Ira Mellman

Last updated
Ira Mellman
Alma mater Oberlin College, Yale University, Rockefeller University
Known for endosomes
Scientific career
Fields cell biology
Institutions Genentech, University of California, San Francisco
Doctoral advisor Leon Rosenberg
Other academic advisors Ralph Steinman

Ira Mellman is an American cell biologist who discovered endosomes. [1] He served as Vice President of Research Oncology at Genentech in South San Francisco, California. [2]

Contents

Research

Mellman's work has examined the role of endocytosis in cell metabolism and human disease. He was among the first to characterize the endosomal system. Later projects include investigation of LDL cholesterol receptor internalization, cellular sorting machinery, and the cellular basis for immunity. He is an authority on the cell biological mechanisms and function of dendritic cells, the cell type responsible for initiating the immune response, an interest that dates back to his postdoctoral period at Rockefeller University in the lab of Ralph Steinman, who won the Nobel Prize in 2011 for his discovery of dendritic cells.

Early life and education

Mellman grew up in New York, where he lived until he enrolled at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. While in college he maintained an interest in music but focused on the rapidly expanding field of cell biology. Working with David Miller, he began to study Chlamydomonas and found that a significant amount of the cell wall consisted of extensin. [3] After leaving Oberlin, he enrolled in the graduate program at the University of California, Berkeley, but later transferred to Yale University to switch to research more applicable to people. At Yale, he studied the genetics behind vitamin B12 metabolism under the guidance of geneticist Leon Rosenberg. He became interested in endocytosis and did a postdoc with Ralph Steinman and Zanvil A. Cohn at Rockefeller University and started characterizing endosomes. [2]

Return to Yale and later years

He returned to Yale after completing postdoctoral work and remained there as a professor for over twenty years. During this time he was the Sterling Professor of Cell Biology & Immunobiology, chair of the Cell Biology Department, Scientific Director of the Yale Cancer Center and a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Mellman has served on the council of the American Society for Cell Biology, is currently on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Cancer Research, and was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Cell Biology from 1999 to 2008. He remains active as a senior editor for the journal.

Genentech

In 2007, he was recruited to Genentech as the VP of Research Oncology to replace Marc Tessier-Lavigne. There, the company is developing understanding of immunology and along that, immunotherapy. In August 2024, Roche/Genentech announced the decision to shut down its cancer immunology research department leading to the departure Mellman who has been with the company for 17 years and led the unit. [4] [5]

Honors

Mellman is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, [2] a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Foreign Associate of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

Personal

In 1976, he married Margaret Moench. The couple have three children. [6]

Appearances

In December 2018, Mellman spoke at the 'Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics" conference, which took place in San Diego, California.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endocytosis</span> Cellular process

Endocytosis is a cellular process in which substances are brought into the cell. The material to be internalized is surrounded by an area of cell membrane, which then buds off inside the cell to form a vesicle containing the ingested materials. Endocytosis includes pinocytosis and phagocytosis. It is a form of active transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endosome</span> Vacuole to which materials ingested by endocytosis are delivered

Endosomes are a collection of intracellular sorting organelles in eukaryotic cells. They are parts of the endocytic membrane transport pathway originating from the trans Golgi network. Molecules or ligands internalized from the plasma membrane can follow this pathway all the way to lysosomes for degradation or can be recycled back to the cell membrane in the endocytic cycle. Molecules are also transported to endosomes from the trans Golgi network and either continue to lysosomes or recycle back to the Golgi apparatus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph M. Steinman</span> Canadian immunologist and cell biologist

Ralph Marvin Steinman was a Canadian physician and medical researcher at Rockefeller University, who in 1973 discovered and named dendritic cells while working as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Zanvil A. Cohn, also at Rockefeller University. Steinman was one of the recipients of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cancer immunology</span> Study of the role of the immune system in cancer

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<i>Journal of Cell Biology</i> Academic journal

The Journal of Cell Biology is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Rockefeller University Press.

Zanvil Alexander Cohn was a cell biologist and immunologist who upon his death was described by The New York Times as being "in the forefront of current studies of the body's defenses against infection.", professor at Rockefeller University. There Cohn had been the Henry G. Kunkel Professor for seven years. Cohn was senior physician at the university as well as vice president for medical affairs. Until two years before his death, he also served as principal investigator of the Irvington Institute for Medical Research. Although Cohn never won the Nobel Prize, Ralph M. Steinman, with whom he ran a laboratory at Rockefeller University for many years, was named to win the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the work on dendritic cells done in their lab, eighteen years after Cohn's death.

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References

  1. Wells, W. A. (2007). "Ira Mellman: From endosomes to industry". The Journal of Cell Biology. 177 (4): 570–571. doi:10.1083/jcb.1774pi. PMC   2064202 . PMID   17517958.
  2. 1 2 3 Nair, P. (2012). "Profile of Ira Mellman". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 109 (23): 8790–2. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.8790N. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1207791109 . PMC   3384157 . PMID   22645337.
  3. Miller, D. H. (1 November 1974). "The chemical composition of the cell wall of Chlamydomonas gymnogama and the concept of a plant cell wall protein". The Journal of Cell Biology. 63 (2): 420–429. doi:10.1083/jcb.63.2.420. PMC   2110943 . PMID   4607708.
  4. "FirstWord". firstwordpharma.com. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  5. "Genentech dissolves cancer immunology group, and research executive Ira Mellman will leave company". Endpoints News. Retrieved 2024-08-17.
  6. "Margaret Moench, Art Student, Married to Ira Seth Mellman, Doctoral Candidate". The New York Times. 20 September 1976.