Rebecca Heald

Heald grew up in Greenville, Pennsylvania,{{Cite web|url=https://biobeat.nigms.nih.gov/2016/09/the-science-of-size-rebecca-heald-explores-size-control-in-amphibians/|title=The Science of Size: Rebecca Heald Explores Size Control in Amphibians – Biomedical Beat Blog – National Institute of General Medical Sciences|date=12 September 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-17}} and graduated from Hamilton College in upstate New York.{{Cite journal|last=Heald|first=Rebecca|date=2010-06-22|title=Rebecca Heald|journal=Current Biology|language=English|volume=20|issue=12|pages=R503–R504|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2010.05.012|issn=0960-9822|pmid=20627848|s2cid=2050009|doi-access=free|bibcode=2010CBio...20.R503H }} She said she was inspired by "Biochemistry Professor, Donna Brown. I barely had a clue about what I was doing, but discovered the joy of pipeting colorless liquids from tube to tube." She received her Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, where she worked in the laboratory of Frank McKeon. She was a postdoctoral researcher with Eric Karsenti at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. She joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley in 1997, and has held the Flora Lamson Hewlett Chair of Biochemistry since 2011. In addition to running her research group, from 2018-2021 she served as a regional associate dean for research administration{{Cite web|url=https://bioregion.berkeley.edu/|title=Home {{!}} BEST|website=bioregion.berkeley.edu|access-date=2019-05-22}} and she is currently co-chair of the department of Molecular and Cell Biology.

Heald studies topics in cell biology and developmental biology, including size control in animals, and the regulation of cell division. She uses egg cytoplasmic extracts from the frog Xenopus laevis and the related, smaller frog Xenopus tropicalis to study the behavior and size scaling of the mitotic spindle.{{Cite web|url=http://www.xenbase.org/entry/doNewsRead.do?id=663|title=Rebecca Heald Elected to the National Academy of Sciences|website=www.xenbase.org|access-date=2019-05-22}}{{Cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Katherine S.|last2=Blower|first2=Michael D.|last3=Maresca|first3=Thomas J.|last4=Grammer|first4=Timothy C.|last5=Harland|first5=Richard M.|last6=Heald|first6=Rebecca|date=2007-03-12|title=Xenopus tropicalis egg extracts provide insight into scaling of the mitotic spindle|journal=The Journal of Cell Biology|volume=176|issue=6|pages=765–770|doi=10.1083/jcb.200610043|issn=0021-9525|pmc=2064050|pmid=17339377}} She has shown that the volume of the cytoplasm in which a spindle forms is a key factor in regulating the size of the spindle,{{Cite journal|last1=Good|first1=Matthew C.|last2=Vahey|first2=Michael D.|last3=Skandarajah|first3=Arunan|last4=Fletcher|first4=Daniel A.|last5=Heald|first5=Rebecca|date=2013-11-15|title=Cytoplasmic Volume Modulates Spindle Size During Embryogenesis|journal=Science|volume=342|issue=6160|pages=856–860|doi=10.1126/science.1243147|issn=0036-8075|pmc=4094345|pmid=24233724|bibcode=2013Sci...342..856G}} addressing an important problem in cell biology, that of how cells sense and control the size of their organelles.{{Cite journal|last1=Chan|first1=Yee-Hung M.|last2=Marshall|first2=Wallace F.|date=2012-09-07|title=How cells know the size of their organelles|journal=Science|volume=337|issue=6099|pages=1186–1189|doi=10.1126/science.1223539|issn=0036-8075|pmc=3625396|pmid=22955827|bibcode=2012Sci...337.1186C}} She identified a biochemical modification of the nuclear transport receptor importin α as a sensor that scales intracellular structures to cell size.{{Cite journal|last1=Brownlee|first1=Christopher|last2=Heald|first2=Rebecca|date=2019-02-07|title=Importin α Partitioning to the Plasma Membrane Regulates Intracellular Scaling|journal=Cell|volume=176|issue=4|pages=805–815.e8|doi=10.1016/j.cell.2018.12.001|issn=1097-4172|pmc=6368448|pmid=30639102}}

Heald has written about the challenges of starting a lab as a new Assistant Professor, and the benefits of collaborating with her neighbors Matt Welch and Karsten Weis to create a nurturing scientific and educational environment.{{Cite journal|last=Heald|first=Rebecca|date=2018-04-23|title=A lab co-op helps young faculty members to thrive|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=556|issue=7702|pages=409|doi=10.1038/d41586-018-04923-6|pmid=29686370|bibcode=2018Natur.556..409H|s2cid=5060355|doi-access=free}}

• 1999: Pew Scholars Award in the Biomedical Sciences.{{Cite web|url=https://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1999/0714/awards.html|title=07.14.99 - Awards|website=www.berkeley.edu|access-date=2019-05-22}}

• 2005: American Society for Cell Biology Women in Cell Biology Junior Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ascb.org/award/women-in-cell-biology-awards/|title=Women in Cell Biology Awards|website=ASCB|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-22}}

• 2006: National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/09/20_pioneer.shtml|title=09.20.2006 - Researcher wins $2.6 million NIH Pioneer Award|website=www.berkeley.edu|access-date=2019-05-22}}

• 2010 and 2016: UC Berkeley Outstanding Postdoc Mentoring Award.{{Cite web|url=https://news.berkeley.edu/2010/09/24/postdocs/|title=Campus celebrates its postdocs, and postdocs honor a mentor|date=24 September 2010|website=Berkeley News|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-22}}

• 2017: Fellow, American Society for Cell Biology.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ascb.org/member-news/ascb-names-67-society-fellows-2017/|title=ASCB Names 67 Society Fellows for 2017|date=2017-11-14|website=ASCB|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-22 |last1=Spiro |first1=Mary }}

• 2018-19: Leon Henkin Citation for distinguished service enhancing equity, inclusion and diversity.{{Cite web|url=https://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/awards/henkin|title=Leon A. Henkin Citation for Distinguished Service {{!}} Academic Senate|website=academic-senate.berkeley.edu|access-date=2019-05-22}}

• 2019: Member, National Academy of Sciences.

• 2021: American Society for Cell Biology Keith R. Porter Lecture

• 2022: Member, [https://www.amacad.org/members American Academy of Arts and Sciences]

• 2022: American Society for Cell Biology [https://www.ascb.org/award/sandra-k-masur-senior-leadership-award/ Sandra K. Masur Senior Leadership Award]

• 2023: Member, [https://www.aaas.org American Association for the Advancement of Science]

Heald has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Cell Biology and Developmental Cell.{{Cite web|url=http://jcb.rupress.org/content/editors-and-staff|title=Editors & Staff {{!}} JCB|website=jcb.rupress.org|access-date=2019-05-17}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cell.com/developmental-cell/editorial-board|title=Editorial Board: Developmental Cell|website=www.cell.com|access-date=2019-05-17}} She is currently an editor for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and a co-author of textbooks Molecular Biology of the Cell and [https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324033356 Essential Cell Biology].

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• [https://mcb.berkeley.edu/faculty/CDB/healdr.html Faculty page]

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Category:Living people

Category:American cell biologists

Category:University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty

Category:Hamilton College (New York) alumni

Category:Harvard Medical School alumni

Category:American developmental biologists

Category:American women biologists

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:21st-century American women