Lucy Shapiro

Administrative Appointments

• Director, Beckman Center for Molecular & Gentic Medicine (2004 - present)

Honors and Awards

• Waksman Award, NAS; Gairdner Award; John SCott Award, NAS (2005)
• Waksman Award Gairdner Award Jon Scott Award Jog Scott Award, NAS 2005 (2005)

Postdoctoral Advisees

James Christiansen Blair, Grant Bowman, Rene Chan, Beat Christen, Erin Goley, James Kim, John Lee, Joseph Lesley, Jerod Ptacin, Monica Schwartz, Xiaoyan Zheng

Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations

• Developmental Biology

Web Site Links

• My web site

Industry Relationships

Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industry partners. It is our policy to disclose payments of $5,000 or more, equity valued at $5,000 or more in a publicly traded company, or any equity in a privately held company, to physicians and scientists employed by Stanford University from companies or other commercial entities with which they interact as part of their professional activities. View Full Information

Research Interests

A basic question in developmental biology involves the mechanisms used to generate the three-dimensional organization of a cell from a one-dimensional genetic code. Our goal is to define these mechanisms using both molecular genetics and biochemistry. The developmental program by which a single cell proceeds to a fully-developed organism involves cell divisions that yield dissimilar daughter cells. The characteristics that differentiate one daughter cell from the other result from differential transcription and subcellular positioning of regulatory and structural proteins. How this is brought about remains one of the most fundamental questions of developmental biology. To approach this question, we are studying a bacterial cell, whose simple life cycle is focused on the generation of asymmetry in the predivisional cell.

We are using full genome sequence and microarray technology to identify the genetic circuitry that controls the cell cycle in a bacterial cell with 3767 genes. Dynamic protein localization, phosphorelay signaling cascades, and spatially and temporally controlled proteolysis are overlayed on the transcription network that controls cell cycle progression and cell differentiation.

Publications

• System-level design of bacterial cell cycle control. McAdams HH, Shapiro L. FEBS Lett. 2009
• Feedback control of DnaA-mediated replication initiation by replisome-associated HdaA protein in Caulobacter. Collier J, Shapiro L. J Bacteriol. 2009; 191 (18): 5706-16
• Dynamic Chromosome Organization and Protein Localization Coordinate the Regulatory Circuitry that Drives the Bacterial Cell Cycle. Goley ED, Toro E, McAdams HH, Shapiro L. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 2009
• MQX-503, a novel formulation of nitroglycerin, improves the severity of Raynaud's phenomenon: a randomized, controlled trial. Chung L, Shapiro L, Fiorentino D, Baron M, Shanahan J, Sule S, Hsu V, Rothfield N, Steen V, Martin RW, Smith E, Mayes M, Simms R, Pope J, Kahaleh B, Csuka ME, Gruber B, Collier D, Sweiss N, Gilbert A, Dechow FJ, Gregory J, Wigley FM. Arthritis Rheum. 2009; 60 (3): 870-7
• Architecture and inherent robustness of a bacterial cell-cycle control system. Shen X, Collier J, Dill D, Shapiro L, Horowitz M, McAdams HH. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008; 105 (32): 11340-5