Pamela Silver | |
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Born | Pamela Ann Silver |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Mechanisms of membrane assembly : studies on the association of an integral protein with biological membranes (1982) |
Doctoral advisor | William T. Wickner |
Doctoral students | Christina Agapakis, Valerie Weiss |
Other notable students | Karmella Haynes Jessica Polka |
Website | silver |
Pamela A. Silver is an American cell and systems biologist and a bioengineer. She holds the Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professorship of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Systems Biology. Silver is one of the founding Core Faculty Members of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.
She has made contributions to other disciplines including cell and nuclear biology, [1] [2] [3] systems biology, [4] [5] RNA biology, [6] [7] [8] cancer therapeutics, [9] international policy research, and graduate education. Silver was the first Director of the Harvard University Graduate Program in Systems Biology. She is a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. [10]
Silver grew up in Atherton, California, where she attended Laurel and Encinal Elementary Schools. During this time, she was a winner of the IBM Math Competition, winning a slide rule [11] and received special recognition for her early aptitude in science. She attended Menlo Atherton High School and graduated from Castilleja School in Palo Alto. She received her B.A. in chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz and her PhD in Biological Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in the laboratory of William T. Wickner, working largely on the coat assembly of the M13 coliphage. [12] [ citation needed ]
Silver did her postdoctoral research with Mark Ptashne at Harvard University where she discovered one of the first nuclear localization sequences. [13] [14] She continued to study the mechanism of nuclear localization in her own lab as an assistant professor at Princeton University. During this time, she characterized the receptor for NLSs and discovered one of the first eukaryotic DnaJ chaperones. [15]
Silver continued in the area of Cell Biology upon moving to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute to hold the Claudia Adams Barr Investigatorship and to become Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber. During this time, she was among the first to follow GFP-tagged proteins in living cells. [16] In addition, she initiated early studies in systems biology to examine interactions within the nucleus on a whole genome scale. [17] Together with Bill Sellers, she discovered molecules that block nuclear export [18] and formed the basis for a publicly traded company Karyopharm Therapeutics. She was promoted in 1997 to Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber.
In 2004, Silver moved to the newly formed Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School as a Professor. Around this time, she worked closely with the Synthetic Biology Working Group at MIT and made the decision to move her research group into Synthetic Biology. She observed the motion of the carbon fixing organelles in photosynthetic bacteria. [19] She has worked extensively on designing modified bacteria to act as sensors for exposure to a drug [20] or inflammation [21] in the mammalian gut. She has served as the Director of an ARPA-E (DOE) project on electrofuels.
Some of Silver's work in this area includes the engineering of: mammalian cells to remember and report past exposures to drugs and radiation, [22] [23] [24] robust computational circuits in embryonic stem cells and bacteria, [25] and synthetic switches to moderate gene silencing with the integration of novel therapeutic proteins. [26] [27] Silver's work sets the stage for the development of novel therapies for use in both humans and animals.
Silver has characterized the carboxysome – the major carbon-fixing structure in cyanobacteria – to enhance photosynthetic efficiency [28] and carbon fixation. [29] She has also engineered cyanobacteria to more efficiently cycle carbon into high-value commodities and has shown that these bacteria can form sustainable consortia. [30] In a collaboration with Jessica Polka, Silver performed super-resolution microscopy of the β-carboxysome. [31]
Silver collaborated with Daniel Nocera at Harvard University to develop a device, called the "Bionic Leaf", that converts solar energy into fuel through a hybrid water-splitting catalyst system that leverages metabolically engineered bacteria. [32]
Silver discovered a correlation between nuclear transport and gene regulation – she identified the first arginine methyltransferase, which plays a role in chromatin function and is important to the movement of RNA binding proteins between the nucleus and cytoplasm of cells. She also discovered previously unknown variations among ribosomes that led her to propose a unique specificity for the matching between ribosomes and the subsequent translation of mRNAs. Silver's finding has several implications for our understanding of how gene regulation impacts disease development, such as cancer. [33]
Silver has been the recipient of an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Basil O’Connor Research Scholar of the March of Dimes, an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, the NIH Directors Lecture, and NIH MERIT award, Innovation award at BIO, a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professorship at Harvard Medical School and named the Top 20 Global Synthetic Biology Influencers. She sits on numerous advisory boards and has presented to members of the US Congress.
Silver was awarded the BBS Mentoring Award for Graduate Education at Harvard Medical School. She is also one of the founders of the International Genetically Engineered Machines competition (iGEM) and currently sits on the Board of iGEM.org. Silver founded and was the first Director of the Harvard University Graduate Program in Systems Biology. Silver was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017 [34] and the National Academy of Sciences in 2023.
FtsZ is a protein encoded by the ftsZ gene that assembles into a ring at the future site of bacterial cell division. FtsZ is a prokaryotic homologue of the eukaryotic protein tubulin. The initials FtsZ mean "Filamenting temperature-sensitive mutant Z." The hypothesis was that cell division mutants of E. coli would grow as filaments due to the inability of the daughter cells to separate from one another. FtsZ is found in almost all bacteria, many archaea, all chloroplasts and some mitochondria, where it is essential for cell division. FtsZ assembles the cytoskeletal scaffold of the Z ring that, along with additional proteins, constricts to divide the cell in two.
The nuclear receptor co-repressor 2 (NCOR2) is a transcriptional coregulatory protein that contains several nuclear receptor-interacting domains. In addition, NCOR2 appears to recruit histone deacetylases to DNA promoter regions. Hence NCOR2 assists nuclear receptors in the down regulation of target gene expression. NCOR2 is also referred to as a silencing mediator for retinoid or thyroid-hormone receptors (SMRT) or T3 receptor-associating cofactor 1 (TRAC-1).
TEAD2, together with TEAD1, defines a novel family of transcription factors, the TEAD family, highly conserved through evolution. TEAD proteins were notably found in Drosophila (Scalloped), C. elegans, S. cerevisiae and A. nidulans. TEAD2 has been less studied than TEAD1 but a few studies revealed its role during development.
Lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 (LEF1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LEF1 gene. It's a member of T cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor (TCF/LEF) family.
Transcription factor E2F4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the E2F4 gene.
Histone deacetylase 4, also known as HDAC4, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HDAC4 gene.
Splicing factor U2AF 65 kDa subunit is a protein that in humans is encoded by the U2AF2 gene.
Importin-5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IPO5 gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the importin beta family. Structurally, the protein adopts the shape of a right hand solenoid and is composed of 24 HEAT repeats.
Transcription factor E2F3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the E2F3 gene.
Transcription factor E2F2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the E2F2 gene.
Transportin-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TNPO1 gene.
Histone deacetylase 5 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the HDAC5 gene.
Serine/arginine repetitive matrix protein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SRRM1 gene.
YAP1, also known as YAP or YAP65, is a protein that acts as a transcription coregulator that promotes transcription of genes involved in cellular proliferation and suppressing apoptotic genes. YAP1 is a component in the hippo signaling pathway which regulates organ size, regeneration, and tumorigenesis. YAP1 was first identified by virtue of its ability to associate with the SH3 domain of Yes and Src protein tyrosine kinases. YAP1 is a potent oncogene, which is amplified in various human cancers.
Transcription factor E2F5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the E2F5 gene.
Thyroid hormone receptor-associated protein 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the THRAP3 gene.
Zinc finger protein 40 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HIVEP1 gene.
Cell growth-regulating nucleolar protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the LYAR gene.
Protein IWS1 homolog also known as interacts with Spt6 (IWS1) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IWS1 gene.
Transcription initiation factor IIA subunit 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GTF2A1 gene.