Daniel Jay Klionsky (born 1958) is an American biochemist and molecular biologist. He is the Alexander G. Ruthven Professor of Life Sciences and professor of molecular,cellular,and developmental biology at the University of Michigan. As a cell biologist,Klionsky pioneered the understanding of autophagy,the process by which cells break down to survive stress conditions such as starvation,and the role autophagy plays in cancer,neurodegenerative diseases,and other areas of human health.
Klionsky was born in 1958 in California. [1] Although he enjoyed biology in high school,Klionsky enrolled at the University of California,Los Angeles while majoring in history. He eventually switched to biology and enrolled at Stanford University for his PhD. [2] Upon completing his PhD,Klionsky accepted a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology. [3]
In 1990,Klionsky was appointed an assistant professor of Microbiology at the University of California,Davis (UC Davis). [1] He was eventually promoted to the rank of associate professor where he led a research team to create a "superyeast" that grew twice as fast as normal yeast after being frozen,dehydrated,or during brewing. [4] In 1997,he was named a full professor [1] and accepted a Guggenheim Fellowship in the field of Molecular and Cellular Biology. [5] [6]
Klionsky left UC Davis to accept a similar dual position at the University of Michigan's (UMich) Department of Molecular,Cellular,and Developmental Biology and in the Department of Biochemistry in the Medical School in 2000. [1] During the beginning of his tenure at UMich,he received a 2003 Director's Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars for his "aims to reform the introductory biology curriculum at the university by adapting techniques used by smaller colleges,including strategies that implement group learning exercises in lecture settings." [7] Klionsky also moved to the Life Sciences Institute Department,where he was named the Alexander G. Ruthven Professor of Life Sciences in 2006. [1]
During his tenure at UMich,Klionsky became "renowned for his pioneering contributions to the understanding of autophagy,the process by which cells break down to survive stress conditions such as starvation,and the role autophagy plays in cancer,neurodegenerative diseases and other areas of human health." [8] As a result,Klionsky was singled out by Thomson Reuters as a future Nobel Laureate. [9] He was later awarded the 2015 van Deenan Medal from the Institute of Biomembranes at Utrecht University in the Netherlands for being "a leading scientist in biomembrane research." [10] Following this,he was recognized with a University of Michigan Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award [8] and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [11] In 2019,Klionsky was the recipient of an honorary degree from the University of Bordeaux. [12]
During the COVID-19 pandemic,Klionsky wrote Highlights in the fight against COVID-19:does autophagy play a role in SARS-CoV-2 infection? with Elizabeth Delorme-Axford. [13] He also proposed that autophagy could be a link between SARS-CoV-2 and cancer. [14]
Cell biology is a branch of biology that studies the structure,function,and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and functioning of organisms. Cell biology is the study of structural and functional units of cells. Cell biology encompasses both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and has many subtopics which may include the study of cell metabolism,cell communication,cell cycle,biochemistry,and cell composition. The study of cells is performed using several microscopy techniques,cell culture,and cell fractionation. These have allowed for and are currently being used for discoveries and research pertaining to how cells function,ultimately giving insight into understanding larger organisms. Knowing the components of cells and how cells work is fundamental to all biological sciences while also being essential for research in biomedical fields such as cancer,and other diseases. Research in cell biology is interconnected to other fields such as genetics,molecular genetics,molecular biology,medical microbiology,immunology,and cytochemistry.
Autophagy is the natural,conserved degradation of the cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-dependent regulated mechanism. It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components. Although initially characterized as a primordial degradation pathway induced to protect against starvation,it has become increasingly clear that autophagy also plays a major role in the homeostasis of non-starved cells. Defects in autophagy have been linked to various human diseases,including neurodegeneration and cancer,and interest in modulating autophagy as a potential treatment for these diseases has grown rapidly.
Marilyn Gist Farquhar was a pathologist and cellular biologist,Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Pathology,as well as the chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California,San Diego School of Medicine,who previously worked at Yale University from 1973 to 1990. She has won the E. B. Wilson Medal and the FASEB Excellence in Science Award. She was married to Nobel Laureate George Emil Palade from 1970 to his death in 2008. Her research focuses on control of intracellular membrane traffic and the molecular pathogenesis of auto immune kidney diseases. She has yielded a number of discoveries in basic biomedical research including:mechanisms of kidney disease,organization of functions that attach cells to one another,and mechanisms of secretions.
