molecular insights into the temporal and spatial mechanisms involved in cell morphogenesis, cell polarization, chromosome segregation and cell cycle control. For her distinguished work, she received the Pew Scholars award from the Pew Charitable Trust, the Woman in Cell Biology Junior award from the American Society of Cell Biology and the Eli Lilly award from the American Society of Microbiology. She held the Maxine F. Singer and William H. Fleming professor chairs at Yale. She was elected to the Connecticut academy of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology and the National Academy of Sciences. She has been an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2008.

    Her lab moved to Stanford in 2019. Current research examines the general principles and spatiotemporal mechanisms by which bacterial cells replicate, using Caulobacter crescentus and Escherichia coli as models. Recently, the Jacobs-Wagner lab expanded their interests to the Lyme disease agent Borrelia burgdorferi, revealing unsuspected ways by which this pathogen grows and causes disease

  • Amy Jacobson

    Amy Jacobson

    Director of Microbiome Therapies, Microbiome Therapies Initiative (MITI)

    Current Role at StanfordSenior Scientific Program Manager, Sarafan ChEM-H and Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator

  • Daniel Jarosz

    Daniel Jarosz

    Associate Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Developmental Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy laboratory studies conformational switches in evolution, disease, and development. We focus on how molecular chaperones, proteins that help other biomolecules to fold, affect the phenotypic output of genetic variation. To do so we combine classical biochemistry and genetics with systems-level approaches. Ultimately we seek to understand how homeostatic mechanisms influence the acquisition of biological novelty and identify means of manipulating them for therapeutic and biosynthetic benefit.

  • Paul A. Khavari, MD, PhD

    Paul A. Khavari, MD, PhD

    Carl J. Herzog Professor of Dermatology in the School of Medicine

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe work in epithelial tissue as a model system to study stem cell biology, cancer and new molecular therapeutics. Epithelia cover external and internal body surfaces and undergo constant self-renewal while responding to diverse environmental stimuli. Epithelial homeostasis precisely balances stem cell-sustained proliferation and differentiation-associated cell death, a balance which is lost in many human diseases, including cancer, 90% of which arise in epithelial tissues.

  • Chaitan Khosla

    Chaitan Khosla

    Wells H. Rauser and Harold M. Petiprin Professor and Professor of Chemistry and, by courtesy, of Biochemistry

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in this laboratory focuses on problems where deep insights into enzymology and metabolism can be harnessed to improve human health.

    For the past two decades, we have studied and engineered enzymatic assembly lines called polyketide synthases that catalyze the biosynthesis of structurally complex and medicinally fascinating antibiotics in bacteria. An example of such an assembly line is found in the erythromycin biosynthetic pathway. Our current focus is on understanding the structure and mechanism of this polyketide synthase. At the same time, we are developing methods to decode the vast and growing number of orphan polyketide assembly lines in the sequence databases.

    For more than a decade, we have also investigated the pathogenesis of celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine, with the goal of discovering therapies and related management tools for this widespread but overlooked disease. Ongoing efforts focus on understanding the pivotal role of transglutaminase 2 in triggering the inflammatory response to dietary gluten in the celiac intestine.

  • Peter S. Kim

    Peter S. Kim

    Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Biochemistry
    On Partial Leave from 09/01/2023 To 06/30/2024

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe are studying the mechanism of viral membrane fusion and its inhibition by drugs and antibodies. We use the HIV envelope protein (gp120/gp41) as a model system. Some of our studies are aimed at creating an HIV vaccine. We are also characterizing protein surfaces that are referred to as "non-druggable". These surfaces are defined empirically based on failure to identify small, drug-like molecules that bind to them with high affinity and specificity.

  • Karla Kirkegaard

    Karla Kirkegaard

    Violetta L. Horton Professor and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe biochemistry of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase function, the cell biology of the membrane rearrangements induced by positive-strand RNA virus infection of human cells, and the genetics of RNA viruses, which, with their high error rates, live at the brink of error catastrophe, are investigated in the Kirkegaard laboratory.

  • Bruce Koch, Ph.D.

    Bruce Koch, Ph.D.

