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Richard Scheller

{{short description|American neuroscientist}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Richard H. Scheller

| image = Richard Scheller, 1980.jpg

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| caption = Scheller in 1980

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|10|30}}

| birth_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US

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| fields = Neuroscience

| workplaces = Genentech, University of California San Francisco

| alma_mater = University of Wisconsin–Madison, California Institute of Technology, Columbia University

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| doctoral_advisor = Eric H. Davidson

| academic_advisors = Eric Kandel, Richard Axel

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| notable_students =

| known_for = Head of gRED

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| awards = NAS Award in Molecular Biology {{small|(1997)}}
Kavli Prize {{small|(2010)}}
Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research {{small|(2013)}}

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}}

Richard H. Scheller (born 30 October 1953) is the former chief science officer and head of therapeutics at 23andMe and the former executive vice president of research and early development at Genentech.{{cite news|title=Richard Scheller (KavliPrize.no)|url=http://www.kavliprize.no//artikkel/vis.html?tid=49283|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222223609/http://www.kavliprize.no//artikkel/vis.html?tid=49283|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 February 2013|accessdate=24 August 2012}} He was a professor at Stanford University from 1982 to 2001 before joining Genentech. He has been awarded the Alan T. Waterman Award in 1989, the W. Alden Spencer Award in 1993 and the NAS Award in Molecular Biology in 1997, won the 2010 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience with Thomas C. Südhof and James E. Rothman, and won the 2013 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research with Thomas Südhof. He was also given the Life Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Biography

He earned his B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology under the guidance of Eric H. Davidson.[https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/4410/ "Studies of cloned repetitive DNA sequences in the sea urchin genome"] While a graduate student, he worked with Keiichi Itakura and Arthur Riggs to help synthesize Somatostatin for Herb Boyer at Genentech.{{cite news|title=Richard Scheller/Autobiography|url=http://www.dnva.no/binfil/download.php?tid=49972|accessdate=24 August 2012}} After finishing his graduate studies, he did a brief postdoc with Davidson and later with Eric Kandel and Richard Axel at Columbia University. While at Columbia, he extended his previous work with recombinant DNA to identify the egg-laying hormone (ELH) gene family of neuropeptides.{{cite web|title=Richard Axel - Autobiography|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2004/axel-autobio.html|publisher=Nobelprize.org|accessdate=24 August 2012}}

Scheller joined the Stanford University faculty in the Department of Biological Sciences in 1982 and later the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology. He was an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1990 to 2001.{{cite web|title=Richard H. Scheller, Ph.D.|url=http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/scheller_bio.html|work=Howard Hughes Medical Institute|accessdate=24 August 2012}} While at Stanford, he cloned and identified the proteins that control neurotransmitter release notably those in the Syntaxin family of transport proteins, Rab GTPases, and SNAREs.{{cite journal|last=Bennett|first=M.|author2=Calakos, N |author3=Scheller, R. |title=Syntaxin: a synaptic protein implicated in docking of synaptic vesicles at presynaptic active zones|journal=Science|date=10 July 1992|volume=257|issue=5067|pages=255–259|doi=10.1126/science.1321498|pmid=1321498|bibcode=1992Sci...257..255B}}

In 2001, he was recruited from Stanford to join Genentech as a senior vice president and chief research officer, replacing Dennis Henner.{{cite news|last=Abate|first=Tom|title=Genentech Raids Stanford Lab|url=http://www.mindfully.org/GE/Genentech-Raids-Stanford.htm|accessdate=24 August 2012|newspaper=SF Chronicle|date=22 January 2001}} In 2008, was named the chief scientific officer and executive vice president of research. After the acquisition of Genentech by Hoffmann-La Roche, he was appointed the head of Genentech research and early development and a member of the enlarged Roche Corporate Executive Committee.{{cite news|title=Roche and Genentech announce organizational and leadership decisions|url=http://www.roche.com/media/media_releases/med-cor-2009-04-14.htm|accessdate=24 August 2012|date=14 April 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419192759/http://www.roche.com/media/media_releases/med-cor-2009-04-14.htm|archivedate=19 April 2009}} He is concurrently an adjunct professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California San Francisco.

In March 2015, Scheller joined 23andMe as the chief scientific officer and head of therapeutics, creating and leading their therapeutics team, which translates genetic data into discovery and development of new drug therapies.{{Cite web|last=Leuty|first=Ron|date=2015-03-12|title=23andMe grabs former Genentech science boss, will develop drugs|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/biotech/2015/03/23andme-genentech-richard-scheller.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2017-05-09|website=www.bizjournals.com}}

Scheller is also known as an expert and enthusiastic collector of traditional and historical African art, since the 1980s. An article about his passion for African art appeared in Tribal Arts Magazine,{{Cite web|url=http://www.tribalartmagazine.com/index.php?content=issue&number=74¯o=22&lang=en|title=Tribal Art Magazine - Issue #74 - Winter 2014 XIX-1 (sample pages)|website=www.tribalartmagazine.com|language=en|access-date=2017-05-09}} and some of his extensive collection was exhibited and published with the 2015 show entitled "Embodiments" at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

Awards

Personal life

He is married to Susan McConnell, a professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, and lives on Stanford Campus.

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://mediacenter.23andme.com/therapeutics/team/ 23andMe Bio]
  • [http://www.roche.com/executive_commitee-richard-scheller.htm Roche Bio]
  • [http://www.gene.com/gene/gred/people/richardscheller.php Genentech Bio]
  • [https://archive.today/20130222223609/http://www.kavliprize.no//artikkel/vis.html?tid=49283 Kavli Prize Bio]
  • [http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt938nc2j8&doc.view=entire_text Interview from Bancroft Library]

{{Kavli Prize laureates}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheller, Richard}}

Category:1953 births

Category:Living people

Category:American neuroscientists

Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators

Category:Genentech people

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category: University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni

Category:California Institute of Technology alumni

Category:Scientists from Milwaukee

Category:University of California, San Francisco faculty

Category:Stanford University Department of Biology faculty

Category:Stanford University School of Medicine faculty

Category:Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research

Category:Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

Category:Kavli Prize laureates in Neuroscience

Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine