School of Medicine
Showing 1-50 of 125 Results
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Steven Artandi, MD, PhD
Laurie Kraus Lacob Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute (SCI), Jerome and Daisy Low Gilbert Professor and Professor of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTelomeres are nucleoprotein complexes that protect chromosome ends and shorten with cell division and aging. We are interested in how telomere shortening influences cancer, stem cell function, aging and human disease. Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase that synthesizes telomere repeats and is expressed in stem cells and in cancer. We have found that telomerase also regulates stem cells and we are pursuing the function of telomerase through diverse genetic and biochemical approaches.
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Onn Brandman
Associate Professor of Biochemistry and, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Brandman Lab studies how cells sense and respond to stress. We employ an integrated set of techniques including single cell analysis, mathematical modeling, genomics, structural studies, and in vitro assays.
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Patrick O. Brown
Professor of Biochemistry, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Brown's research focuses on replacing humanity's most destructive invention - the use of animals as a food technology - by developing a new and better way to produce the world's most delicious, nutritious and affordable meats, fish and dairy foods directly from plants. He is also working on developing and scaling optimal methods for restoring healthy ecosystems and sequestering carbon on the 45% of Earth's surface that have been devastated by animal agriculture.
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Douglas L. Brutlag
Professor of Biochemistry, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy primary interest is to understand the flow of information from the genome to the phenotype of an organism. This interest includes predicting the structure and function of genes and proteins from their primary sequence, predicting function from structure simulating protein folding and ligand docking, and predicitng disease from genome variations. These goals are the same as the goals of molecular biology, however, we use primarily computational approaches.
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Stephen Chang, MD, PhD
Instructor, Biochemistry
Instructor, Medicine - Cardiovascular MedicineBioPrior to a career in medicine, Dr. Chang was an English major and subsequent novelist at night. During the days, he taught literature part-time at Rutgers University, and for extra money, worked in a laboratory in NYC washing test tubes. Inspired by his laboratory mentor, he began volunteering at the hospital next door, and developed a love for interacting with patients. Through this experience, he saw how caring for others could form deep bonds between people - even strangers - and connect us in a way that brings grandeur to ordinary life.
In addition to seeing patients, Dr. Chang is a physician-scientist devoted to advancing the field of cardiovascular medicine. His research has been focused on identifying a new genetic organism that better models human heart disease than the mouse. For this purpose, he has been studying the mouse lemur, the smallest non-human primate, performing cardiovascular phenotyping (vital signs, ECG, echocardiogram) on lemurs both in-bred (in France) and in the wild (in Madagascar) to try to identify mutant cardiac traits that may be heritable - and in the process, characterize the first high-throughput primate model of human cardiac disease. -
Gilbert Chu
Professor of Medicine (Oncology) and of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAfter shuttering the wet lab, we have focused on: a point-of-care device to measure blood ammonia and prevent brain damage; a human protein complex that juxtaposes and joins DNA ends for repair and V(D)J recombination; and strategies for teaching students and for reducing selection bias in educational programs.
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Karlene Cimprich
Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology and, by courtesy, of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsGenomic instability contributes to many diseases, but it also underlies many natural processes. The Cimprich lab is focused on understanding how mammalian cells maintain genomic stability in the context of DNA replication stress and DNA damage. We are interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying the cellular response to replication stress and DNA damage as well as the links between DNA damage and replication stress to human disease.
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Rhiju Das
Professor of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab seeks an agile and predictive understanding of how nucleic acids and proteins code for information processing in living systems. We develop new computational & chemical tools to enable the precise modeling, regulation, and design of RNA and RNA/protein machines.
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Ronald W. Davis
Professor of Biochemistry and of Genetics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe are using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Human to conduct whole genome analysis projects. The yeast genome sequence has approximately 6,000 genes. We have made a set of haploid and diploid strains (21,000) containing a complete deletion of each gene. In order to facilitate whole genome analysis each deletion is molecularly tagged with a unique 20-mer DNA sequence. This sequence acts as a molecular bar code and makes it easy to identify the presence of each deletion.
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Rahim Esfandyarpour
Student, Biochemistry - Genome Center
BioRahim Esfandyarpour received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2010 and 2014 respectively.
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James Ferrell
Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy lab has two main goals: to understand the regulation of mitosis and to understand the systems-level logic of simple signaling circuits. We often make use of Xenopus laevis oocytes, eggs, and cell-free extracts for both sorts of study. We also carry out single-cell fluorescence imaging studies on mammalian cell lines. Our experimental work is complemented by computational and theoretical studies aimed at understanding the design principles and recurring themes of regulatory circuits.
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Alex Gao
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNature has created many powerful biomolecules that are hidden in organisms across kingdoms of life. Many of these biomolecules originate from microbes, which contain the most diverse gene pool among living organisms. We are integrating high-throughput computational and experimental approaches to harness the vast diversity of genes in microbes to develop new antibiotics and molecular biotechnology, and to investigate the evolution of proteins and molecular mechanisms in innate immunity.
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Yingjie Guo
Postdoctoral Fellow, Biochemistry
BioProfessional Education
Doctor of Philosophy, Chinese Academy Of Sciences (2023)
Doctor, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Regenerative medicine -
Pehr Harbury
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsScientific breakthroughs often come on the heels of technological advances; advances that expose hidden truths of nature, and provide tools for engineering the world around us. Examples include the telescope (heliocentrism), the Michelson interferometer (relativity) and recombinant DNA (molecular evolution). Our lab explores innovative experimental approaches to problems in molecular biochemistry, focusing on technologies with the potential for broad impact.
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Daniel Herschlag
Professor of Biochemistry and, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research is aimed at understanding the chemical and physical behavior underlying biological macromolecules and systems, as these behaviors define the capabilities and limitations of biology. Toward this end we study folding and catalysis by RNA, as well as catalysis by protein enzymes.
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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. Onn Brandman's lab in the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University. His primary research focus is on cellular responses to stalled translation, specifically studying the ribosome-associated quality control (RQC) pathway. This pathway addresses collisions between ribosomes, splitting them into subunits to allow translation to resume without needing mRNA, the small ribosomal subunit, or energy input. This process, known as "CAT tailing," involves the addition of alanine (in bacteria) or both alanine and threonine (in yeast), with human cells likely incorporating additional amino acids.
Danish's research explores key questions about CAT tailing, including how ribosomes recruit specific tRNAs, regulate CAT tail sequence and length, and determine when to stop CAT tailing. His findings have significantly advanced understanding of the pathway's dual role in protein degradation and aggregation, a balance critical for cellular health. His work demonstrates that pulling forces from various cellular interactions regulate CAT tail identity, length, and sequence. Danish discovered that threonine in CAT tails prevents α-helix formation, aids in nascent chain extrusion, and is the primary factor in aggregation of CAT-tailed proteins—offering a potential target for treating protein-aggregation diseases. Meanwhile, alanine-rich CAT tails enhance nascent chain release and degradation and are potent degrons.
Danish's discoveries are key to understanding CAT tailing’s evolution and impact on disease, as mutations in NEMF (the human equivalent of yeast's Rqc2 protein) are linked to neurodegenerative disorders in humans, mice, and flies. His findings lay the groundwork for CAT tail studies in human cells, where a wider range of amino acids may yield new therapeutic opportunities for neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases.
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 on the consequences of RQC pathway dysfunction on cellular health. Leveraging his background in drug development, Danish is also working on small molecule inhibitors of CAT tailing. His work has resulted in a publication in Nature Communications and a second manuscript in revision with Science Translational Medicine, while his own CAT tailing manuscript is under peer review following its bioRxiv posting. Danish’s research is funded by the Dean’s Fellowship (Bernard Cohen Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund) and Mikitani Cancer Research Fellowship at Stanford.
Danish earned his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, where his research focused on the inhibition mechanisms of the lipid-signaling protein Sec14. His work led to the identification of two classes of Sec14 inhibitors and the discovery of a family of heme-binding lipid transfer proteins, resulting in three first-author publications in eLife, Cell Chemical Biology, and Journal of Lipid Research. He also contributed as a middle author to five additional studies, receiving the John Mack Prescott Award for Outstanding Research.
Danish began his academic journey with a Bachelor’s 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 on a Government DBT Fellowship. Beyond science, Danish has a strong interest in the intersection of law and technology, frequently exploring related literature. -
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.
