Peter Walter
| Peter Walter | |
|---|---|
Peter Walter in 2015
|
|
| Born |
5 December 1954 West Berlin |
| Fields |
Molecular biology Biochemistry |
| Institutions | University of California, San Francisco |
| Alma mater |
Free University of Berlin Rockefeller University |
| Doctoral advisor | Günter Blobel |
| Known for | |
| Notable awards |
|
|
Website walterlab |
|
Peter Walter (born 5 December 1954) is a German-American molecular biologist and biochemist and Professor at the University of California, San Francisco.
Walter earned a B.S. degree in chemistry from the Free University of Berlin, an M.S. degree in organic chemistry from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Rockefeller University. He is currently a Professor and former Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
During his thesis work in Dr. Günter Blobel's laboratory, Walter purified the proteinaceous members of a macromolecular complex essential for protein translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and showed that it selectively recognizes nascent secretory proteins in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells and targets them to the ER. He subsequently identified a 7S RNA component of the complex which is essential for its function and named the holocomplex the signal recognition particle (SRP).
Walter moved from Rockefeller to start his own laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco, where he and his group identified an ER resident transmembrane kinase/endoribonuclease, Ire1, which is one of three known sensors of the folding capacity within the endoplasmic reticulum lumen responsible for initiating a signaling pathway known as the unfolded protein response.
Walter’s laboratory continues to focus on gaining a mechanistic understanding of protein sorting/targeting to the ER as well as a better understanding the interplay between ER homeostasis and disease.
...
Wikipedia