June 5, 1949 |
University of Chicago
|Alma mater||Harvard University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
|Doctoral advisor||Matthew Meselson|
|Known for||protein folding
|Notable awards||Dickson Prize (2003)
Genetics Society of America Medal (2008)
National Medal of Science (2010)
E. B. Wilson Medal (2012)
Susan Lindquist (born June 5, 1949) is a professor of biology at MIT specializing in molecular biology, particularly the protein folding problem within a family of molecules known as heat-shock proteins, and prions. Lindquist is a member and former Director of the Whitehead Institute and was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2010.
Lindquist is best known for her research that provided strong evidence for a new paradigm in genetics based upon the inheritance of proteins with new, self-perpetuating shapes rather than new DNA sequences. This research provided a biochemical framework for understanding other mysteries in biology, such as Alzheimer's disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. She is considered an expert in protein folding which, as explained by Lindquist in the following excerpt, is an ancient, fundamental problem in biology:
- "What do "mad cows", people with neurodegenerative diseases, and an unusual type of inheritance in yeast have in common? They are all experiencing the consequences of misfolded proteins. ... In humans the consequences can be deadly, leading to such devastating illnesses as Alzheimer's Disease. In one case, the misfolded protein is not only deadly to the unfortunate individual in which it has appeared, but it can apparently be passed from one individual to another under special circumstances - producing infectious neurodegenerative diseases such as mad-cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease in humans."
- --from "From Mad Cows to 'Psi-chotic' Yeast: A New Paradigm in Genetics," NAS Distinguished Leaders in Science Lecture Series, November 10, 1999.
Lindquist worked on the PSI+ element in yeast (a prion) and how it can act as a switch that hides or reveals numerous mutations throughout the genome, thus acting as an evolutionary capacitor. She also proposed that a heat shock protein, hsp90, may act in the same way, normally preventing phenotypic consequences of genetic changes, but showing all changes at once when the HSP system is overloaded, either pharmacologically or under stressful environmental conditions. Most of these variations are likely to be harmful, but a few unusual combinations may produce valuable new traits, spurring the pace of evolution. Cancer cells too have an extraordinary ability to evolve. Lindquist's lab investigates closely related evolutionary mechanisms involved in the progression of cancerous tumors and in the evolution of antibiotic-resistant fungi.
Recently, Lindquist has made advances in nanotechnology, researching organic amyloid fibers capable of self-organizing into structures smaller than manufactured materials. Her group also developed a yeast “living test tube” model to study protein folding transitions in neurodegenerative diseases and to test therapeutic strategies through high-throughput screening. She is a co-founder of FoldRx, a company developing drug therapies for diseases of protein misfolding and amyloidosis.
Dr. Lindquist lectures nationally and internationally on a variety of scientific topics. In June 2006, she was the inaugural guest on the "Futures in Biotech" podcast on Leo Laporte's TWiT network. In 2007, she participated in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with other MIT leaders.
Although expected to become a housewife by her parents, Lindquist studied microbiology at the University of Illinois as an undergraduate and received her PhD in biology from Harvard in 1976. She was the Albert D. Lasker Professor of Medical Sciences in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Chicago, and the Director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research from 2001-2004. She is currently a member of the Whitehead Institute, a professor of biology at MIT, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Lindquist is married to Edward Buckbee and has two adult daughters, one of whom is an alumna of Northwestern University.
- Jarosz, D. F.; Lindquist, S. (2010). "Hsp90 and Environmental Stress Transform the Adaptive Value of Natural Genetic Variation". Science 330 (6012): 1820–1824. doi:10.1126/science.1195487. PMC 3260023. PMID 21205668.
- Alberti, S.; Halfmann, R.; King, O.; Kapila, A.; Lindquist, S. (2009). "A Systematic Survey Identifies Prions and Illuminates Sequence Features of Prionogenic Proteins". Cell 137 (1): 146–158. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.02.044. PMC 2683788. PMID 19345193..
- Gitler, A. D.; Chesi, A.; Geddie, M. L.; Strathearn, K. E.; Hamamichi, S.; Hill, K. J.; Caldwell, K. A.; Caldwell, G. A.; Cooper, A. A.; Rochet, J. C.; Lindquist, S. (2009). "Α-Synuclein is part of a diverse and highly conserved interaction network that includes PARK9 and manganese toxicity". Nature Genetics 41 (3): 308–315. doi:10.1038/ng.300. PMC 2683786. PMID 19182805.
- Dai, C.; Whitesell, L.; Rogers, A. B.; Lindquist, S. (2007). "Heat Shock Factor 1 is a Powerful Multifaceted Modifier of Carcinogenesis". Cell 130 (6): 1005–1018. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2007.07.020. PMC 2586609. PMID 17889646.
