Suzanne Pfeffer
{{Short description|American neuroscientist and academic}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Suzanne Pfeffer
| image = Suzanne Pfeffer 2010 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Pfeffer in 2010
| birth_name = Suzanne Ruth Pfeffer
| workplaces = Stanford University
| alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley (BS)
University of California, San Francisco (PhD)
| thesis_title = The role of coated vesicles in intracellular transport
| thesis_url = https://escholarship.org/uc/item/90k18764
| thesis_year = 1983
| fields = Parkinson's disease
| website = {{Official URL}}
}}
Suzanne Ruth Pfeffer is an American neuroscientist who is a professor at Stanford University.{{EuropePMC}} Her research investigates the molecular mechanisms that cause receptors to be transported between membrane compartments in cells, and she is an expert in Rab GTPases and the molecular basis of inherited Parkinson's disease.{{Google scholar id}} She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Society for Cell Biology.{{Official URL}}
Early life and education
Pfeffer has said that she became interested in human physiology as a child. She was an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, where she became interested in biochemistry.{{Cite journal |last=Sedwick |first=Caitlin |date=2009-04-06 |title=Suzanne Pfeffer: Sorting through membrane trafficking |journal=Journal of Cell Biology |language=en |volume=185 |issue=1 |pages=4–5 |doi=10.1083/jcb.1851pi |issn=1540-8140 |pmc=2700508 |pmid=19349576}} She worked with Michael Chamberlin on binding of Escherichia coli polymerase to T7 DNA polymerase.{{Cite journal |last=Pfeffer |first=S. R. |last2=Stahl |first2=S. J. |last3=Chamberlin |first3=M. J. |date=1977-08-10 |title=Binding of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase to T7 DNA. Displacement of holoenzyme from promoter complexes by heparin |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/328501 |journal=The Journal of Biological Chemistry |volume=252 |issue=15 |pages=5403–5407 |issn=0021-9258 |pmid=328501}} She moved to the University of California, San Francisco for her graduate studies, where she worked with Regis B. Kelly on synaptic vessels. Her doctoral research investigated the role of coated vesicles in intracellular transport.{{Cite thesis|degree=PhD|first=Suzanne Ruth|last=Pfeffer |title=The role of coated vesicles in intracellular transport |oclc=1020060429 |language=en|id={{ProQuest|303125660}}|url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/90k18764|website=escholarship.org}}
Research and career
After her PhD, she moved to Stanford University as a Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow, where she worked with James Rothman on Golgi transport.{{Cite web |title=Suzanne R. Pfeffer, PhD {{!}} Parkinson's Disease |url=https://www.michaeljfox.org/researcher/suzanne-r-pfeffer-phd |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=michaeljfox.org |language=en}}
Pfeffer set up her own research program at Stanford University, where she was the first woman to be appointed to the department of biochemistry. Her research investigates the fundamental mechanisms of membrane trafficking.{{cite journal |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nrm1500 |title=Targeting Rab GTPases to distinct membrane compartments |last1=Pfeffer |first1=Suzanne |last2=Aivazian |first2=Dikran |journal=Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology |year=2004 |volume=5 |pages=886–896 }}
= Selected publications =
- Biosynthetic protein transport and sorting by the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi{{Cite Q|Q39664981}}
- "Rab9 functions in transport between late endosomes and the trans Golgi network{{Cite Q|Q28609814}}
- Rab GTPases: specifying and deciphering organelle identity and function{{Cite Q|Q29620750}}
= Awards and honors =
- 1992 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science{{Cite web |date=2023-07-23 |title=Inside AAAS |url=https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.258.5083.823 |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=www.science.org|publisher=Science |language=en}}
- 2003 President of the American Society for Cell Biology{{Cite web |title=ASCB Presidents |url=https://www.ascb.org/about-ascb/presidents/ |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=ascb.org |language=en-US}}
- 2010 President of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology{{Cite web |title=Past presidents |url=https://www.asbmb.org/about/past-presidents |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=asbmb.org |language=en}}
- 2013 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{Cite web |date=2023-07-23 |title=Suzanne Pfeffer |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/suzanne-pfeffer |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=amacad.org|publisher=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}
- 2017 Elected Fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology{{Cite web |date=2024-05-28 |title=Suzanne Pfeffer - ASCB |url=https://www.ascb.org/fellow/suzannepfeffer |access-date=2024-05-28 |website=ascb.org|publisher=The American Society for Cell Biology |language=en}}
- 2024 Elected member of the National Academy of Sciences{{Cite web |date=30 April 2024 |title=National Academy of Sciences Elects Members and International Members |url=https://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/2024-nas-election.html |access-date=12 May 2024 |website=www.nasonline.org}}
References
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Category:American women neuroscientists
Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni
Category:University of California, San Francisco alumni
Category:Stanford University faculty
Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Category:American neuroscientists
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Fellows of the American Society for Cell Biology
Category:20th-century American biologists
Category:20th-century American women scientists
Category:21st-century American biologists