    Director, High-Throughput Screening

    Current Role at StanfordHead, ChEM-H/CSB High Throughput Screening Knowledge Center (HTSKC)
    Staff Co-lead, IMA HTS Module

    Adviser to the SPARK Program

  • Pallavi Kompella

    Pallavi Kompella

    Res Sci, Animal Pharmacology (Basic Life Sci)

    BioPh.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin
    Fulbright U.S. Postdoctoral Scholar, Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga, Spain

  • Eric Kool

    Eric Kool

    George A. and Hilda M. Daubert Professor of Chemistry

    Current Research and Scholarly Interests• Design of cell-permeable reagents for profiling, modifying, and controlling RNAs
    • Developing fluorescent probes of DNA repair pathways, with applications in cancer, aging, and neurodegenerative disease
    • Discovery and development of small-molecule modulators of DNA repair enzymes, with focus on cancer and inflammation

  • Jin Billy Li

    Jin Billy Li

    Professor of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Li Lab is primarily interested in RNA editing mediated by ADAR enzymes. We co-discovered that the major function of RNA editing is to label endogenous dsRNAs as "self" to avoid being recognized as "non-self" by MDA5, a host innate immune dsRNA sensor, leading us to pursue therapeutic applications in cancer, autoimmune diseases, and viral infection. The other major direction of the lab is to develop technologies to harness endogenous ADAR enzymes for site-specific transcriptome engineering.

  • Lingyin Li

    Lingyin Li

    Associate Professor of Biochemistry

    BioDr. Li is an associate professor in the Biochemistry Department and ChEM-H Institute at Stanford since 2015. Her lab works on understanding biochemical mechanisms of innate immunity and harnessing it to treat cancer. She majored in chemistry at University of Science and Technology of China and graduated with a B. En in 2003. She then trained with Dr. Laura Kiessling, a pioneer in chemical biology, at University of Wisconsin-Madison and graduated with a Ph.D in chemistry in 2010. She obtained her postdoctoral training with Dr. Timothy Mitchison at Harvard Medical School, who introduced her to the field of chemical immunology.

  • Michael Lin

    Michael Lin

    Associate Professor of Neurobiology, of Bioengineering and, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab applies biochemical and engineering principles to the development of protein-based tools for investigating biology in living animals. Topics of investigation include fluorescent protein-based voltage indicators, synthetic light-controllable proteins, bioluminescent reporters, and applications to studying animal models of disease.

  • Kyle Loh

    Kyle Loh

    Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology (Stem Cell)

    BioHow the richly varied cell-types in the human body arise from one embryonic cell is a biological marvel and mystery. We have mapped how human embryonic stem cells develop into over twenty different human cell-types. This roadmap allowed us to generate enriched populations of human liver, bone, heart and blood vessel precursors in a Petri dish from embryonic stem cells. Each of these tissue precursors could regenerate their cognate tissue upon injection into respective mouse models, with relevance to regenerative medicine. In addition to our interests in developmental and stem cell biology, we also interested in discovering the entry receptors and target cells of deadly biosafety level 4 viruses, together with our collaborators.

    Kyle attended the County College of Morris and Rutgers University, and received his Ph.D. from Stanford University (working with Irving Weissman), with fellowships from the Hertz Foundation, National Science Foundation and Davidson Institute for Talent Development. He then continued as a Siebel Investigator, and later, as an Assistant Professor and The Anthony DiGenova Endowed Faculty Scholar at Stanford, where he is jointly appointed in the Department of Developmental Biology and Institute for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine. Kyle is a Packard Fellow, Pew Scholar, Human Frontier Science Program Young Investigator and Baxter Foundation Faculty Scholar, and his research has been recognized by the NIH Director's Early Independence Award, Forbes 30 Under 30, Harold Weintraub Graduate Award, Hertz Foundation Thesis Prize and A*STAR Investigatorship.

  • Jonathan Z. Long

    Jonathan Z. Long

    Associate Professor of Pathology

    BioDr. Jonathan Long is an Assistant Professor of Pathology and an Institute Scholar of Stanford ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering & Medicine for Human Health). His laboratory studies signaling pathways in mammalian energy metabolism. The long-term goal of this program is to discover new molecules and pathways that can be translated into therapeutic opportunities for obesity, metabolic disease, and other age-associated chronic diseases. Work from the laboratory has been recognized by numerous awards from the National Institutes of Health, the American Diabetes Association, and the Ono Pharma Foundation. Prior to arriving to Stanford, Dr. Long completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Scripps Research and his postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School.

  • Sharon R. Long

    Sharon R. Long

    William C. Steere, Jr. - Pfizer Inc. Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Biochemistry

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsBiochemistry, genetics and cell biology of plant-bacterial symbiosis

  • Anson Lowe

    Anson Lowe

    Associate Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology and Hepatology), Emeritus

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe laboratory is focused on the relationship between injury, wound healing, and cancer. Esophageal, gastric, and pancreatic cancers are a focus. We are particularly interested in the regulation of cell signaling by EGFR, the EGF receptor. In addition to cancer pathogenesis, active projects include the development of new diagnostic assays and drugs.

  • Sydney X. Lu

    Sydney X. Lu

    Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology)

    BioSydney Lu is a hematologist and medical oncologist in the Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, studying novel therapeutics for challenging cancers and immune disorders.
    Sydney's research career started with graduate studies in the laboratory of Dr. Marcel van den Brink at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) studying the biology of pathologic donor T cells during graft-versus-host-disease and beneficial T cells mediating graft-versus-tumor effects after allogeneic bone marrow transplant, as well as the role of the thymus in regenerating healthy and protective donor-derived T cells post-transplant.
    The direct relevance of these cellular therapies and their immediate translational applicability to patients inspired him to attend medical school at Stanford and further training in hematology and medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering. There, as a fellow and junior faculty member, he studied disordered RNA splicing in cancer in the laboratory of Dr. Omar Abdel-Wahab, with the goal of developing novel drugs targeting RNA splicing. This work has led to observations that targeted degradation of the RNA binding protein RBM39 may be a feasible therapeutic for the treatment of myeloid cancers bearing RNA splicing factor mutations and that pharmacologic RNA splicing inhibition can generate MHC I-presented peptide neoantigens which are exploitable for immunotherapy in model systems.

    Sydney's laboratory is broadly interested in studying RNA processing and splicing in the contexts of:
    1) normal and pathologic immunity and immunotherapy
    2) cancer biology
    3) normal and malignant hematopoiesis

  • Liqun Luo

    Liqun Luo

    Ann and Bill Swindells Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Neurobiology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study how neurons are organized into specialized circuits to perform specific functions and how these circuits are assembled during development. We have developed molecular-genetic and viral tools, and are combining them with transcriptomic, proteomic, physiological, and behavioral approaches to study these problems. Topics include: 1) assembly of the fly olfactory circuit; 2) assembly of neural circuits in the mouse brain; 3) organization and function of neural circuits; 4) Tool development.

  • Ruben Y. Luo

    Ruben Y. Luo

    Assistant Professor of Pathology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsApply top-down mass spectrometry and label-free immunoassay to the study and utilization of biomarker proteoforms in clinical diagnosis.

  • Vinit B. Mahajan, MD, PhD

    Vinit B. Mahajan, MD, PhD

    Professor of Ophthalmology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur focus is the development of personalized medicine for eye diseases through translation of our discoveries in proteomics, genomics, and phenomics in humans, mice and tissue culture models.

  • Nicole M. Martinez

    Nicole M. Martinez

    Assistant Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Developmental Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Martinez lab studies RNA regulatory mechanisms that control gene expression. We focus on mRNA processing, RNA modifications and their roles in development and disease.

  • Michaëlle Ntala Mayalu

    Michaëlle Ntala Mayalu

    Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering

    BioDr. Michaëlle N. Mayalu is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. She received her Ph.D., M.S., and B.S., degrees in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department. She was a 2017 California Alliance Postdoctoral Fellowship Program recipient and a 2019 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program award recipient. She is also a 2023 Hypothesis Fund Grantee.

    Dr. Michaëlle N. Mayalu's area of expertise is in mathematical modeling and control theory of synthetic biological and biomedical systems. She is interested in the development of control theoretic tools for understanding, controlling, and predicting biological function at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels to optimize therapeutic intervention.

    She is the director of the Mayalu Lab whose research objective is to investigate how to optimize biomedical therapeutic designs using theoretical and computational approaches coupled with experiments. Initial project concepts include: i) theoretical and experimental design of bacterial "microrobots" for preemptive and targeted therapeutic intervention, ii) system-level multi-scale modeling of gut associated skin disorders for virtual evaluation and optimization of therapy, iii) theoretical and experimental design of "microrobotic" swarms of engineered bacteria with sophisticated centralized and decentralized control schemes to explore possible mechanisms of pattern formation. The experimental projects in the Mayalu Lab utilize established techniques borrowed from the field of synthetic biology to develop synthetic genetic circuits in E. coli to make bacterial "microrobots". Ultimately the Mayalu Lab aims to develop accurate and efficient modeling frameworks that incorporate computation, dynamical systems, and control theory that will become more widespread and impactful in the design of electro-mechanical and biological therapeutic machines.

