BIO-Annual-Report-2012.Pdf
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The Annual Report of the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) presents major research accomplishments of Caltech's faculty, students and staff. Through their Principle Investigators, each Caltech group, laboratory, or center submits a report on research projects that were active during the prior Caltech academic year. These reports summarize research progress and results, and list personnel, sponsors, and their publications. The 2012 report covers the time period: July 1, 2011 - June 30, 2012. For more information on the Biology Annual Report please contact Julie Boucher Caltech Division of Biology 1200 East California Blvd MC 156-29 Pasadena, CA 91125 (626) 395-4952 [email protected] T ABLE OF C ONTENTS 2012 Click on title to view page, when done click logo at bottom to go back to table of contents. 2011-2012 News, Events and People 6 Press Releases 10 New Faculty Members 11 Annual Biology Retreat 14 Ferguson Prize 15 Professorial Awards and Honors 17 Division of Biology Seminars 21 Named Lectures 22 Biology Graduate Students 23 Biology Graduates 26 Financial Support and Donors 28 Faculty and Research Staff 34 Administrative Staff Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Neuroscience 38 Adolphs, Ralph - Bren Prof. of Psychology and Neuroscience, Prof. of Biology 42 Allman, John - Frank P. Hixon Prof. of Neurobiology 44 Andersen, Richard - James G. Boswell Prof. of Neuroscience 48 Anderson, David - Seymour Benzer Prof. of Biology 52 Koch, Christof - Lois and Victor Troendle Prof. of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology and Prof. of Computation and Neural Systems 56 Konishi, Masakazu - Bing Prof. of Behavioral Biology 58 Lester, Henry - Bren Prof. of Biology 63 Patterson, Paul - Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Prof. of Biological Sciences 67 Prober, David - Asst. Prof. of Biology 69 Shimojo, Shinsuke - Gertrude Baltimore Prof. of Experimental Psychology 73 Siapas, Athanasios - Prof. of Computation and Neural Systems 75 Tsao, Doris - Asst. Prof. of Biology 77 Zinn, Kai - Prof. of Biology Developmental and Regulatory Biology 83 Bronner, Marianne - Albert Billings Ruddock Prof. of Biology 86 Davidson, Eric - Norman Chandler Prof. of Cell Biology 96 Elowitz, Michael - Prof. of Biology and Bioengineering 99 Fraser, Scott - Anna L. Rosen Prof. of Biology and Prof. of Bioengineering 103 Goentoro, Lea – Asst. Prof. of Biology 104 Hay, Bruce - Prof. of Biology 114 Mazmanian, Sarkis - Prof. of Biology 116 Meyerowitz, Elliot - George W. Beadle Prof. of Biology 119 Rothenberg, Ellen - Albert Billings Ruddock Prof. of Biology 124 Stathopoulos, Angelike - Prof. of Biology T ABLE OF C ONTENTS 2012 127 Sternberg, Paul - Thomas Hunt Morgan Prof. of Biology 134 Wold, Barbara - Bren Prof. of Molecular Biology Structural, Molecular and Cell Biology 140 Aravin, Alexei - Asst. Prof. of Biology 143 Baltimore, David - President Emeritus, Robert Andrews Millikan Prof. of Biology, Nobel Laureate 146 Bjorkman, Pamela - Max Delbrϋck Prof. of Biology 151 Brokaw, Charles - Prof. of Biology, Emeritus 152 Campbell, Judith - Prof. of Biology and Prof. of Chemistry 156 Chan, David - Prof. of Biology 158 Deshaies, Ray - Prof. of Biology 164 Dunphy, William - Grace C. Steele Prof. of Biology 167 Jensen, Grant - Prof. of Biology 170 Kennedy, Mary - Allen and Lenabelle Davis Prof. of Biology 173 Mayo, Steve - Bren Prof. of Biology and Chemistry, Chair 175 Newman, Dianne – Prof. of Biology and Geobiology 178 Phillips, Rob – Fred and Nancy Morris Prof. of Biophysics and Biology 181 Varshavsky, Alexander - Howard and Gwen Laurie Smits Prof. of Cell Biology Senior Research Fellows with Independent Labs 186 Broad Senior Research Fellows 189 Fejes Tóth, Katalin - Thomas Hunt Morgan Senior Research Fellow Biology Facilities 193 Flow Cytometry Facility 196 Genetically Engineered Mouse Production Facility 200 Millard and Muriel Jacobs Genetics and Genomics Laboratory 202 Monoclonal Antibody Facility 204 Nucleic Acid and Protein Sequence Analysis Computing Facility 205 Protein Expression Center 208 Protein/Peptide Microanalytical Laboratory N EWS, E VENTS AND P EOPLE 2012 PRESS RELEASES NEW FACULTY MEMBERS ANNUAL BIOLOGY RETREAT FERGUSON PRIZE PROFESSORIAL AWARDS AND HONORS DIVISION OF BIOLOGY SEMINARS SPECIAL LECTURES BIOLOGY GRADUATE STUDENTS BIOLOGY GRADUATES FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND DONORS FACULTY AND RESEARCH STAFF ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF 5 P RESS R ELEASES 2012 07/26/11 Think Healthy, Eat Healthy: Caltech Scientists Show Link Between Attention, Self-Control Choosing what to have for dinner, it turns out, is a complex neurological exercise. But, according to researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), it's one that can be influenced by a simple shifting of attention toward the healthy side of life. And that shift may provide strategies to help us all make healthier choices—not just in terms of the foods we eat, but in other areas, like whether or not we pick up a cigarette. 