Elizabeth Villa

Last updated
Elizabeth Villa Rodriguez
Alma mater University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
National Autonomous University of Mexico
Scientific career
Institutions Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego
Thesis Multiscale Modeling of Biomolecular Complexes  (2008)

Elizabeth Villa is an American biophysicist who is Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego. Her research considers the development of Cryo Electron Tomography and structural biology. She was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Investigator in 2021.

Contents

Early life and education

Villa grew up in Mexico, which is where she first studied physics. [1] She earned her doctorate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she worked as a Fulbright Fellow. She completed her research in the laboratory of Klaus Schulten on the modeling of biomolecular complexes. [2] During her doctorate, she was introduced to cryogenic electron microscopy, and worked with Joachim Frank on approaches to combine X-ray crystallography with Cryo EM and molecular dynamics. [3] She moved to the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions as a postdoctoral fellow. [4]

Research and career

Villa joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego in 2014. She was selected a Pew Research Scholar in 2017. [5] In 2021, Villa was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow. [6]

Villa has developed novel techniques to explore cellular machinery. [7] This machinery includes bulky molecular complexes, which are composed of nucleic acids, carbohydrates and proteins. Her early work developed tags for Cryo Electron Tomography (cryo-ET), for which she was awarded an National Institutes of Health Director's Award. [8] [9] [10] She developed cryo focused ion beam milling, which makes use of an ion beam to remove ultra-thin layers of cellular material. Images can be acquired from various angles using a transmission electron microscope and reconstructed to form a three-dimensional picture. [11]

Villa determined the structure of the LRRK2 protein. Mutations in LRRK2 are the most frequent cause of Parkinson's disease. [12] [13] The protein includes a 14 Å structure with a pathogenic mutation that forms a right-handed double helix around left-handed tubules. [12] By understanding the 3D structure of LRRK2, Villa hopes to design new treatments for Parkinson's disease. [14]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "STEAM CAREER DAY". muirlandsfoundation. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  2. ↑ Villa Rodriguez, Elizabeth; Schulten, Klaus J (2008). Multiscale Modeling of Biomolecular Complexes (Thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. hdl:2142/72397. OCLC   932474791.
  3. ↑ "Elizabeth Villa – The Villa Lab" . Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  4. ↑ "Elizabeth Villa". Horizons in Molecular Biology Symposium. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  5. ↑ "Pew Awards 22 Promising Biomedical Researchers Funding to Advance Human Health". pew.org. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  6. ↑ "HHMI Invests $300 Million in 33 New Investigators". HHMI. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  7. ↑ "New Nano3 microscope will allow high-resolution look inside cells". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  8. ↑ "NIH Director's New Innovator Award Program - Award Recipients". commonfund.nih.gov. 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  9. ↑ "Elizabeth Villa Wins Prestigious NIH Grant". physicalsciences.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  10. ↑ McDonald, Kim; Diego, UC San (2017-11-27). "Women rising". University of California. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  11. ↑ "Seminars & Events". molbio.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  12. 1 2 Parton, Robert (2020-08-18). "Faculty Opinions recommendation of The In Situ Structure of Parkinson's Disease-Linked LRRK2". doi: 10.3410/f.738470882.793577642 . S2CID   242227676.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ↑ "Elizabeth Villa, PhD | Parkinson's Disease". www.michaeljfox.org. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  14. ↑ "Cellular Mechanism of LRRK2 in Health and Disease | Parkinson's Disease". www.michaeljfox.org. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
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