  • Nicholas Melosh

    Nicholas Melosh

    Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

    BioThe Melosh group explores how to apply new methods from the semiconductor and self-assembly fields to important problems in biology, materials, and energy. We think about how to rationally design engineered interfaces to enhance communication with biological cells and tissues, or to improve energy conversion and materials synthesis. In particular, we are interested in seamlessly integrating inorganic structures together with biology for improved cell transfection and therapies, and designing new materials, often using diamondoid molecules as building blocks.
    My group is very interested in how to design new inorganic structures that will seamless integrate with biological systems to address problems that are not feasible by other means. This involves both fundamental work such as to deeply understand how lipid membranes interact with inorganic surfaces, electrokinetic phenomena in biologically relevant solutions, and applying this knowledge into new device designs. Examples of this include “nanostraw” drug delivery platforms for direct delivery or extraction of material through the cell wall using a biomimetic gap-junction made using nanoscale semiconductor processing techniques. We also engineer materials and structures for neural interfaces and electronics pertinent to highly parallel data acquisition and recording. For instance, we have created inorganic electrodes that mimic the hydrophobic banding of natural transmembrane proteins, allowing them to ‘fuse’ into the cell wall, providing a tight electrical junction for solid-state patch clamping. In addition to significant efforts at engineering surfaces at the molecular level, we also work on ‘bridge’ projects that span between engineering and biological/clinical needs. My long history with nano- and microfabrication techniques and their interactions with biological constructs provide the skills necessary to fabricate and analyze new bio-electronic systems.


    Research Interests:
    Bio-inorganic Interface
    Molecular materials at interfaces
    Self-Assembly and Nucleation and Growth

  • Timothy Meyer

    Timothy Meyer

    Stanford University Professor of Nephrology, Emeritus

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsInadequate removal of uremic solutes contributes to widespread illness in the more than 500,000 Americans maintained on dialysis. But we know remarkably little about these solutes. Dr. Meyer's research efforts are focused on identifying which uremic solutes are toxic, how these solutes are made, and how their production could be decreased or their removal could be increased. We should be able to improve treatment if we knew more about what we are trying to remove.

  • Paul Salomon Mischel

    Paul Salomon Mischel

    Fortinet Founders Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research bridges cancer genetics, signal transduction and cellular metabolism as we aim to understand the molecular mechanisms that drive cancer development, progression, and drug resistance. We have made a series of discoveries that have identified a central role for ecDNA (extrachromosomal DNA) in cancer development, progression, accelerated tumor evolution and drug resistance.

  • W. E. Moerner

    W. E. Moerner

    Harry S. Mosher Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsLaser spectroscopy and microscopy of single molecules to probe biological systems, one biomolecule at a time. Primary thrusts: fluorescence microscopy far beyond the optical diffraction limit (PALM/STORM/STED), methods for 3D optical microscopy in cells, and trapping of single biomolecules in solution for extended study. We explore protein localization patterns in bacteria, structures of amyloid aggregates in cells, signaling proteins in the primary cilium, and dynamics of DNA and RNA.

  • Denise M. Monack

    Denise M. Monack

    Martha Meier Weiland Professor in the School of Medicine

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe primary focus of my research is to understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms of intracellular bacterial pathogenesis. We use several model systems to study complex host-pathogen interactions in the gut and in immune cells such as macrophages and dendritic cells. Ultimately we would like to understand how Salmonella persists within certain hosts for years in the face of a robust immune response.

  • David Myung, MD, PhD

    David Myung, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNovel biomaterials to reconstruct the wounded cornea
    Mesenchymal stem cell therapy for corneal and ocular surface regeneration
    Engineered biomolecule therapies for promote corneal wound healing

    Telemedicine in ophthalmology

  • Lauren O'Connell

    Lauren O'Connell

    Assistant Professor of Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe O'Connell lab studies how genetic and environmental factors contribute to biological diversity and adaptation. We are particularly interested in understanding (1) how behavior evolves through changes in brain function and (2) how animal physiology evolves through repurposing existing cellular components.

  • Sergiu P. Pasca

    Sergiu P. Pasca

    Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsA critical challenge in understanding the intricate programs underlying development, assembly and dysfunction of the human brain is the lack of direct access to intact, functioning human brain tissue for detailed investigation by imaging, recording, and stimulation.
    To address this, we are developing bottom-up approaches to generate and assemble, from multi-cellular components, human neural circuits in vitro and in vivo.
    We introduced the use of instructive signals for deriving from human pluripotent stem cells self-organizing 3D cellular structures named brain region-specific spheroids/organoids. We demonstrated that these cultures, such as the ones resembling the cerebral cortex, can be reliably derived across many lines and experiments, contain synaptically connected neurons and non-reactive astrocytes, and can be used to gain mechanistic insights into genetic and environmental brain disorders. Moreover, when maintained as long-term cultures, they recapitulate an intrinsic program of maturation that progresses towards postnatal stages.
    We also pioneered a modular system to integrate 3D brain region-specific organoids and study human neuronal migration and neural circuit formation in functional preparations that we named assembloids. We have actively applied these models in combination with studies in long-term ex vivo brain preparations to acquire a deeper understanding of human physiology, evolution and disease mechanisms.
    We have carved a unique research program that combines rigorous in vivo and in vitro neuroscience, stem cell and molecular biology approaches to construct and deconstruct previously inaccessible stages of human brain development and function in health and disease.
    We believe science is a community effort, and accordingly, we have been advancing the field by broadly and openly sharing our technologies with numerous laboratories around the world and organizing the primary research conference and the training courses in the area of cellular models of the human brain.

