School of Medicine


Showing 951-960 of 1,052 Results

  • Keith Van Haren, MD

    Keith Van Haren, MD

    Assistant Professor of Neurology (Pediatric Neurology) and of Pediatrics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research group is dedicated to innovating care for children with degenerative brain disorders. We are particularly focused on genetic and autoimmune disorders that cause damage to the myelin (the fatty insulation around the nerves) of the brain and spinal cord. X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (genetic) and multiple sclerosis (autoimmune) are the prototypical examples of degenerative disorders of myelin and are the two disorders we study most intensively.

  • Capucine Van Rechem

    Capucine Van Rechem

    Assistant Professor of Pathology (Pathology Research)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy long-term interest lies in understanding the impact chromatin modifiers have on disease development and progression so that more optimal therapeutic opportunities can be achieved. My laboratory explores the direct molecular impact of chromatin-modifying enzymes during cell cycle progression, and characterizes the unappreciated and unconventional roles that these chromatin factors have on cytoplasmic function such as protein synthesis.

  • Shreyas Vasanawala, MD/PhD

    Shreyas Vasanawala, MD/PhD

    William R. Brody Professor of Pediatric Radiology and Child Health
    On Partial Leave from 03/25/2024 To 04/14/2024

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur group is focused on developing new fast and quantitative MRI techniques.

  • Anne Villeneuve

    Anne Villeneuve

    Berthold and Belle N. Guggenhime Professor and Professor of Developmental Biology and of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMechanisms underlying homologous chromosome pairing, DNA recombination and chromosome remodeling during meiosis, using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as an experimental system. High-resolution 3-D imaging of dynamic reorganization of chromosome architecture. Role of protease inhibitors in regulating sperm activation.

  • Allison Vreeland

    Allison Vreeland

    Clinical Instructor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development
    Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry

    BioDr. Allison Vreeland (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in working with children, teens, and families. Dr. Vreeland received her PhD in Clinical Psychological Science with a minor in Quantitative Studies at Vanderbilt University. She completed her predoctoral clinical internship in Child Psychology at UCSF with specialty training through the Child Trauma Research Program. She completed a research and clinical fellowship in the Immune Behavioral Health Clinic at Stanford University, where she focused her research efforts on examining neurological markers of patients diagnosed with pediatric acute neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS). Clinically, Dr. Vreeland’s program of clinical care is focused on the delivery of evidence-based clinical interventions for individuals with anxiety, OCD, PANS/PANDAS, mood disorders, and behavioral challenges.

  • David Vu

    David Vu

    Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatrics - Infectious Diseases

    BioDr. Vu is a pediatric infectious diseases specialist who is researching human responses to dengue virus and malaria infections. He performed his undergraduate studies at the University of California, San Diego, and obtained his medical doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He trained in general pediatrics at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, and in pediatric infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine. His present studies on pediatric dengue and malaria co-infection are supported by an NIAID Career Development Award (K23 AI127909) and a Instructor K Award Support Program Award from the Maternal & Child Health Research Institute and Department of Pediatrics.

  • Soichi Wakatsuki

    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.