07/29/11 Caltech Researchers Increase the Potency of HIV-Battling Proteins When it comes to a small HIV-fighting protein, called cyanovirin-N, Caltech researchers have found that two are better than one. Stephen Mayo 08/16/11 HIV Havens: Caltech Researchers Find New Clues About How HIV Reservoirs May Form Much like cities organize contingency plans and supplies for emergencies, chronic infectious diseases like HIV form reservoirs that ensure their survival in adverse conditions. But these reservoirs—small populations of viruses or bacteria of a specific type that persist despite attack by the immune system or drug treatment—are not always well understood. Now, however, researchers at Caltech believe they have begun to decode how a reservoir of infection can persist in HIV-positive populations. David Baltimore 09/01/11 Caltech Team Says Sporulation May Have Given Rise to the Bacterial Outer Membrane Bacteria can generally be divided into two classes: those with just one membrane and those with two. Now researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have used a powerful imaging technique to find what they believe may be the missing link between the two classes, as well as a plausible explanation for how the outer membrane may have arisen. Grant Jensen 09/08/11 Caltech Group Applies New Techniques and Sees Surprises in Cell Division Caltech researchers have obtained the first high-resolution, three-dimensional images of a cell with a nucleus undergoing cell division. The observations, made using a powerful imaging technique in combination with a new method for slicing cell samples, indicate that one of the characteristic steps of mitosis is significantly different in some cells. Grant Jensen 09/09/11 Captivated by Critters: Humans Are Wired to Respond to Animals Some people feel compelled to pet every furry animal they see on the street, while others jump at the mere sight of a shark or snake on the television screen. No matter what your response is to animals, it may be thanks to a specific part of your brain that is hardwired to rapidly detect creatures of the nonhuman kind. In fact, researchers from Caltech and UCLA report that neurons throughout the amygdala—a center in the brain known for processing emotional reactions— respond preferentially to images of animals. Ralph Adolphs and Christof Koch 09/21/11 Four Caltech Researchers Given NIH Director's Awards Four members of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) faculty—William Clemons Jr., assistant professor of biochemistry; Thanos Siapas, professor of computation and neural systems; Long Cai, assistant professor of chemistry; and Lea Goentoro, assistant professor of biology—have been named among the researchers being given National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's Awards. Thanos Siapas and Lea Goentoro 6 P RESS R ELEASES 2012 09/26/11 Caltech Neuroscientists Record Novel Responses to Faces from Single Neurons in Humans Responding to faces is a critical tool for social interactions between humans. Without the ability to read faces and their expressions, it would be hard to tell friends from strangers upon first glance, let alone a sad person from a happy one. Now, neuroscientists from Caltech, with the help of collaborators at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, have discovered a novel response to human faces by looking at recordings from brain cells in neurosurgical patients. Ralph Adolphs 10/03/11 Caltech Engineers Build Smart Petri Dish The cameras in our cell phones have dramatically changed the way we share the special moments in our lives, making photographs instantly available to friends and family. Now, the imaging sensor chips that form the heart of these built- in cameras are helping engineers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) transform the way cell cultures are imaged by serving as the platform for a "smart" petri dish. Michael Elowitz 10/05/11 Caltech Named World's Top University in New Times Higher Education Global Ranking Caltech has been rated the world's number one university in the 2011–2012 Times Higher Education global ranking of the top 200 universities, displacing Harvard University from the top spot for the first time in the survey's eight-year history. 10/10/11 Caltech Neuroscientists Pinpoint Specific Social Difficulties in People with Autism Researchers from Caltech have isolated a very specific difference in how high-functioning people with autism think about other people, finding that—in actuality—they don’t tend to think about what others think of them at all. Ralph Adolphs 10/19/11 Bridging the Gap Like a bridge that spans a river to connect two major metropolises, the corpus callosum is the main conduit for information flowing between the left and right hemispheres of our brains. Now, neuroscientists at Caltech have found that people who are born without that link—a condition called agenesis of the corpus callosum, or AgCC—still show remarkably normal communication across the gap between the two halves of their brains. Ralph Adolphs 10/27/11 Building Better HIV Antibodies Using highly potent antibodies isolated from HIV-positive people, researchers have recently begun to identify ways to broadly neutralize the many possible subtypes of HIV.