Paul A. Khavari is the Carl J. Herzog Professor [1] at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Founding Co-Director of the Stanford Program in Epithelial Biology. [2] He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. [3]
The Khavari Laboratory uses multiomic and computational approaches to study stem cell differentiation, cancer, and the genomics of common polygenic human diseases.
Khavari studied biology and history at Stanford University then earned an MD at Yale School of Medicine. [4] He did research at the Brigham and Women's Hospital [4] and Harvard Medical School before undertaking Dermatology residency training at Yale. [5] He completed PhD studies in the laboratory of Gerald Crabtree at the Stanford University School of Medicine. [6]
Khavari joined the Stanford faculty in 1993, [7] and began service as Chief of Dermatology at the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System. [7] [8] In 1999, he co-founded the Stanford Program in Epithelial Biology with Dr. Tony Oro and has served as Co-Director since. [9] In 2010, he was appointed Chair of the Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Dermatology, [10] a leading dermatology department globally. He was one of three Stanford faculty members elected to the Institute of Medicine (now National Academy of Medicine) in 2014. [11] [1]
Research in the Khavari laboratory focuses on genome regulation, signaling, noncoding RNAs, [12] and innovating new human tissue genetic models, with a special focus on the cutaneous epidermis. The lab accomplished the first genetic corrections of human skin tissue, [13] defined the minimal oncogenic gene set needed to transform normal human tissues into cancer, [14] and identified the kinetics of human malignant transformation using novel human tissue cancer models. [15] The Khavari group also identified new essential roles for a number of regulators in epidermal homeostasis, including ZNF750, MAF, MAFB, PRMT1, CSNK1A1, EHF, MPZL3, FDXR, TINCR, and ACTL6A. [16] It uncovered new regulators and effectors of Ras GTPases, including small noncoding snoRNAs as direct Ras-binders that modulate its function and mTORC2 as a new direct Ras downstream effector critical for the pro-proliferation impacts of Ras signaling. [17] The lab defined two major classes of genomic enhancers [18] in dynamic gene regulation and used multiomics and deep learning approaches to decode the combinatorial cis-regulatory DNA motif lexicon that drives epidermal differentiation. [19] The lab has innovated a number of technologies, including single cell perturb-ATAC-seq, [20] RNA protein interaction detection (RAPID), [21] RNA-protein microarray hybridization, [22] and mosaic human skin tissue models. [23] In cancer studies, the Khavari lab identified and characterized tumor specific keratinocytes in cutaneous squamous cell cancer, [24] characterized a new tumor suppressor pathway, [25] and defined a new sunlight induced oncogene in skin cancer. [26]
Khavari has received a number of honors and awards, including most recently the Stephan Rothman Memorial Award, the highest award given by the Society of Investigative Dermatology. [27]
2021 Stephen Rothman Memorial Award, Society for Investigative Dermatology [27]
2018 Kligman-Frost Leadership Award, Society for Investigative Dermatology
2016 Lila & Murray Gruber Cancer Research Award, American Academy of Dermatology [28]
2014 National Academy of Medicine [29]
2012 American Skin Association 25th Anniversary Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award [30]
2009 American Association of Physicians
2008 Tanioku Kihei Memorial Award, Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology [31]
2004 Marion B. Sulzberger Memorial Award, American Academy of Dermatology [32]
2004 William Montagna Award, Society for Investigative Dermatology
1999 American Society for Clinical Investigation
1998 HHMI Junior Faculty Scholar Award, Stanford University [33]
1997 V.A. Young Investigator Award, V.A. Palo Alto Health Care System [34]
1996 U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
1995 Shannon Award, National Institutes of Health
Keratinocytes are the primary type of cell found in the epidermis, the outermost layer of the skin. In humans, they constitute 90% of epidermal skin cells. Basal cells in the basal layer of the skin are sometimes referred to as basal keratinocytes. Keratinocytes form a barrier against environmental damage by heat, UV radiation, water loss, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. A number of structural proteins, enzymes, lipids, and antimicrobial peptides contribute to maintain the important barrier function of the skin. Keratinocytes differentiate from epidermal stem cells in the lower part of the epidermis and migrate towards the surface, finally becoming corneocytes and eventually being shed, which happens every 40 to 56 days in humans.
An itch is a sensation that causes a strong desire or reflex to scratch. Itches have resisted many attempts to be classified as any one type of sensory experience. Itches have many similarities to pain, and while both are unpleasant sensory experiences, their behavioral response patterns are different. Pain creates a withdrawal reflex, whereas itches leads to a scratch reflex.
The epidermal growth factor receptor is a transmembrane protein that is a receptor for members of the epidermal growth factor family of extracellular protein ligands.
Amphiregulin, also known as AREG, is a protein synthesized as a transmembrane glycoprotein with 252 aminoacids and it is encoded by the AREG gene. in humans.
Zinc finger protein GLI2 also known as GLI family zinc finger 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the GLI2 gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a transcription factor.
Hay–Wells syndrome is one of at least 150 known types of ectodermal dysplasia. These disorders affect tissues that arise from the ectodermal germ layer, such as skin, hair, and nails.
