James Spudich
{{short description|American scientist and professor}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = James Spudich
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age |1942|1|7|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Benld, Illinois, U.S.
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| fields = Biochemistry, Biophysics
| workplaces = Stanford University
| alma_mater = University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Stanford University, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
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| doctoral_advisor = Arthur Kornberg
| academic_advisors = John Woodland Hastings, Hugh Huxley
| doctoral_students = Coleen T. Murphy
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| known_for = Molecular motors
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| awards = E. B. Wilson Medal (2011)
Albert Lasker Award (2012)
Wiley Prize in Biomedical Science (2012)
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James A. Spudich ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|p|ʊ|d|ɪ|tʃ}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2XfnNbaB98|title=James Spudich (Stanford) 1: A brief history of muscle biology 1864-1969|website=YouTube |access-date=2 June 2020}}) is an American scientist and professor. He is the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Biochemistry and of Cardiovascular Disease at Stanford University and works on the molecular basis of muscle contraction. He was awarded the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 2012 with Michael Sheetz and Ronald Vale. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Biography
He was born in Benld, Illinois of Croatian ancestry.{{cite web|last=Zubrinic|first=Darko|title=James Spudich American scientist of Croatian roots recipient of the Lasker Award for biochemistry|url=http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/10316/1/James-Spudich-American-scientist-of-Croatian-roots-recipient-of-the-Lasker-Award-for-biochemistry.html|publisher=Crown|access-date=7 March 2013}} He earned his B.S. in chemistry from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he worked in John Woodland Hastings's lab on the topic of bioluminescence, and helped Hastings teach in the physiology course at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University under the guidance from Arthur Kornberg. He later did his postdoctoral research at Stanford University with Charles Yanofsky and at MRC in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology with Hugh Huxley.{{cite journal|last=Spudich|first=JA|title=Molecular motors: forty years of interdisciplinary research.|journal=Molecular Biology of the Cell|date=November 2011|volume=22|issue=21|pages=3936–9|pmid=22039067|doi=10.1091/mbc.E11-05-0447|pmc=3204054}}
His research is focused on studying molecular motors particularly myosin. With Huxley, he started working on an actin/myosin/ATP model for molecular motors,{{cite journal |vauthors=Spudich JA, Watt S |year=1971 |title=The Regulation of Rabbit Skeletal Muscle Contraction |journal=Journal of Biological Chemistry |volume=246 |pages=4866–4871|pmid=4254541 |issue=15|doi=10.1016/S0021-9258(18)62016-2 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |vauthors=Spudich JA, Huxley HE, Finch J |year=1972 |title=Regulation of skeletal muscle contraction. II. Structural studies of the interaction of the tropomyosin-troponin complex with actin |journal=Journal of Molecular Biology |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=619–632|doi=10.1016/0022-2836(72)90180-5 |pmid=4349760 }} proposing that myosin would ratchet actin and exert a stroke.{{cite web|last=Strauss|first=Evelyn|title=Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award|url=http://www.laskerfoundation.org/awards/2012_b_description.htm|publisher=Lasker Foundation|access-date=22 September 2012}} Spudich first attempted to create an in vitro setup with actin and myosin. However, he faced great difficulty aligning actin filaments. In 1982 he and Michael Sheetz started to work on the alga Nitella, which has long oriented actin fibers, and observed myosin coated beads moving along actin filaments.{{cite journal|last=Sheetz|first=Michael P.|author2=Spudich, James A.|title=Movement of myosin-coated fluorescent beads on actin cables in vitro|journal=Nature|date=5 May 1983|volume=303|issue=5912|pages=31–35|doi=10.1038/303031a0|pmid=6682486|bibcode=1983Natur.303...31S|s2cid=4371418}} This provided strong clues about the molecular transport of intracellular cargo, later refined to observing a single step of a single myosin molecule.