Lipids and Membranes

After completing studies for the A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry at Harvard University, David W. Christianson joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology. At Penn, Christianson’s research focuses on the structural and chemical biology of the zinc-dependent histone deacetylases as well as enzymes of terpene biosynthesis. His research accomplishments have been recognized by several awards, including the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry and the Repligen Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes from the American Chemical Society, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Elizabeth S. and Richard M. Cashin Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Christianson is also a dedicated classroom teacher, and his accomplishments in this regard have been recognized by the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at Penn and a Rhodes Trust Inspirational Educator Award from Oxford University. Christianson has also held visiting professorships in the Department of Biochemistry at Cambridge University and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Christianson has served with Prof. Anna Pyle as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Methods in Enzymology since 2015. Dr. Karen N. Allen works at the Department of Chemistry of the Boston University, the Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering Jeremy M. Baskin is Associate Professor, Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences, and Director of the Chemistry–Biology Interface Program at Cornell University, with appointments in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. He was born and raised in Montreal, Canada and received his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a major in Chemistry and minors in Biology and Music. Jeremy carried out Ph.D. studies supported by NDSEG and NSF graduate fellowships in Carolyn Bertozzi’s group at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on development of bioorthogonal chemistries. Jeremy received postdoctoral training in lipid cell biology as a Jane Coffin Childs fellow at Yale University with Pietro De Camilli. Research in the Baskin lab centers on the chemical and cell biology of lipid metabolism and signaling. The Baskin lab exploits bioorthogonal chemistry to develop advanced tools for high-resolution lipid imaging and harnesses optogenetics and protein engineering for the design of membrane editors capable of spatiotemporal manipulation of the lipid composition of cellular membranes. Using these and other approaches, his lab elucidates novel mechanisms underlying physiological and pathological lipid metabolism and signaling events. Jeremy has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Beckman Young Investigator, Sloan Research Fellowship, NSF CAREER, ACS Young Academic Investigator, ASBMB Walter A. Shaw Young Investigator in Lipid Research, ICBS Young Chemical Biologist Award, and ACS Chemical Biology Young Investigator Award. He is currently Associate Editor at Biochemistry.