  • Suzanne Pfeffer

    Suzanne Pfeffer

    Emma Pfeiffer Merner Professor of Medical Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe major focus of our research is to understand the molecular basis of inherited Parkinson's Disease (PD). We focus on the LRRK2 kinase that is inappropriately activated in PD and how it phosphorylates Rab GTPases, blocking the formation of primary cilia in specific regions of the brain. The absence of primary cilia renders cells unable to carry out Hedgehog signaling that is critical for neuroprotective pathways that sustain dopamine neurons.

  • Elizabeth Ponder

    Elizabeth Ponder

    Executive Director, Sarafan ChEM-H

    BioDr. Elizabeth Ponder joined Stanford ChEM-H in 2014 and is currently the Executive Director of Sarafan ChEM-H and the Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA). Dr. Ponder completed her Ph.D. and postdoctoral training at Stanford University in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Bogyo. Her past work has included promoting public-private partnerships in the non-profit sector, managing multidisciplinary research in the higher education sector, and business development consulting in the for-profit biotech sector. Dr. Ponder joined ChEM-H from the University of California, Berkeley where she served as the Executive Director of the Henry Wheeler Center for Emerging & Neglected Diseases (CEND).

  • Matthew Porteus

    Matthew Porteus

    Sutardja Chuk Professor of Definitive and Curative Medicine

    BioDr. Porteus was raised in California and was a local graduate of Gunn High School before completing A.B. degree in “History and Science” at Harvard University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and wrote an thesis entitled “Safe or Dangerous Chimeras: The recombinant DNA controversy as a conflict between differing socially constructed interpretations of recombinant DNA technology.” He then returned to the area and completed his combined MD, PhD at Stanford Medical School with his PhD focused on understanding the molecular basis of mammalian forebrain development with his PhD thesis entitled “Isolation and Characterization of TES-1/DLX-2: A Novel Homeobox Gene Expressed During Mammalian Forebrain Development.” After completion of his dual degree program, he was an intern and resident in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and then completed his Pediatric Hematology/Oncology fellowship in the combined Boston Chidlren’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute program. For his fellowship and post-doctoral research he worked with Dr. David Baltimore at MIT and CalTech where he began his studies in developing homologous recombination as a strategy to correct disease causing mutations in stem cells as definitive and curative therapy for children with genetic diseases of the blood, particularly sickle cell disease. Following his training with Dr. Baltimore, he took an independent faculty position at UT Southwestern in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry before again returning to Stanford in 2010 as an Associate Professor. During this time his work has been the first to demonstrate that gene correction could be achieved in human cells at frequencies that were high enough to potentially cure patients and is considered one of the pioneers and founders of the field of genome editing—a field that now encompasses thousands of labs and several new companies throughout the world. His research program continues to focus on developing genome editing by homologous recombination as curative therapy for children with genetic diseases but also has interests in the clonal dynamics of heterogeneous populations and the use of genome editing to better understand diseases that affect children including infant leukemias and genetic diseases that affect the muscle. Clinically, Dr. Porteus attends at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital where he takes care of pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

  • Guillem Pratx

    Guillem Pratx

    Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology (Radiation Physics)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Physical Oncology Lab is interested in making a lasting impact on translational cancer research by building novel physical tools and methods.

  • Lei (Stanley) Qi

    Lei (Stanley) Qi

    Associate Professor of Bioengineering

    BioDr. Lei (Stanley) Qi is Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Sarafan ChEM-H, and a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator. Dr. Qi is a principal contributor to the development of CRISPR technologies for genome engineering beyond gene editing. His lab created the first nuclease-deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) for targeted gene regulation in cells. His lab has invented a CRISPR toolbox for engineering the epigenome, including CRISPRi and CRISPRa for targeted gene repression and activation, epigenome editing, LiveFISH for real-time DNA/RNA imaging, CRISPR-GO for 3D genome manipulation, CasMINI as a compact CRISPR system for gene therapy, hyperCas12a for multi-gene engineering, and CRISPR antivirals aimed at treating broad RNA viruses.