- Cooper, A. A.; Gitler, A.; Cashikar, A.; Haynes, C.; Hill, K.; Bhullar, B.; Liu, K.; Xu, K.; Strathearn, K.; Liu, F.; Cao, S.; Caldwell, K. A.; Caldwell, G. A.; Marsischky, G.; Kolodner, R. D.; Labaer, J.; Rochet, J. C.; Bonini, N. M.; Lindquist, S. (2006). " -Synuclein Blocks ER-Golgi Traffic and Rab1 Rescues Neuron Loss in Parkinson's Models". Science 313 (5785): 324–328. doi:10.1126/science.1129462. PMC 1983366. PMID 16794039.
- Cowen, L. E.; Lindquist, S. (2005). "Hsp90 Potentiates the Rapid Evolution of New Traits: Drug Resistance in Diverse Fungi". Science 309 (5744): 2185–2189. doi:10.1126/science.1118370. PMID 16195452.
- Krishnan, R.; Lindquist, S. L. (2005). "Structural insights into a yeast prion illuminate nucleation and strain diversity". Nature 435 (7043): 765–772. doi:10.1038/nature03679. PMC 1405905. PMID 15944694.
- Si, K.; Lindquist, S.; Kandel, E. (2003). "A neuronal isoform of the aplysia CPEB has prion-like properties". Cell 115 (7): 879–891. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)01020-1. PMID 14697205.
- Queitsch, C.; Sangster, T. A.; Lindquist, S. (2002). "Hsp90 as a capacitor of phenotypic variation". Nature 417 (6889): 618–624. doi:10.1038/nature749. PMID 12050657.
- Serio, T.; Cashikar, A.; Kowal, A.; Sawicki, G.; Moslehi, J.; Serpell, L.; Arnsdorf, M.; Lindquist, S. (2000). "Nucleated conformational conversion and the replication of conformational information by a prion determinant". Science 289 (5483): 1317–1321. doi:10.1126/science.289.5483.1317. PMID 10958771.
- Patino, M. M.; Liu, J. -J.; Glover, J. R.; Lindquist, S. (1996). "Support for the Prion Hypothesis for Inheritance of a Phenotypic Trait in Yeast". Science 273 (5275): 622–626. doi:10.1126/science.273.5275.622. PMID 8662547.
- Lindquist, S. (1981). "Regulation of protein synthesis during heat shock". Nature 293 (5830): 311–314. doi:10.1038/293311a0. PMID 6792546.
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996.
- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1997.
- Named a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 1997.
- Named Albert D. Lasker Professor of Medical Sciences in 1999.
- Received the Novartis/Drew Award in Biomedical Research in 2000.
- Served as director of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research from 2001-2004.
- Received the Dickson Prize in Medicine in 2002.
- Named one of the 50 most important women in science by Discover Magazine in 2002.
- Awarded the Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement in 2006.
- Elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in 2006.
- Awarded the Genetics Society of America Medal in 2008.
- Awarded the Otto Warburg Prize in 2008.
- Awarded the FASEB Excellence in Science Award in 2009.
- Awarded the Max-Delbrück-Medal, Berlin, Germany, in 2010.
- Awarded the Mendel Medal, Genetics Society UK, in 2010.
- Awarded the National Medal of Science (for 2009) in 2010.
- Awarded the E.B. Wilson Medal by The American Society for Cell Biology in 2012.
- Gitschier, J. (2011). "A Flurry of Folding Problems: An Interview with Susan Lindquist". PLoS Genetics 7 (5): e1002076. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002076. PMC 3093363. PMID 21589898.
- Hopkins, N. (2008). "The 2008 Genetics Society of America Medal". Genetics 178 (3): 1125–1128. doi:10.1534/genetics.104.017834. PMC 2278094. PMID 18385104.
- http://www.whitehead.mit.edu/research/faculty/lindquist.html Susan Lindquist Research Summary
- http://web.wi.mit.edu/lindquist/pub/ Lindquist Lab Website
- Kain, K. (2008). "Using yeast to understand protein folding diseases: An interview with Susan Lindquist". Disease Models and Mechanisms 1 (1): 17–19. doi:10.1242/dmm.000810. PMC 2561974. PMID 19048046.
- Lindquist, S. (1986). "The Heat-Shock Response". Annual Review of Biochemistry 55: 1151–1191. doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.55.070186.005443. PMID 2427013.
- Parsell, D. A.; Lindquist, S. (1993). "The Function of Heat-Shock Proteins in Stress Tolerance: Degradation and Reactivation of Damaged Proteins". Annual Review of Genetics 27: 437–496. doi:10.1146/annurev.ge.27.120193.002253. PMID 8122909.
- Gitschier, Jane. "A Flurry of Folding Problems: An Interview with Susan Lindquist". PLoS Genetics 7 (5): e1002076. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002076. PMC 3093363. PMID 21589898.
- Valverde, Miriam (November 18, 2010). "Cambridge researcher honored at White House". The Boston Globe.
- Susan Lindquist's seminars: "The Surprising World of Prion Biology"
- Video of Lindquist discussing her work, from the National Science & Technology Medals Foundation