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Vale, Ron
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Single kinesin molecules moving along a microtubule track imaged by Fluorescence Microscopy
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| Research Statement | | Dr. Vale received a B.A. degree in biology and chemistry from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Ph.D. degree in neuroscience from Stanford University. His postdoctoral studies at the NIH Marine Biological Laboratory were on microtubule-based motors. Dr. Vale has been at UCSF since 1986 and currently is a Professor and the Chair of the CMP department. Dr. Vale also holds appointments as Investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the W. K. Hamilton Distinguished Professor in the Dept. of Anesthesia (UCSF).
Our research focuses on how cells move organelles, proteins, chromosomes and mRNAs within their cytoplasm. Much of this motion is generated by .molecular motors. (termed kinesins and dyneins) that carry numerous cellular cargoes along polymeric tracks called microtubules. Using a variety of techniques (including single molecule motility assays, enzymatic assays, x-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, and protein engineering), we are dissecting the mechanism by which these nanometer-scale machines convert chemical energy into mechanical work. We also are interested in how the motor proteins and many other proteins in the cytoskeleton contribute to complex cell behavior, such as membrane organization, cell shape, and cell division. As part of such studies, we reconstitute aspects of cytoskeletal function in vitro, visualize the dynamics of cytoskeletal motors in living cells, and examine how cells respond to knockdowns of specific proteins. We also are using sensitive microscopic imaging techniques to study the behavior of single cytoskeletal or signaling molecules within living cells. |
Publications | | Klopfenstein, D.R., Tomishige, M., Stuurman, N. and Vale, R.D. (2002) Role of Phosphatidylinositol(4,5)bisphosphate Organization in Membrane Transport by the Unc104 Kinesin Motor. Cell 109: 347-358.
Goshima, G. and Vale, R.D. (2003) The Roles of Microtubule-Based Motor Proteins in Mitosis: Comprehensive RNAi Analysis in the Drosophila S2 Cell Line. J Cell Biol. 162: 1003-1016.
Shepard, K.A., Gerber, A.P., Jambhekar, A., Takizawa, P.A., Brown, P.O., Herschlag, D., DeRisi, J.L. and Vale, R.D.. (2003) Widespread cytoplasmic mRNA transport in S. cerevisiae: Identification of 22 new bud-localized transcripts using DNA microarray analysis, PNAS, 100: 11429-1143
Vale, R.D. (2003) The Molecular Motor Toolbox for Intracellular Transport. Cell 112: 467-480.
Reck-Peterson, S.L. and Vale, R.D. (2004) Molecular dissection of the roles of nucleotide binding and hydrolysis in
dyneins AAA domains in S. cerevisiae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 101: 1491-1495.
Yildiz, A., Tomishige, M., Vale, R.D. and Selvin, P.R. (2004) Kinesin Walks Hand-Over-Hand. Science 303: 676-678. |
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