    Dr. Qi obtained B.S. in Physics and Math from Tsinghua University in 2005, and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012. He was a Systems Biology Faculty Fellow at UCSF between 2012-2014, and joined Stanford faculty in 2014. His research focuses on mammalian synthetic biology, epigenetic engineering, immune cell engineering, directed evolution, and novel approaches for gene therapy.

  • Jianghong Rao

    Jianghong Rao

    Professor of Radiology (Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford) and, by courtesy, of Chemistry

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProbe chemistry and nanotechnology for molecular imaging and diagnostics

  • Kacper Rogala

    Kacper Rogala

    Assistant Professor of Structural Biology and of Chemical and Systems Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur team is fascinated by how cells make growth decisions — to grow or not to grow. In order to grow, cells require nutrients, and we are unraveling how cells use specialized protein sensors and transporters to sense and traffic nutrients in between various compartments. We use approaches from structural biology, chemical biology, biophysics, biochemistry, and cell biology — to reveal the mechanisms of basic biological processes, and we develop chemical probes that modulate them.

  • Florentine Rutaganira

    Florentine Rutaganira

    Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and of Developmental Biology

    BioDr. Rutaganira uses choanoflagellates—the closest living single-celled relatives to animals—to study the origin of animal cell communication. Dr. Rutaganira applies chemical, genetic, and cell biological tools to probe choanoflagellate cell-cell communication, with implications for understanding not only animal cell signaling, but also the origin of multicellularity in animals.

  • Julien Sage

    Julien Sage

    Elaine and John Chambers Professor of Pediatric Cancer and Professor of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe investigate the mechanisms by which normal cells become tumor cells, and we combine genetics, genomics, and proteomics approaches to investigate the differences between the proliferative response in response to injury and the hyperproliferative phenotype of cancer cells and to identify novel therapeutic targets in cancer cells.

  • Kathleen M. Sakamoto

    Kathleen M. Sakamoto

    Shelagh Galligan Professor in the School of Medicine

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research focuses on the molecular pathways that regulate normal and aberrant blood cell development, including acute leukemia and bone marrow failure syndromes. We are also studying novel drugs for treatment of cancer.

  • Julia Salzman

    Julia Salzman

    Associate Professor of Biomedical Data Science, of Biochemistry and, by courtesy, of Statistics and of Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly Interestsstatistical computational biology focusing on splicing, cancer and microbes

  • Juan G. Santiago

    Juan G. Santiago

    Charles Lee Powell Foundation Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly Interestshttp://microfluidics.stanford.edu/Projects/Projects.html

  • Serena Sanulli

    Serena Sanulli

    Assistant Professor of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study the organizing principles of the genome and how these principles regulate cell identity and developmental switches. We combine Biochemistry and Biophysical methods such as NMR and Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange-MS with Cell Biology, and Genetics to explore genome organization across length and time scales and understand how cells leverage the diverse biophysical properties of chromatin to regulate genome function.

  • Ansuman Satpathy

    Ansuman Satpathy

    Assistant Professor of Pathology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab works at the interface of immunology, cancer biology, and genomics to study cellular and molecular mechanisms of the immune response to cancer. In particular, we are leveraging high-throughput genomic technologies to understand the dynamics of the tumor-specific T cell response to cancer antigens and immunotherapies (checkpoint blockade, CAR-T cells, and others). We are also interested in understanding the impact of immuno-editing on the heterogeneity and clonal evolution of cancer.

    We previously developed genome sequencing technologies that enable epigenetic studies in primary human immune cells from patients: 1) 3D enhancer-promoter interaction profiling (Nat Genet, 2017), 2) paired epigenome and T cell receptor (TCR) profiling in single cells (Nat Med, 2018), 3) paired epigenome and CRISPR profiling in single cells (Cell, 2019), and high-throughput single-cell ATAC-seq in droplets (Nature Biotech, 2019). We used these tools to study fundamental principles of the T cell response to cancer immunotherapy (PD-1 blockade) directly in cancer patient samples (Nature Biotech, 2019; Nat Med, 2019).

  • Elizabeth Sattely

    Elizabeth Sattely

    Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering

    BioPlants have an extraordinary capacity to harvest atmospheric CO2 and sunlight for the production of energy-rich biopolymers, clinically used drugs, and other biologically active small molecules. The metabolic pathways that produce these compounds are key to developing sustainable biofuel feedstocks, protecting crops from pathogens, and discovering new natural-product based therapeutics for human disease. These applications motivate us to find new ways to elucidate and engineer plant metabolism. We use a multidisciplinary approach combining chemistry, enzymology, genetics, and metabolomics to tackle problems that include new methods for delignification of lignocellulosic biomass and the engineering of plant antibiotic biosynthesis.

