AT BERKELEY MCB FALL 1999 Newsletter for Members and Alumni of the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley
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AT BERKELEY MCB FALL 1999 Newsletter for Members and Alumni of the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley Renovation of Barker Hall Begins by Anita Joplin, Manager of Facilities, MCB Department A renovation and seismic retrofit of Barker Hall is scheduled to begin in January, 2000. The retrofit will upgrade the build- ing’s predicted seismic performance, rated in a campus survey as “poor,” to a rating of “good.” The renovation of Barker, which was built in 1964, will include moderniza- tion of major building support systems. Planned major building systems reno- vations and other improvements include piping, ventilation, elevators, constant tem- perature rooms, shared core equipment and The architect’s drawing of Barker Hall after renovation shows minor changes to its exterior belying the facilities, and new flooring, ceilings, and extensive improvements to its structure and support systems. conference rooms. A high-speed data net- work and an air conditioning system will The seismic retrofit will include new The scope of the seismic and systems also be installed. exterior shear walls and 50 steel-reinforced renovation will make it impossible for piers which will extend 60-feet deep to research, teaching, and administrative sup- support the new foundation. Large sections port programs to continue in Barker during MCB at Berkeley is a publication of of interior perimeter walls will be removed construction. Laboratories are moving to oth- the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology to install approximately 385 steel beams er MCB buildings (LSA and Stanley Hall) at the University of California, Berkeley. that will reinforce concrete support and to other biology buildings on campus DESIGN: Betsy Joyce columns. A new covered walkway, lobby, (Mulford, Valley Life Sciences, Wellman EDITOR: Laura Williams and exterior landscaping are also included Court). Laboratories are also moving to off- SEND COMMENTS TO THE EDITOR: in the project. campus sites (Lawrence Berkeley National MCB Newsletter Funding for the retrofit, approximately Laboratory, Children’s Hospital Oakland University of California at Berkeley $14 million, was provided by Proposition Research Institute). Laboratories hope to Department of Molecular and Cell Biology 1A, the public education facilities bond return to the building late in 2001. 142 Life Sciences Addition #3200 that was passed by California voters in The renovation of Barker continues the Berkeley, CA 94720-3200 1998. The remainder of the funding will be campus construction of state-of-the-art OR E-MAIL: [email protected] from various campus sources and the biology facilities that began in the mid-1980’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In total, and will continue well into the next decade Current and past issues of the newsletter about $20 million has been allocated to the as part of the Health Sciences Initiative. (For are available on the MCB web site project, and additional funds have been more on the Health Sciences Initiative, see (mcb.berkeley.edu/news/newsletter.html). requested to complete the planned renova- page 4.) tions. Mark Schlissel Schubert Family Associate Professor NEW FACULTY of Immunology In July of 1999, immunologist Mark Currently, my lab is What is the most rewarding Education: Schlissel moved his laboratory from attempting to understand the achievement in your career • A.B. in Biochemical Sciences, the Johns Hopkins University School biochemistry and developmental so far? 1979, Princeton University. of Medicine where he had been an regulation of V(D)J recombina- Two of them come to mind. The • M.D. and Ph.D., 1986, Johns associate professor in the Departments tion. In particular, we have first is that I devised several novel Hopkins University, Thesis of Medicine, Molecular Biology and found that chromatin structure assays of gene rearrangement Advisor: Donald D. Brown. Genetics, and Oncology. He began his regulates the choice of gene seg- which have led to major break- Dissertation title: “The career at Johns Hopkins as an ments which undergo recombi- throughs in our understanding Developmental Regulation of MD/PhD student, continued as a nation and that transcriptional of the regulation of V(D)J recom- 5S RNA Gene Transcription medical resident, and later joined the activation of unrearranged gene bination. These assays are used in Xenopus laevis.” faculty as an assistant professor in segments precedes their activa- routinely in most every lab that • Medical Residency, 1986- 1991. He became an associate profes- tion for recombination. We are studies this process. Second, I 1988, The Johns Hopkins sor in 1995. currently studying the role of have gained great satisfaction Hospital. In fact, he left Johns Hopkins transcriptional enhancers in tar- from having run the basic • Postdoctoral Research, 1988- only for his postdoctoral research, geting the recombinase, the role immunology course for first year 1991, Whitehead Institute for which he conducted at the Whitehead of Ig protein as a regulator of B medical students at Hopkins. It Biological Research, Bristol- Institute for Biological Research at the cell development, and the regu- is difficult to teach basic science Myers Cancer Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology. lation of recombinase gene to medical students because many Fellowship, Advisor: David There, as a postdoctoral fellow in expression. of them do not realize how Baltimore. David Baltimore’s laboratory, Schlissel important it is for their under- began the study of the basic immuno- What is the significance of standing and treatment of disease. Selected Awards and Honors: logical process of antigen receptor gene your research? Two years after I took over the • Cancer Research Institute assembly which he continues today. The significance of this work lies poorly organized and unpopular Investigator Award, 1992. in the involvement of V(D)J course, it was the highest rated • Culpeper Foundation Scholar, Please describe your research. recombination in several disease course at Hopkins Medical 1993. We are interested in understanding processes. Mutations that dis- School. • Leukemia Society Scholar, how the process of antigen receptor rupt this process result in pro- 1996. gene assembly is regulated during found, inherited immunodefi- What special contribution • W.W. Smith Foundation lymphocyte development. Lympho- ciency—much more lethal than do you hope to make to the Scholar, 1997. cytes can recognize an enormous AIDS. Second, errors in the department? • American Society for Clinical array of foreign antigens. This selection of genes for recombina- I hope to bring the perspectives I Investigation, Elected to recognition is mediated by antigen tion can result in the activation gained while studying medicine Membership, (1998). receptors called immunoglobulin of oncogenes by translocation to and disease biology to the intel- • Graduate Student Teaching (Ig) on the surface of B cells and T Ig or TCR loci—a very common lectual community here. I also Award (1998). cell receptor (TCR) on the surface cause of leukemias and lym- hope to contribute to communal of T cells. Unlike any other meta- phomas. Finally, the regulation progress on an area of interest to a Personal Information: zoan genes, Ig and TCR genes are of the V(D)J recombination significant subset of the faculty I am married and have four assembled from gene-segments dur- reaction plays a role in self-toler- here—how the packaging of children. My wife, Monica ing lymphocyte development via a ance. If a randomly generated Ig DNA into chromatin influences Schwebs, is an environmental series of site-specific DNA recombi- gene produces an Ig with self- the activity of protein complexes lawyer. Our children are 14, 12, nation reactions called V(D)J specificity, the recombination which have to act upon DNA 9, and 6 years old. recombination. By this process, an reaction resumes and gets rid of substrates. Finally, I want to offer enormous diversity of antigen the offending gene. Failure of undergraduate and graduate stu- receptor structures, each specific for this process may contribute to dents good teaching and mentor- a particular antigen, are created autoimmune diseases such as ing. from a modest number of gene seg- lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. ments. 2 FACULTY NEWS PROMOTIONS AND AWARDS AND HONORS APPOINTMENTS RECEIVED FROM DECEMBER, 1998 THROUGH NOVEMBER, 1999 EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 1999 I Robert Tjian received the I Dan Koshland was named to I Paola Timiras delivered the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan the Council on Bioscience by keynote addresses at the meet- I Steve Martin was appointed Prize from the General Motors Governor Gray Davis. ing of the Chinese Physio- Cell and Developmental Cancer Research Foundation I Edward Penhoet was named logical Society on August 15, Biology Division Head. and the Louisa Gross Horwitz to the Council on Bioscience 1999, and at the Graduation of I Jeff Owen was appointed Prize from the Trustees of by Governor Gray Davis. the Master Gerontologia Neurobiology Division Columbia University, both I Randy Schekman received the Social, University of Barcelona, Head. for 1999. 1999 Amgen Lecture Award Spain, on October 17, 1999. I Caroline Kane was promoted of the Protein Society. I Fred Wilt was “Scientist-in- to Adjunct Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular I Jeremy Thorner was elected a Residence” at the San Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Fellow of the American Francisco Exploratorium for Biology. I Mark Alper,