School of Medicine
Showing 21-40 of 520 Results
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Soichi Wakatsuki
Professor of Photon Science and of Structural Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsUbiquitin signaling: structure, function, and therapeutics
Ubiquitin is a small protein modifier that is ubiquitously produced in the cells and takes part in the regulation of a wide range of cellular activities such as gene transcription and protein turnover. The key to the diversity of the ubiquitin roles in cells is that it is capable of interacting with other cellular proteins either as a single molecule or as different types of chains. Ubiquitin chains are produced through polymerization of ubiquitin molecules via any of their seven internal lysine residues or the N-terminal methionine residue. Covalent interaction of ubiquitin with other proteins is known as ubiquitination which is carried out through an enzymatic cascade composed of the ubiquitin-activating (E1), ubiquitin-conjugating (E2), and ubiquitin ligase (E3) enzymes. The ubiquitin signals are decoded by the ubiquitin-binding domains (UBDs). These domains often specifically recognize and non-covalently bind to the different ubiquitin species, resulting in distinct signaling outcomes.
We apply a combination of the structural (including protein crystallography, small angle x-ray scattering, cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) etc.), biocomputational and biochemical techniques to study the ubiquitylation and deubiquitination processes, and recognition of the ubiquitin chains by the proteins harboring ubiquitin-binding domains. Current research interests including SARS-COV2 proteases and their interactions with polyubiquitin chains and ubiquitin pathways in host cell responses, with an ultimate goal of providing strategies for effective therapeutics with reduced levels of side effects.
Protein self-assembly processes and applications.
The Surface layers (S-layers) are crystalline protein coats surrounding microbial cells. S-layer proteins (SLPs) regulate their extracellular, self-assembly by crystallizing when exposed to an environmental trigger. We have demonstrated that the Caulobacter crescentus SLP readily crystallizes into sheets both in vivo and in vitro via a calcium-triggered multistep assembly pathway. Observing crystallization using a time course of Cryo-EM imaging has revealed a crystalline intermediate wherein N-terminal nucleation domains exhibit motional dynamics with respect to rigid lattice-forming crystallization domains. Rate enhancement of protein crystallization by a discrete nucleation domain may enable engineering of kinetically controllable self-assembling 2D macromolecular nanomaterials. In particular, this is inspiring designing robust novel platform for nano-scale protein scaffolds for structure-based drug design and nano-bioreactor design for the carbon-cycling enzyme pathway enzymes. Current research focuses on development of nano-scaffolds for high throughput in vitro assays and structure determination of small and flexible proteins and their interaction partners using Cryo-EM, and applying them to cancer and anti-viral therapeutics.
Multiscale imaging and technology developments.
Multimodal, multiscale imaging modalities will be developed and integrated to understand how molecular level events of key enzymes and protein network are connected to cellular and multi-cellular functions through intra-cellular organization and interactions of the key machineries in the cell. Larger scale organization of these proteins will be studied by solution X-ray scattering and Cryo-EM. Their spatio-temporal arrangements in the cell organelles, membranes, and cytosol will be further studied by X-ray fluorescence imaging and correlated with cryoEM and super-resolution optical microscopy. We apply these multiscale integrative imaging approaches to biomedical, and environmental and bioenergy research questions with Stanford, DOE national labs, and other domestic and international collaborators. -
Diane Elizabeth Wakeham
Clinical Research Coordinator Associate, Psych/General Psychiatry and Psychology (Adult)
Current Role at StanfordClinical Research Coordinator Associate, INSPIRE Clinic, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
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Heather Wakelee
Winston Chen and Phyllis Huang Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Wakelee's research is focused on clinical trials and translational efforts in patients with lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies such as thymoma and thymic carcinoma. Other interests include translation projects in thoracic malignancies and collaborations with population scientists regarding lung cancer questions.
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Kimberly Walker
Affiliate, Technology & Digital Solutions
Current Role at StanfordKim is Manager of the Instructional Design and Production group (EdTech) in the School of Medicine at Stanford University. She consults with SoM faculty to design and develop online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses for undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education. Kim holds a Ph.D. and M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Instructional Design and Science Education from the University of South Florida. Her undergraduate degree is in biology from the University of Colorado. She formerly worked at Stanford Hospital as a Program Manager and Education Specialist in Graduate Medical Education.
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Rebecca D. Walker
Clinical Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsInterests include international development in emergency care, healthcare disparities, wilderness medicine, human rights, administration
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Dennis Wall
Professor of Pediatrics (Clinical Informatics), of Biomedical Data Science and, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSystems biology for design of clinical solutions that detect and treat disease
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James Wall
Associate Professor of Surgery (Pediatric Surgery) and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering
On Partial Leave from 07/01/2023 To 06/30/2024Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHealth Technology Innovation
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Jessica Falco-Walter
Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology & Neurological Sciences
BioJessica Falco-Walter, MD is board certified in Neurology as well as in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology and practices as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology & Neurological Sciences at Stanford University. Dr. Walter received her BA in Cognitive Science with distinction from Yale University. She received her MD and completed her internship at Georgetown University School of Medicine and then completed her neurology residency at the Mount Sinai Medical Center of the Icahn School of Medicine. She then went on to pursue fellowship in Clinical Neurophysiology and Epilepsy at Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago, IL. She is board certified by the ABPN in Neurology, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Epilepsy. She was one of the first ABPN Epilepsy fellows in the country. Her clinical focus is diagnosis and treatment of seizure disorders and epilepsy, with commitment to treating complex patients and improving quality of life as well as seizure control.
She has a particular interest in dietary treatments for epilepsy and has created a clinic to better manage ketogenic diet treatments for adults with epilepsy. She has published research on ketogenic dietary treatments and continues to work on research related to Vitamin D and epilepsy. While she has particular interest in dietary treatments in epilepsy she is well versed in all currently available medications and surgical treatments for epilepsy and works with patients to treat epilepsy medically, surgically, and wholistically. She is involved in research on new treatments for epilepsy as well.
Dr. Falco-Walter is the Students Interested in Neurology (SIGN) faculty lead for the Department of Neurology and really enjoys working with undergraduates and medical students at the beginning of their careers. She is the course instructor for the Introduction to Neurology Seminar that runs in the fall for medical students that introduces students to all the subspecialty areas within Neurology.