Peter Walter, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry/Biophysics, UCSF; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry/Biophysics, UCSF; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
My laboratory seeks a molecular understanding of how cells control the quality of their proteins and organelles during homeostasis and stress. We are identifying the machinery and mechanisms that ensure proper protein synthesis, folding, and targeting, as well as the pathways that allow organelles to communicate and regulate their abundance. Additionally, we aim to understand how the rewiring of these processes leads to, or prevents, the progression of disease. My laboratory uses a diverse array of approaches, ranging from biochemical reconstitution to genetics, to fuel our search for fundamental discoveries in cell biology. An NIH R01 (GM32384) has been funding our biochemical and mechanistic efforts on protein targeting and translocation since the inception of my group in 1983. A second NIGMS R01 grant funded our efforts on genetic approaches on the topic (R01 GM37485). I decided to return and not renew that grant in 2000, after I was appointed as HHMI Investigator. We maintained GM32384 at a modest funding level. Website: walterlab.ucsf.edu
Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany, Vordiplom, 1976, Chemistry
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, M.Sc., 1977, Organic Chemistry
The Rockefeller University, New York, Ph.D., 1981, Cell Biology