  • Nirao Shah

    Nirao Shah

    Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator), of Neurobiology and, by courtesy, of Obstetrics and Gynecology
    On Leave from 03/01/2024 To 04/19/2024

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study how our brains generate social interactions that differ between the sexes. Such gender differences in behavior are regulated by sex hormones, experience, and social cues. Accordingly, we are characterizing how these internal and external factors control gene expression and neuronal physiology in the two sexes to generate behavior. We are also interested in understanding how such sex differences in the healthy brain translate to sex differences in many neuro-psychiatric illnesses.

  • Lucy Shapiro

    Lucy Shapiro

    Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor, Emerita

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsA basic question in developmental biology involves the mechanisms used to generate the three-dimensional organization of a cell from a one-dimensional genetic code. Our goal is to define these mechanisms using both molecular genetics and biochemistry.

  • Naima G. Sharaf

    Naima G. Sharaf

    Assistant Professor of Biology and, by courtesy, of Structural Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch in the lab bridges biology, microbiology, and immunology to translate lipoprotein research into therapeutics

  • Carla Shatz

    Carla Shatz

    Sapp Family Provostial Professor, The Catherine Holman Johnson Director of Stanford Bio-X and Professor of Biology and of Neurobiology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe goal of research in the Shatz Laboratory is to discover how brain circuits are tuned up by experience during critical periods of development both before and after birth by elucidating cellular and molecular mechanisms that transform early fetal and neonatal brain circuits into mature connections. To discover mechanistic underpinnings of circuit tuning, the lab has conducted functional screens for genes regulated by neural activity and studied their function for vision, learning and memory.

  • Mark Smith

    Mark Smith

    Head of Medicinal Chemistry

    BioDr. Mark Smith joined Stanford ChEM-H in May 2013 as the Head of the Medicinal Chemistry Knowledge Center. He graduated with a Ph.D. from the laboratory of Prof. Richard Stoodley at the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology (UMIST), where his research focused on the application of Lewis acid catalyzed hetero Diels-Alder reactions to the synthesis of novel disaccharide structures. In 2000, Dr. Smith joined the research laboratory of Prof. David Crich at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Here his research focused on the generation of new reagents for the synthesis of beta-mannosides from thioglycosides. From 2002 to 2013, Dr. Smith worked as a medicinal chemist in Roche’s research facilities both in Palo Alto, CA and then Nutley, NJ, where he specialized in antiviral research.

  • Hyongsok Tom  Soh

    Hyongsok Tom Soh

    Professor of Radiology (Early Detection), of Electrical Engineering, of Bioengineering and, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering

    BioDr. Soh received his B.S. with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science with Distinction from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. From 1999 to 2003, Dr. Soh served as the technical manager of MEMS Device Research Group at Bell Laboratories and Agere Systems. He was a faculty member at UCSB before joining Stanford in 2015. His current research interests are in analytical biotechnology, especially in high-throughput screening, directed evolution, and integrated biosensors.

  • Edward I. Solomon

    Edward I. Solomon

    Monroe E. Spaght Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Photon Science

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProf. Solomon's work spans physical-inorganic, bioinorganic, and theoretical-inorganic chemistry, focusing on spectroscopic elucidation of the electronic structure of transition metal complexes and its contribution to reactivity. He has advanced our understanding of metal sites involved in electron transfer, copper sites involved in O2 binding, activation and reduction to water, structure/function correlations over non-heme iron enzymes, and correlation of biological to heterogeneous catalysis.

  • David Solow-Cordero

    David Solow-Cordero

    Associate Director, High-Throughput Screening, Innovative Medicines Accelerator (IMA)

    Current Role at StanfordAssociate Director, High-Throughput Screening Knowledge Center, , Sarafan ChEM-H and Innovative Medicine Accelerator (IMA)

    This high-throughput screening (HTS) laboratory allows Stanford researchers and others to discover novel modulators of targets that otherwise would not be practical in industry. The center incorporates instrumentation (purchased with NCRR NIH Instrumentation grant numbers S10RR019513, S10RR026338, S10OD025004, and S10OD026899), databases, compound libraries, and personnel whose previous sole domains were in industry.