Keratin 5, also known as KRT5, K5, or CK5, is a protein that is encoded in humans by the KRT5 gene. It dimerizes with keratin 14 and forms the intermediate filaments (IF) that make up the cytoskeleton of basal epithelial cells. This protein is involved in several diseases including epidermolysis bullosa simplex and breast and lung cancers.
Tumor protein p63, typically referred to as p63, also known as transformation-related protein 63 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TP63 gene.
Collagen alpha-1(VII) chain is a protein that in humans is encoded by the COL7A1 gene. It is composed of a triple helical, collagenous domain flanked by two non-collagenous domains, and functions as an anchoring fibril between the dermal-epidermal junction in the basement membrane. Mutations in COL7A1 cause all types of dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, and the exact mutations vary based on the specific type or subtype. It has been shown that interactions between the NC-1 domain of collagen VII and several other proteins, including laminin-5 and collagen IV, contribute greatly to the overall stability of the basement membrane.
AT-rich interactive domain-containing protein 1A is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ARID1A gene.
Fatty acid-binding protein, epidermal is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FABP5 gene.
Kallikrein-related peptidase 7 (KLK7) is a serine protease that in humans is encoded by the KLK7 gene. KLK7 was initially purified from the epidermis and characterised as stratum corneum chymotryptic enzyme (SCCE). It was later identified as the seventh member of the human kallikrein family, which includes fifteen homologous serine proteases located on chromosome 19 (19q13).
Epidermis-type lipoxygenase 3 is a member of the lipoxygenase family of enzymes; in humans, it is encoded by the ALOXE3 gene. This gene is located on chromosome 17 at position 13.1 where it forms a cluster with two other lipoxygenases, ALOX12B and ALOX15B. Among the human lipoxygenases, ALOXE3 is most closely related in amino acid sequence to ALOX12B. ALOXE3, ALOX12B, and ALOX15B are often classified as epidermal lipoxygenases, in distinction to the other three human lipoxygenases, because they were initially defined as being highly or even exclusively expressed and functioning in skin. The epidermis-type lipoxygenases are now regarded as a distinct subclass within the multigene family of mammalian lipoxygenases with mouse Aloxe3 being the ortholog to human ALOXE3, mouse Alox12b being the ortholog to human ALOX12B, and mouse Alox8 being the ortholog to human ALOX15B [supplied by OMIM]. ALOX12B and ALOXE3 in humans, Alox12b and Aloxe3 in mice, and comparable orthologs in other in other species are proposed to act sequentially in a multistep metabolic pathway that forms products that are structurally critical for creating and maintaining the skin's water barrier function.
In molecular biology miR-203 is a short non-coding RNA molecule. MicroRNAs function to regulate the expression levels of other genes by several mechanisms, such as translational repression and Argonaute-catalyzed messenger RNA cleavage. miR-203 has been identified as a skin-specific microRNA, and it forms an expression gradient that defines the boundary between proliferative epidermal basal progenitors and terminally differentiating suprabasal cells. It has also been found upregulated in psoriasis and differentially expressed in some types of cancer.
Paul S. Mischel is an American physician-scientist whose laboratory has made pioneering discoveries in the pathogenesis of human cancer. He is currently a Professor and Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Pathology and Institute Scholar of ChEM-H, Stanford University. Mischel was elected into the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), serving as ASCI president in 2010/11. He was inducted into the Association of American Physicians, and was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Cédric Blanpain is a Belgian researcher in the field of stem cells. He is a tenured professor of developmental biology and genetics at Université Libre de Bruxelles and director of the stem cell and cancer lab at its Faculty of Medicine. He was one of the first researchers in the world to use cell lineage tracing in cancer research and he showed for the first time the existence of cancer stem cells in solid tumors in vivo. He was selected by Nature as one of 10 People who mattered most in 2012 and he received the outstanding young investigator award of the International Society for Stem Cell Research.
Valentina Greco is an Italian-born biologist who teaches at the Yale School of Medicine as the Carolyn Walch Slayman Professor of Genetics and is an Associate Professor in the Cell Biology and Dermatology departments. Her research focuses on the role of skin stem cells in tissue regeneration.
Thomas S. Kupper is an American physician, academic, and clinician. His work with clinical and research experience spans dermatology, cutaneous oncology, and immunology. He is the Thomas B. Fitzpatrick Professor at Harvard Medical School, and chairs the Departments of Dermatology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He also leads the Cutaneous Oncology Disease Center at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Chromosome 1 open reading frame 68, or C1orf68, is a human gene which encodes for skin-specific protein 32. C1orf68 gene is expressed in the skin, is a part of the epidermal differentiation complex, and potentially plays a role in epidermal cornification, and epidermal barrier function.
CYLD cutaneous syndrome (CCS) encompasses three rare inherited cutaneous adnexal tumor syndromes: multiple familial trichoepithelioma (MFT1), Brooke–Spiegler syndrome (BSS), and familial cylindromatosis (FC). Cutaneous adnexal tumors are a large group of skin tumors that consist of tissues that have differentiated towards one of the four primary adnexal structures found in normal skin: hair follicles, sebaceous sweat glands, apocrine sweat glands, and eccrine sweat glands. CCS tumors are hair follicle tumors.