Appendix B
Speaker ’s Biographical Sketches
Krystyna Isaacs is an independent evaluation consultant in the biomedical sciences. Her clients include the National Research Council, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Previously she was a Program Analyst at the HHMI and a staff fellow at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH). Dr. Isaacs received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne and completed a postdoc at NIMH.
James T. Kadonaga is Professor and Vice Chair of the Section of Molecular Biology, University of California, San Diego. His lab employs a primarily biochemical approach to the study of the following areas: (1) basal transcription by RNA polymerase II, (2) the role of chromatin structure in the regulation of gene expression, and (3) the mechanism of chromatin assembly. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University and his postdoctoral work was done at the University of California, Berkeley in the lab of Robert Tjian.
Daniel V. Madison is a Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. His research focuses on the uses of electrophysiological techniques to study the mechanisms of synaptic transmission and plasticity in the mammalian hippocampus. The main focus of the lab is the study of long term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), the most widely studied and com-
pelling models for the mechanisms underlying memory formation in the mammalian central nervous system. Dr. Madison received his Ph.D. in cellular biology from the University of California, San Francisco and continued his postdoctoral research there.
Janet D. Rowley is the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center where she has spent her entire professional career. Her research focuses on the cytogenetic analysis of cells from patients with leukemia and preleukemia conditions. This analysis is performed using standard techniques as well as more sophisticated techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and spectral karyatyping (SKY), Recurring translocation breakpoints are cloned to identify the genes involved in the translocations. Cloning these breakpoints provides new tools for the more precise diagnosis of the genetic changes in leukemia cells. Dr. Rowley received her M.D. from the University of Chicago. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine and is a recipient of the National Medal of Science.
Gerald M. Rubin is Vice President for Biomedical Research at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is also Professor of Genetics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. He has held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Rubin is known for his studies on transposable elements, for the elucidation of the molecular basis of hybrid dysgenesis and for the development of genetic transformation of Drosophila with the aid of P element vectors. He received his Ph.D. degree in molecular biology from the University of Cambridge, England. Dr. Rubin’s postdoctoral work was done at Stanford University with David Hogness. Dr. Rubin is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and counts among his honors the American Chemical Society Eli Lilly Award in biological chemistry.
Sandra Louise Schmid is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cell Biology at the Scripps Research Institute. Her research aims to identify molecules involved and to define the molecular mechanisms governing receptor-mediated endocytosis. Biochemical, molecular biological, and morphological approaches are used to elucidate the mechanisms of coat assembly, cargo recruitment and the regulation of these events by GTPases (e.g., dynamin) and kinases. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University and her postdoctoral research was in the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University.
David C. Schwartz is a Professor in the Departments of Chemistry, Genetics, and the Biotechnology Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Previously he had served on the faculty of Carnegie Institute of Washington and New York University. His current research is in developing optical mapping, which is a system for the construction of ordered restriction maps from individual DNA molecules. The research centers on the development of new genome analysis systems, which exploit novel macromolecular phenomena, with clear goals set to answer important biological problems. The systems are a complex mix of principles derived from computer science, biochemistry, optics, genetics, surface science and micro/nanofabrication. He received his Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry from Columbia University.
Ann Stock is a Professor in the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She is an Associate Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research focus is to understand the molecular mechanisms of receptor-mediated signal transduction. In particular, research is focused on elucidating structure/function relationships in proteins involved in information processing using a combination of molecular genetic, biochemical, and X-ray crystallographic methods. Specific interest is directed toward investigating the role of covalent modifications of proteins in signaling pathways. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and participated in postdoctoral research at Princeton University and Brandeis University.
Shirley M. Tilghman is President of Princeton University. Before assuming the presidency, she had served as professor of molecular biology at Princeton, was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, an adjunct professor in biochemistry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and an investigator at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia. During postdoctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health, she made a number of groundbreaking discoveries while participating in cloning the first mammalian gene. She was also one of the founding members of the National Advisory Council of the Human Genome Project Initiative for the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Tilghman is renowned not only for her pioneering research, but for her national leadership on behalf of women in science and for promoting efforts to make the early careers of young scientists as meaningful and productive as possible. She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Temple University. Dr. Tilghman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
Harold E. Varmus is President of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He previously has served as the director of the National Institutes of Health and served on the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco where he and Dr. J. Michael Bishop and their co-workers demonstrated the cellular origins of the oncogene of a chicken retrovirus. This discovery led to the isolation of many cellular genes that normally control growth and development and are frequently mutated in human cancer. For this work, Bishop and Varmus received many awards, including the 1989 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. He is also widely recognized for his studies of the replication cycles of retroviruses and hepatitis B viruses, the functions of genes implicated in cancer, and the development of mouse models for human cancer. Dr. Varmus received his M.D. from Columbia University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.
George D. Yancopoulos is President of Regeneron Laboratories, Inc. and Chief Scientific Officer/Senior Vice President of Research, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has served on the faculty of Columbia University and New York Medical College. Dr. Yancopoulos’ diverse work in the growth factor field is tied together by his continuing insights that serve to provide useful unifying models, and by his attempts to uncover therapeutically promising agents. Essentially all the discoveries of Dr. Yancopoulos and his group are moving towards the clinic—whether it be neurotrophic factors in neurological diseases and obesity, cytokine antagonists in immunologic disorders such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis, or angiogenic regulators in cancer and vascular disease. He received both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University.