Vojo Deretic,is distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Deretic was the founding director of the Autophagy,Inflammation and Metabolism (AIM) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. The AIM center promotes autophagy research nationally and internationally.
The Life Sciences Institute (LSI) is a collaborative,multidisciplinary research institution located on the campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It encompasses 27 faculty-led teams from 13 schools and departments throughout U-M. The LSI brings together leading scientists from a variety of life science disciplines,working with a range of models systems and cutting-edge research tools,to accelerate breakthroughs and discoveries that will broaden understanding of the basic processes of life and lead to new treatments to improve human health.
Autophagy-related protein 8 (Atg8) is a ubiquitin-like protein required for the formation of autophagosomal membranes. The transient conjugation of Atg8 to the autophagosomal membrane through a ubiquitin-like conjugation system is essential for autophagy in eukaryotes. Even though there are homologues in animals,this article mainly focuses on its role in lower eukaryotes such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Trey Ideker is a professor of medicine and bioengineering at UC San Diego. He is the Director of the National Resource for Network Biology,the San Diego Center for Systems Biology,and the Cancer Cell Map Initiative. He uses genome-scale measurements to construct network models of cellular processes and disease.
Yoshinori Ohsumi is a Japanese cell biologist specializing in autophagy,the process that cells use to destroy and recycle cellular components. Ohsumi is a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology's Institute of Innovative Research. He received the Kyoto Prize for Basic Sciences in 2012,the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,and the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.
Don W. Cleveland is an American cancer biologist and neurobiologist.
Nevan J. Krogan is a Canadian molecular and systems biologist. He is a professor and the Director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF),as well as a senior investigator at the J. David Gladstone Institutes.
Daniel Mier Gusfield is an American computer scientist,Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of California,Davis. Gusfield is known for his research in combinatorial optimization and computational biology.
Juanita L. Merchant is an American gastroenterologist and physiology researcher who has contributed to understanding of gastric response to chronic inflammation. She is currently the chief of the University of Arizona Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Merchant was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2008,and appointed an inaugural member of the NIH Council of Councils.
Lorenzo Galluzzi is an Italian and French cell biologist best known for his experimental and conceptual contributions to the fields of cell death,autophagy,tumor metabolism and tumor immunology.
Katherine Whittaker Ferrara is an American engineer who is a professor of radiology at Stanford University. Ferrara has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Françoise Gisou van der Goot is a Swiss-Dutch cell biologist. She is a professor and the Vice President for Responsible Transformation at EPFL.
Raymond L. Rodriguez is an American professor of biology,specializing in molecular biology,genomics and biotechnology. His current research interests include diet-genome interactions,plant-made pharmaceuticals and the food/brain axis. Rodriguez is also an inventor,and entrepreneur. His research at the University of California,San Francisco in the 1970’s helped lay the foundation for the biotechnology industry. He also holds several issued US patents. He is involved in programs that promote diversity,equity and inclusion for women and underrepresented minorities in science,technology,engineering,and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
Jan Karlseder is an Austrian molecular biologist,a professor in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory,the Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research and the holder of the Donald and Darlene Shiley Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.
Zhimin (James) Lu is a Chinese-American biologist and oncologist. He is a professor,Kuancheng Wang Distinguished Chair,and Dean of Institute of Translational Medicine at Zhejiang University. Prior to joining Zhejiang University in 2019,he was the Ruby E. Rutherford Distinguished Professor and the director of Cancer Metabolism Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Denise Johnson Montell is an American biologist who is the Duggan Professor of Molecular,Cellular,and Developmental Biology at the University of California,Santa Barbara. Her research considers the oogenesis process in Drosophila and border cell migration. She has served as President of the Genetics Society of America and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
Eileen White is an American professor and scientist who currently serves as deputy director,chief scientific officer,and associate director for basic science at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. She is also the distinguished professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Rutgers University. White was elected member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
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