Stanford University
Showing 11-20 of 332 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. -
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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Keiko Waki
Visiting Associate Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
BioKeiko Waki, as an associate professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT) in Japan, has worked extensively with her group on controlling the defects of carbon nanotubes and nano materials for integrating new materials into emerging technologies in the field of fuel cells and solar cells. Now, she is working with Prof. Dauskardt's group in Stanford Materials Science and Engineering on the plasma-assisted film processing for various device technologies as a visiting associate professor.
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Virginia Walbot
Professor of Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur current focus is on maize anther development to understand how cell fate is specified. We discovered that hypoxia triggers specification of the archesporial (pre-meiotic) cells, and that these cells secrete a small protein MAC1 that patterns the adjacent soma to differentiate as endothecial and secondary parietal cell types. We also discovered a novel class of small RNA: 21-nt and 24-nt phasiRNAs that are exceptionally abundant in anthers and exhibit strict spatiotemporal dynamics.
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Michael Wald
Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law, Emeritus
BioMichael S. Wald is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law Emeritus at Stanford Law School. He is a graduate of Cornell University, Yale Law School, and Yale Graduate School (MA Political Science). He has a special interest in applying child development research to legal and public policies designed to help children and on issues related to implementation of public policies, His work has focused in particular on policies and practices related to child maltreatment, regulation of parenting, and improving outcomes for youth ages 14-25 who are disconnected from school and work. In both teaching and writing, he has collaborated frequently with faculty in other disciplines who are interested in these areas. Most recently, he was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Parenting that produced the volume Parenting Matters.
Professor Wald has also been involved in the drafting of major federal and state legislation regarding child welfare, including the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, and has served directly in a variety of government positions, including Executive Director of the San Francisco Department of Human Services and Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and as a member of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and chair of the California State Advisory Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. He also served as chair of WT Grant Faculty Scholars Selection Committee, on the board of directors of the Chapin Hall Children’s Center at the University of Chicago and on the boards of various legal organizations dedicated to helping children. -
Andrew G. Walder
Denise O'Leary & Kent Thiry Professor of the Humanities and Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Professor, by courtesy, of Political Science
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMarket reforms in China; and political movements in China during the Cultural Revolution.
