James A. Wells, PhD

Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSF
Harry Wm. and Diana V. Hind Distinguished Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSF

jim.wells@ucsf.edu

Phone: (415) 514-4498 (voice)
Box 2330, UCSF
San Francisco, CA 94158-2330

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Additional Websites

• Lab Website

Education

Professional Experience

• 1982-1986
  Scientist, Genentech, Inc., Dept. of Protein Engineering
• 1986-1989
  Senior Scientist, Genentech, Inc., Dept. of Protein Engineering
• 1989-1998
  Staff Scientist, Genentech, Inc., Dept. of Protein Engineering
• 1988-2005
  Adjunct Asst, Assoc, and Full Professor, University of California, San Francisco, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• 1998-2005
  President and CSO, Sunesis Pharmaceuticals
• 2005-present
  Harry Wm. and Diana V. Hind Distinguished Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
• 2005-present
  Director, Small Molecule Discovery Center, University of California, San Francisco

Honors & Awards

• 1979-1981
  Damon M. Runyon - Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellowship
• 1990
  Pfizer Award (given by the American Chemical Society for achievements in enzyme chemistry)
• 1998
  Recipient of the Christian B. Anfinsin Award presented by the Protein Society
• 1998
  Recipient of the Vincent du Vignead Award given by the American Peptide Society
• 1999
  Elected Member to the National Academy of Sciences
• 2003
  Recipient of the Hans Neurath Award given by the Protein Society
• 2006
  Perlman Lecture Award of the ACS biotechnology Division

Selected Publications

1. Ostrem JM, Peters U, Sos ML, Wells JA, Shokat KM. K-Ras(G12C) inhibitors allosterically control GTP affinity and effector interactions. Nature. 2013 Nov 28; 503(7477):548-51.
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2. Wiita AP, Ziv E, Wiita PJ, Urisman A, Julien O, Burlingame AL, Weissman JS, Wells JA. Correction: Global cellular response to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Elife. 2013; 2(0).
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3. Wiita AP, Ziv E, Wiita PJ, Urisman A, Julien O, Burlingame AL, Weissman JS, Wells JA. Global cellular response to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. Elife. 2013; 2:e01236.
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4. Koerber JT, Thomsen ND, Hannigan BT, Degrado WF, Wells JA. Nature-inspired design of motif-specific antibody scaffolds. Nat Biotechnol. 2013 Oct; 31(10):916-21.
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5. Carter PJ, Hazuda D, Wells JA. Next generation therapeutics. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2013 Jun; 17(3):317-9.
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6. Yang CF, Chiang MC, Gray DC, Prabhakaran M, Alvarado M, Juntti SA, Unger EK, Wells JA, Shah NM. Sexually dimorphic neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus govern mating in both sexes and aggression in males. Cell. 2013 May 9; 153(4):896-909.
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7. Thomsen ND, Koerber JT, Wells JA. Structural snapshots reveal distinct mechanisms of procaspase-3 and -7 activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 May 21; 110(21):8477-82.
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8. Wang N, Majmudar CY, Pomerantz WC, Gagnon JK, Sadowsky JD, Meagher JL, Johnson TK, Stuckey JA, Brooks CL, Wells JA, Mapp AK. Ordering a dynamic protein via a small-molecule stabilizer. J Am Chem Soc. 2013 Mar 6; 135(9):3363-6.
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9. Datta D, McClendon CL, Jacobson MP, Wells JA. Substrate and inhibitor-induced dimerization and cooperativity in caspase-1 but not caspase-3. J Biol Chem. 2013 Apr 5; 288(14):9971-81.
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10. Crawford ED, Seaman JE, Agard N, Hsu GW, Julien O, Mahrus S, Nguyen H, Shimbo K, Yoshihara HA, Zhuang M, Chalkley RJ, Wells JA. The DegraBase: a database of proteolysis in healthy and apoptotic human cells. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2013 Mar; 12(3):813-24.
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11. Zhuang M, Guan S, Wang H, Burlingame AL, Wells JA. Substrates of IAP ubiquitin ligases identified with a designed orthogonal E3 ligase, the NEDDylator. Mol Cell. 2013 Jan 24; 49(2):273-82.
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12. Crawford ED, Seaman JE, Barber AE, David DC, Babbitt PC, Burlingame AL, Wells JA. Conservation of caspase substrates across metazoans suggests hierarchical importance of signaling pathways over specific targets and cleavage site motifs in apoptosis. Cell Death Differ. 2012 Dec; 19(12):2040-8.
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13. Zorn JA, Wolan DW, Agard NJ, Wells JA. Fibrils colocalize caspase-3 with procaspase-3 to foster maturation. J Biol Chem. 2012 Sep 28; 287(40):33781-95.
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14. Shimbo K, Hsu GW, Nguyen H, Mahrus S, Trinidad JC, Burlingame AL, Wells JA. Quantitative profiling of caspase-cleaved substrates reveals different drug-induced and cell-type patterns in apoptosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jul 31; 109(31):12432-7.
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15. Agard NJ, Mahrus S, Trinidad JC, Lynn A, Burlingame AL, Wells JA. Global kinetic analysis of proteolysis via quantitative targeted proteomics. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Feb 7; 109(6):1913-8.
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16. Gao J, Wells JA. Identification of specific tethered inhibitors for caspase-5. Chem Biol Drug Des. 2012 Feb; 79(2):209-15.
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17. Zorn JA, Wille H, Wolan DW, Wells JA. Self-assembling small molecules form nanofibrils that bind procaspase-3 to promote activation. J Am Chem Soc. 2011 Dec 14; 133(49):19630-3.
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18. Tang Y, Wells JA, Arkin MR. Structural and enzymatic insights into caspase-2 protein substrate recognition and catalysis. J Biol Chem. 2011 Sep 30; 286(39):34147-54.
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19. Sadowsky JD, Burlingame MA, Wolan DW, McClendon CL, Jacobson MP, Wells JA. Turning a protein kinase on or off from a single allosteric site via disulfide trapping. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Apr 12; 108(15):6056-61.
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20. Crawford ED, Wells JA. Caspase substrates and cellular remodeling. Annu Rev Biochem. 2011; 80:1055-87.
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