    Among our instrumentation are a fully automated Molecular Devices ImageXpress Micro Confocal High-Content fluorescence microplate imager, with live cell, fluidics and phase contrast options, an Echo 655 Acoustic Dispense, a Thermo integrated HTS robotic system, a Caliper Life Sciences SciClone ALH3000 and an Agilent Bravo microplate liquid handler, and the BMG Clariostarplus, Tecan Infinite M1000 and M1000 PRO and Molecular Devices FlexStation II 384 fluorescence, luminescence and absorbance multimode microplate readers.

    We have over 180,000 small molecules for compound screens, 15,000 cDNAs for genomic screens, and whole genome siRNA libraries targeting the human genome (the siARRAY whole human genome siRNA library from Dharmacon, targeting 21,000 human genes) and the mouse genome (Qiagen mouse whole genome siRNA set V1 against 22,124 genes).

    The HTSKC main screening lab is located in ChEM-H W008, the cell-based assay development lab is located in CCSR Room 0133-North Wing, between the Transgenic Mouse Facility, and the Stanford Genomics Facility.

  • Aaron F. Straight

    Aaron F. Straight

    Pfeiffer and Herold Families Professor, Professor of Biochemistry and, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study the biology of chromosomes. Our research is focused on understanding how chromosomal domains are specialized for unique functions in chromosome segregation, cell division and cell differentiation. We are particularly interested in the genetic and epigenetic processes that govern vertebrate centromere function, in the organization of the genome in the eukaryotic nucleus and in the roles of RNAs in the regulation of chromosome structure.

  • Katrin J Svensson

    Katrin J Svensson

    Assistant Professor of Pathology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMolecular metabolism
    Protein biochemistry
    Cell biology and function
    Animal physiology

  • James Swartz

    James Swartz

    James H. Clark Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Chemical Engineering and of Bioengineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProgram Overview

    The world we enjoy, including the oxygen we breathe, has been beneficially created by biological systems. Consequently, we believe that innovative biotechnologies can also serve to help correct a natural world that non-natural technologies have pushed out of balance. We must work together to provide a sustainable world system capable of equitably improving the lives of over 10 billion people.
    Toward that objective, our program focuses on human health as well as planet health. To address particularly difficult challenges, we seek to synergistically combine: 1) the design and evolution of complex protein-based nanoparticles and enzymatic systems with 2) innovative, uniquely capable cell-free production technologies.
    To advance human health we focus on: a) achieving the 120 year-old dream of producing “magic bullets”; smart nanoparticles that deliver therapeutics or genetic therapies only to specific cells in our bodies; b) precisely designing and efficiently producing vaccines that mimic viruses to stimulate safe and protective immune responses; and c) providing a rapid point-of-care liquid biopsy that will count and harvest circulating tumor cells.
    To address planet health we are pursuing biotechnologies to: a) inexpensively use atmospheric CO2 to produce commodity biochemicals as the basis for a new carbon negative chemical industry, and b) mitigate the intermittency challenges of photovoltaic and wind produced electricity by producing hydrogen either from biomass sugars or directly from sunlight.
    More than 25 years ago, Professor Swartz began his pioneering work to develop cell-free biotechnologies. The new ability to precisely focus biological systems toward efficiently addressing new, “non-natural” objectives has proven tremendously useful as we seek to address the crucial and very difficult challenges listed above. Another critical feature of the program is the courage (or naivete) to approach important objectives that require the development and integration of several necessary-but- not-sufficient technology advances.

  • Sindy Tang

    Sindy Tang

    Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Professor, by courtesy, of Radiology and of Bioengineering
    On Leave from 10/01/2023 To 06/30/2024

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe long-term goal of Dr. Tang's research program is to harness mass transport in microfluidic systems to accelerate precision medicine and material design for a future with better health and environmental sustainability.

    Current research areas include: (I) Physics of droplets in microfluidic systems, (II) Interfacial mass transport and self-assembly, and (III) Applications in food allergy, single-cell wound repair, and the bottom-up construction of synthetic cell and tissues in close collaboration with clinicians and biochemists at the Stanford School of Medicine, UCSF, and University of Michigan.

    For details see https://web.stanford.edu/group/tanglab/

  • Hawa Racine Thiam

    Hawa Racine Thiam

    Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and of Microbiology and Immunology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCellular Biophysical Mechanisms of Innate Immune Cells Functions

  • Alice Ting

    Alice Ting

    Professor of Genetics, of Biology and, by courtesy, of Chemistry

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe develop chemogenetic and optogenetic technologies for probing and manipulating protein networks, cellular RNA, and the function of mitochondria and the mammalian brain. Our technologies draw from protein engineering, directed evolution, chemical biology, organic synthesis, high-resolution microscopy, genetics, and computational design.