School of Medicine
Showing 1-10 of 10 Results
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Sharada Kalanidhi
Director of Data Science, Biochemistry - Genome Center
Current Role at StanfordSharada is focused on building a Data Science capability at SGTC. Her recent research has involved multivariate and machine learning analysis of the biological mechanisms underlying ME/CFS and post-viral fatigue. Her previous research involved non-parametric analysis of the use of Aripiprazole as a treatment for ME/CFS.
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Danish Khan
Basic Life Research Scientist, Biochemistry
BioDanish is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Prof. Ron Kopito and Onn Brandman's labs in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University. His research focuses on cellular responses to stalled translation, specifically the ribosome-associated quality control (RQC) pathway, which resolves collisions between ribosomes during translation. In a surprising twist to the central dogma of molecular biology, an RQC factor protein, Rqc2, enables translation to resume on the ribosome - but without input from mRNA! This process, known as "CAT tailing," involves the addition of alanines (in bacteria) or both alanines and threonines (in yeast) to the C-terminus of the stalled nascent protein.
Danish’s research explores key questions about this critical protein quality control pathway, including how ribosomes regulate CAT tail sequence and length and determine when to stop CAT tailing. His findings have significantly advanced our understanding of the pathway’s dual role in protein degradation and aggregation, a balance crucial for proteostasis and cellular health. His work demonstrates that pulling forces from various cellular interactions regulate CAT tail identity, length, and sequence. He discovered that threonine in CAT tails prevents α-helix formation, aids in nascent chain extrusion from the ribosome, and is the primary driver of CAT-tailed protein aggregation - offering a potential target for treating protein-aggregation diseases. His first-author work on this is available on bioRxiv.
Danish’s discoveries are key to understanding the evolution of CAT tailing and its impact on disease, as mutations in NEMF (the human equivalent of yeast Rqc2) are linked to neurodegenerative disorders in humans, mice, and flies. His findings lay the groundwork for CAT tail studies in human cells, where a broader range of amino acids incorporated as CAT tails may yield new therapeutic opportunities for neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases.
Beyond his own projects, Danish has contributed broadly within the Brandman lab. He co-developed ReporterSeq, a CRISPRi-based genomic screening technique published in eLife, and collaborates with Bingwei Lu’s lab (Stanford Pathology) to investigate the consequences of RQC pathway dysfunction on cellular health. Leveraging his background in drug development, he is also developing small molecule inhibitors of CAT tailing. His research is funded by the Dean’s Fellowship (Bernard Cohen Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund) and the Mikitani Cancer Research Fellowship from the Stanford Cancer Institute.
Before his postdoc, Danish earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University, where he studied small molecule inhibitors that interfere with Sec14, a lipid-signaling protein in fungi. His work led to the discovery of two new classes of Sec14 inhibitors and the identification of a family of heme-binding lipid transfer proteins, culminating in three first-author publications in eLife, Cell Chemical Biology, and the Journal of Lipid Research. He also contributed as a middle author to five additional studies and received the John Mack Prescott Award for Outstanding Research at Texas A&M.
Danish began his academic journey with a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Presidency College, Kolkata, where he ranked second in his college and fourth in the university. He then earned a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from Banaras Hindu University while on the Government of India’s DBT Fellowship.
Beyond science, Danish has a strong interest in the intersection of law and technology, frequently explores related literature, and is an avid observer of the American federal court system. -
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
Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research focuses on developing new strategies for vaccine creation. We also aim to generate vaccines targeting infectious agents that have eluded efforts to date. We integrate experimental approaches with protein language models to guide artificial evolution and enable efficient antibody and protein engineering. Our interdisciplinary approach aims to address critical global health challenges.
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Silvana Maria Konermann
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
BioSilvana is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford and Executive Director and Core Investigator at Arc Institute. Her research laboratory aims to understand the molecular pathways that drive the development of Alzheimer’s disease using next-generation functional genomics, with the long-term goal of developing rationally targeted therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from MIT. Silvana’s pioneering work on tools to directly perturb the transcriptomic landscape of the cell using CRISPR has been recognized by her faculty appointment as a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator and Hanna Gray Fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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Mark Krasnow
Paul and Mildred Berg Professor
Current Research and Scholarly Interests- Lung development and stem cells
- Neural circuits of breathing and speaking
- Lung diseases including lung cancer
- New genetic model organism for biology, behavior, health and conservation
