Erin K. O'Shea

Erin O'Shea is one of five children, born in Leroy, New York.{{Cite web|title=UCSF Magazine: Erin O'Shea: She Has a Love for Cool Science |url=http://pub.ucsf.edu/magazine/200305/oshea.html |website=pub.ucsf.edu |access-date=2016-02-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223022528/http://pub.ucsf.edu/magazine/200305/oshea.html |archivedate=2016-02-23 }}

O'Shea earned her Bachelor of Arts in biochemistry from Smith College in 1988 and her PhD in chemistry from MIT in 1992 at age 26{{Cite web|title = American Chemical Society|url = http://dgr.rints.com/faculty.cfm?id=S0068594|website = dgr.rints.com|access-date = 2016-02-15}} working with Peter S. Kim studying leucine zippers. She was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Berkeley from 1992 to 1993.

During her postdoctoral fellowship, O'Shea worked with Robert Tjian and Ira Herskowitz studying chromatin regulation of transcription in yeast.{{cite journal|last=Marino|first=M.|title=Inaugural Article: Biography of Erin K. O'Shea|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|date=28 September 2004|volume=101|issue=40|pages=14312–14314|doi=10.1073/pnas.0406675101|pmc=521978|pmid=15454611|bibcode=2004PNAS..10114312M|doi-access=free}} When she was joined by her graduate school colleague Jonathan Weissman, they began to determine the location and abundance of all of the proteins in the yeast genome. They ultimately made two libraries both with GFP-fused protein with tandem affinity purification (TAP)-tags.{{cite journal|last=Weissman|first=Jonathan S.|author2=O'Shea, Erin K.|title=2004 Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award|journal=Protein Science|date=1 January 2009|volume=13|issue=12|pages=3333–3335|doi=10.1110/ps.041134604|pmid=15557272|pmc=2287319}}{{cite journal|last=Huh|first=WK|author2=Falvo, JV |author3=Gerke, LC |author4=Carroll, AS |author5=Howson, RW |author6=Weissman, JS |author7= O'Shea, EK |title=Global analysis of protein localization in budding yeast.|journal=Nature|date=Oct 16, 2003|volume=425|issue=6959|pages=686–91|pmid=14562095|doi=10.1038/nature02026|bibcode=2003Natur.425..686H|s2cid=669199}}

After her PhD, O'Shea was briefly a Basic Research Fellow before joining the faculty of University of California, San Francisco as an assistant professor in 1993.{{Cite web|title = Harvard Gazette: Pathbreaking researcher in proteomics|url = http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/12.02/04-oshea.html|website = news.harvard.edu|access-date = 2016-02-15|first = Harvard News|last = Office}}

In 2005, she was recruited to Harvard University to be the director of the (FAS) Center for Systems Biology and a professor of molecular and cellular biology and chemistry and chemical biology. Her research is focused on gene regulation and the biology of a three-protein circadian clock. In 2012, she was elected to be HHMI's new Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, leading the HHMI Investigator Program, and then became HHMI president in 2016. She continues to maintain her lab at Janelia.{{cite web |url=https://www.janelia.org/lab/oshea-lab |title=O'Shea Lab}} During her presidency, in 2025, HHMI cancelled their Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) program, which was a 6-year (2022-2028) $8.8 million award they had committed to the IMPACT STEM Network, which sought to enhance undergraduate science education and research, following incoming President Donald Trump’s administration elimination of programs devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion across all U.S. scientific agencies.{{cite web | url=https://www.science.org/content/article/hhmi-kills-program-aimed-boosting-inclusivity-stem-education | title=HHMI kills program aimed at boosting inclusivity in STEM education }}

O'Shea was a Packard Foundation Fellow in 1994,{{Cite web|title = O'Shea, Erin K. - The David and Lucile Packard Foundation|url = https://www.packard.org/what-we-fund/conservation-and-science/science/packard-fellowships-for-science-and-engineering/fellowship-directory/oshea-erin-k/|website = The David and Lucile Packard Foundation|access-date = 2016-02-15|language = en-US}} and won young investigator awards from the American Society for Cell Biology in 2000,{{Cite web|title = Early Career Life Scientist Award - ASCB|url = http://www.ascb.org/early-career-life-scientist-award/|website = ASCB|access-date = 2016-02-14|language = en-US}} and the Protein Society in 2001.{{Cite web|title = Protein Society Past Awards Recipients|url = http://www.proteinsociety.org/protein-society-awards/past-awards/|website = The Protein Society|access-date = 2016-02-14|language = en-US|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130406071106/http://www.proteinsociety.org/protein-society-awards/past-awards/|archive-date = 2013-04-06|url-status = dead}} She was selected as an HHMI investigator in 2000.{{Cite web|title = Institute News: HHMI Announces Selection of 48 New Investigators {{!}} Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)|url = http://www.hhmi.org/news/hhmi-announces-selection-48-new-investigators|website = HHMI.org|access-date = 2016-02-15}}

In 2001, O'Shea won the NAS Award in Molecular Biology for "contributions to our understanding of signal transduction, regulation of protein movement into and out of the nucleus, and how phosphorylation controls protein activity".{{Cite web|title = NAS Award in Molecular Biology|url = http://www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/molecular-biology.html|website = www.nasonline.org|access-date = 2016-02-14}}

O'Shea was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2004,{{Cite web|title = Erin O'Shea|url = http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/3010658.html|website = www.nasonline.org|access-date = 2016-02-14}} as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{Cite web|title = Academy of Arts & Sciences Website Search|url = https://www.amacad.org/content/system/search.aspx?s=erin+o%2527shea#srConstOverview|website = www.amacad.org|access-date = 2016-02-14}} She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.

O'Shea is married to Douglas Jeffery. In 2007, she said that she runs and wakeboards, and a large motivation to move to Harvard was for the chance to teach undergrads.{{cite news|title=HARVARD PORTRAIT Erin O'Shea|url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/01/erin-oshea.html|accessdate=14 February 2013|newspaper=Harvard Magazine|date=February 2007}}

She trained her dog, Zambo, from when he was a puppy. Zambo became national champion and then world champion in 2011, at the Universal World Sieger Championship in Austria.{{cite web |url=https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/news/erin-osheas-dog-zambo-wins-world-championship/ |title=Erin O'shea's Dog Zambo Wins World Championship|date=12 July 2011 }}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130408131915/https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/mcb/faculty/profile/erin-k-oshea/ Harvard Academic Bio]
• [https://www.hhmi.org/about/senior-leadership/erin-oshea Howard Hughes Medical Institute bio]
• [https://www.janelia.org/lab/oshea-lab O'Shea Lab website]

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Category:Living people

Category:American women biochemists

Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Harvard University faculty

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni

Category:Smith College alumni

Category:University of California, San Diego faculty

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology

Category:American women academics

Category:21st-century American women

Category:Chemists from New York (state)