{{cite journal |vauthors=Finer JT, Simmons RM, Spudich JA |year=1994 |title=Single myosin molecule mechanics: piconewton forces and nanometre steps |journal=Nature |volume=368 |pages=113–119|pmid=8139653 |doi=10.1038/368113a0 |issue=6467|bibcode=1994Natur.368..113F |s2cid=458485 }} His research and its place in the overall development of the motility field has been described in a number of well-cited review articles.{{cite journal|vauthors=Clarke M, Spudich JA |title=Nonmuscle contractile proteins: the role of actin and myosin in cell motility and shape determination |year=1977 |journal=Annual Review of Biochemistry |volume= 46|pages=797–822 |doi=10.1146/annurev.bi.46.070177.004053|pmid=143236 }}{{cite journal|vauthors=Warrick HM, Spudich JA |title=Myosin structure and function in cell motility |year=1987 |journal=Annual Review of Cell Biology |volume= 3 |pages=379–421 |doi=10.1146/annurev.cb.03.110187.002115|pmid=3318880 }}{{cite journal|vauthors=Robinson DN, Spudich JA |title=Towards a molecular understanding of cytokinesis |year=2000 |journal=Trends in Cell Biology |volume= 10|issue=6 |pages=228–237 |doi=10.1016/S0962-8924(00)01747-5|pmid=10802538|doi-access=free }}
He started at UCSF and then came to Stanford as a professor of Structural biology in 1977. In 1992 he switched to the Department of Biochemistry. In the late 1990s, he joined with Stanford physicist Steven Chu to create an interdisciplinary research program that combines engineering, physics, and biology — launching the Stanford University Bio-X Initiative and physically locates investigators from these distinct disciples together for extended periods.{{cite journal |author=Spudich JA |title=One path to understanding energy transduction in biological systems |year=2012 |journal=Nature Medicine |volume=18 |issue=10 |pages=viii-xii|doi=10.1038/nm.2924 |pmid=23042356 |pmc=4799657}} They pitched the concept to Stanford Provost Condoleezza Rice.{{cite news|last=Goldman |first=Bruce |title=Lasker Award goes to biochemist James Spudich |url=http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/september/spudich.html |access-date=22 September 2012 |newspaper=Inside Stanford Medicine |date=10 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921185031/http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2012/september/spudich.html |archive-date=21 September 2012 }} From 1994–1998 he was the editor of the Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology.{{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev.cb.10.111406.100001|title=Preface|year=1994|last1=Spudich|first1=James A.|journal=Annual Review of Cell Biology|volume=10}}
In 1998 Spudich co-founded Cytokinetics Inc. in San Francisco, along with Ron Vale and James Sabry from UCSF and Larry Goldstein from UCSD.{{cite web|url=http://www.cytokinetics.com/press_releases/release/pr_1016062628 |title=Cytokinetics, Inc. Formed To Leverage Cytoskeleton For Drug Discovery And Bioinformatics |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314023613/http://www.cytokinetics.com/press_releases/release/pr_1016062628 |archive-date=2012-03-14 }} Spudich also co-founded MyoKardia in 2012 which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020 for $13.1 billion. In 2019, James Spudich, Annamma Spudich, Darshan Trivedi, Suman Nag and Kathleen Ruppel co-founded Kainomyx Inc. which is focused on treating neglected tropical diseases. He was the president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 1989.
Personal
Awards
- Massry Prize 2013
- Lasker Award 2012
- Wiley Prize 2012
- E. B. Wilson Medal 2011
- Humboldt Prize 1991
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/James_Spudich/ Stanford Bio]
- [http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/10316/1/James-Spudich-American-scientist-of-Croatian-roots-recipient-of-the-Lasker-Award-for-biochemistry.html/ Croatian World Network site]
- [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20131211113733/http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/science/seven-scientists-win-2012-lasker-award.html NY Times piece on Lasker Award]
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Category:American biophysicists
Category:Stanford University School of Medicine faculty
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:People from Macoupin County, Illinois
Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
Category:Stanford University alumni
Category:American people of Croatian descent
Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences