James Spudich
Academic Appointments
- Professor, Biochemistry
- Member, Bio-X
- Member, Stanford Cancer Institute
Key Documents
Contact Information
- Academic Offices
Personal Information Email Tel (650) 723-7634
Professional Overview
Administrative Appointments
- Co-Founder and first Director, Interdisciplinary Program, Bio-X, Stanford University (1998 - 2002)
- Co-Founder, Cytokinetics, Inc (1998 - present)
- Chairman, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine (1994 - 1998)
- Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine (1992 - present)
- Professor, Department of Developmental Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine (1989 - 2011)
- Chairman, Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine (1979 - 1984)
Honors and Awards
- E.B. Wilson Medal, The American Society for Cell Biology (2011)
- U.S. Genomics Award for Outstanding Investigator in the field of Single Molecule Biology, Biophysical Society (2006)
- Elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (1991)
- Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1997)
- American Heart Association Research Prize, National American Heart Association (1991)
- Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2001)
Professional Education
| B.S.: | University of Illinois, Chemistry (1963) |
| Ph.D.: | Stanford University, Biochemistry (1968) |
| Postdoctoral: | Stanford University, Genetics (1969) |
| Postdoctoral: | Cambridge University, MRC LMB, Structural Biology (1971) |
Postdoctoral Advisees
Arjun Adhikari, Tural Aksel, Carol Cho, Elizabeth Choe, Masataka Kawana, Suman Nag, Rebecca Taylor
Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations
Industry Relationships
Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industrial and other commercial partners. It is our policy to disclose payments (exclusive of travel support) from, and/or equity in, companies or other commercial entities to Stanford faculty of $5,000 or more in total value, as well as any equity in a privately held company, when the faculty member also has institutional responsibilities related to his or her interactions with the company. View Full Information
Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
The general research interest of this laboratory is the molecular basis of cell motility. We have three specific research interests, the molecular basis of energy transduction that leads to ATP-driven myosin movement on actin, the biochemical basis of the regulation of actin and myosin interaction and their assembly states, and the roles these proteins play in vivo, in cell movement and changes in cell shape.
We work on two experimental systems: contraction of mammalian muscle and chemotaxis of Dictyostelium discoideum cells. Each of these systems has its special advantages. Skeletal muscle has the most highly organized contractile apparatus of any cell type, and the chemistry and biochemistry of muscle actin and myosin are most advanced.
Dictyostelium discoideum, the cell that commands most of our attention, exhibits all of the behavior of nonmuscle mammalian cells and, unlike other eukaryotic cells, can be grown in large amounts for biochemical work. Furthermore, DNA-mediated transformation is being applied to this organism, and we have demonstrated efficient gene targeting by homologous recombination in the myosin gene, which we have cloned and sequenced.
Our approaches include biochemical and structural studies of actin, myosin, and associated regulatory proteins. In addition, we have designed and developed in vitro assays for ATP-dependent movement of purified myosin on filaments reconstituted from purified actin. These assays allow us to analyze mutant myosin molecules for altered function. The site-directed mutagenized forms of myosin are obtained by gene cloning and expression in an appropriate host. Our demonstration that the Dictyostelium discoideum myosin gene can undergo homologous recombination allows us to also probe the effects of the altered myosin forms on the phenotype of the cell.
Publications
- Cell-intrinsic functional effects of the α-cardiac myosin Arg-403-Gln mutation in familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Biophys J. 2012; (12): 2782-90
- The myosin superfamily at a glance. J Cell Sci. 2012; (Pt 7): 1627-32
- Biochemistry. Molecular motors, beauty in complexity. Science. 2011; (6021): 1143-4
- Detailed tuning of structure and intramolecular communication are dispensable for processive motion of myosin VI. Biophys J. 2011; (2): 430-9
- Molecular motors: forty years of interdisciplinary research. Mol Biol Cell. 2011; (21): 3936-9
- Principles of unconventional myosin function and targeting. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2011: 133-55
Help
Trial Administration