Alice Y. Ting Explained

Alice Yen-Ping Ting
Native Name:Chinese: 丁燕萍
Workplaces:Stanford University, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Education:Harvard University (BS)
University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Academic Advisors:E.J. Corey, Roger Y. Tsien
Known For:molecular probes for the study of living cells and neurons

Alice Yen-Ping Ting (Chinese: 丁燕萍[1]) is Taiwanese-born American chemist. She is a professor of genetics, of biology, and by courtesy, of chemistry at Stanford University.[2] She is also a Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investigator and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.[3]

Early life and education

Alice Ting was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the United States when she was three years old. She was raised in Texas and attended the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS). She received her B.S. in chemistry from Harvard University in 1996, working with Nobel laureate E.J. Corey. She completed her Ph.D. with Peter G. Schultz at the University of California, Berkeley in 2000.[4]

Ting completed her postdoctoral fellowship with 2008 Nobel Laureate Roger Y. Tsien.[5]

Career

Ting joined the MIT Chemistry Department in 2002 where she was the Ellen Swallow Richards Professor until 2016. In 2016, she moved to Stanford University, Departments of Genetics, of Biology, and, by courtesy, of Chemistry. Her research harnesses the power of directed evolution and synthetic organic chemistry to develop novel methods for studying the cell. She has received a number of awards, including a 2008 NIH Director's Pioneer Award,[6] a 2010 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society, an NIH Transformative R01 Award (both 2013 and 2018), the McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award, the Technology Review TR35 Award, the Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science in 2012.[7] Ting has been an investigator of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub since 2017. Ting was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2023.

Research

Ting and her lab are credited with developing several influential techniques, some of which have been broadly adopted by academic and industrial researchers across the world. Proximity labeling (PL) is a method for discovery of molecules that reside within a few nanometers (1-5 nm) of a designated molecule of interest, within living cells or organisms. The technique involves fusing a promiscuous labeling enzyme to the molecule of interest and then adding a small-molecule substrate that enables the enzyme to covalently tag any (protein or RNA) molecule within its immediate vicinity. PL is a powerful method for elucidating signaling networks,[8] [9] dissecting molecular function, and potentially discovering novel disease genes.[10] [11] Ting's laboratory has developed three widely used enzymes for PL; all were engineered using directed evolution: the peroxidase APEX2,[12] [13] and the biotin ligases TurboID and miniTurbo.[14]

In addition, Ting and her lab developed monovalent streptavidin,[15] site-specific biotinylation in mammalian cells,[16] small monovalent quantum dots for single molecule imaging,[17] APEX2 as a genetic tag for electron microscopy (analogous to green fluorescent protein but visible by electron microscopy),[18] split horseradish peroxidase for visualization of synapses in vivo,[19] FLARE (fast light- and activity-regulated expression) for gaining genetic access to activated neural ensembles,[20] SPARK (specific protein association tool giving transcriptional readout with rapid kinetics) for transcriptional readout of protein-protein interactions,[21] and PRIME (probe incorporation mediated by enzymes) – a protein labeling technique that enables scientists to capitalize on the brightness, photostability, small size, and chemical diversity of small-molecule probes as an alternative to green fluorescent protein.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 10名华裔入选美国国家科学院 . 10 Chinese-Americans elected as National Academy of Sciences members. Bureau of International Information Programs, United States Department of State. 2023-05-15. 2023-05-17 . 2023-05-17 . https://archive.today/20230517114543/https://share.america.gov/zh-hans/ten-chinese-american-scientists-elected-as-members-of-national-academy-of-sciences/ .
  2. Web site: Alice Ting Department of Biology. 2020-11-17. biology.stanford.edu.
  3. Web site: 2023 NAS Election . 2023-05-03 . www.nasonline.org.
  4. Web site: Alice Ting. 2020-11-17. Vilcek Foundation. en-US.
  5. Web site: Catching them red handed: Prof. A. Ting & Prof. J. Zhang. 2020-11-17. NCCR in Chemical Biology. en-US.
  6. http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer/Recipients08.aspx 2008 NIH Director's Pioneer Award Recipients
  7. Web site: Professor Alice Ting wins Vilcek Foundation Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. MIT News. 14 February 2012 . 2015-11-12.
  8. Lobingier . BT . An Approach to Spatiotemporally Resolve Protein Interaction Networks in Living Cells. . Cell . 2017 . 28388416 . 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.022 . 169 . 2 . 5616215 . 350–360.e12.
  9. Paek . J . Multidimensional Tracking of GPCR Signaling via Peroxidase-Catalyzed Proximity Labeling. . Cell . 2017 . 28388415 . 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.028 . 169 . 2 . 5514552 . 338–349.e11.
  10. Han . S . Proximity labeling: spatially resolved proteomic mapping for neurobiology. . Current Opinion in Neurobiology . 2018 . 29125959 . 10.1016/j.conb.2017.10.015 . 50 . 17–23. 6726430 .
  11. Chen . CL . Proximity-dependent labeling methods for proteomic profiling in living cells. . Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol . 2017 . 28387482 . 10.1002/wdev.272 . 6 . 4 . e272 . 5553119.
  12. Lam . SS . Directed evolution of APEX2 for electron microscopy and proximity labeling. . Nature Methods . 2015 . 25419960 . 10.1038/nmeth.3179 . 4296904 . 12 . 1 . 51–4.
  13. Rhee . HW . Proteomic mapping of mitochondria in living cells via spatially restricted enzymatic tagging. . Science . 2013 . 23371551 . 10.1126/science.1230593 . 339 . 6125 . 3916822 . 1328–1331. 2013Sci...339.1328R .
  14. Branon . TC . Efficient proximity labeling in living cells and organisms with TurboID. . Nature Biotechnology . 2018 . 30125270 . 10.1038/nbt.4201 . 36 . 9 . 6126969 . 880–887.
  15. Howarth . M . A monovalent streptavidin with a single femtomolar biotin binding site. . Nature Methods . 2006 . 16554831 . 10.1038/nmeth861 . 2576293 . 3 . 4 . 267–73.
  16. Howarth . M . Targeting quantum dots to surface proteins in living cells with biotin ligase. . PNAS . 2005 . 15897449 . 10.1073/pnas.0503125102 . 1129026 . 102 . 21 . 7583–8. 2005PNAS..102.7583H . free .
  17. Howarth . M . Monovalent, reduced-size quantum dots for imaging receptors on living cells. . Nature Methods . 2008 . 18425138 . 10.1038/nmeth.1206 . 2637151 . 5 . 5 . 397–9.
  18. Martell . JD . Engineered ascorbate peroxidase as a genetically encoded reporter for electron microscopy. . Nature Biotechnology . 2012 . 23086203 . 10.1038/nbt.2375 . 3699407 . 30 . 11 . 1143–8.
  19. Martell . JD . A split horseradish peroxidase for the detection of intercellular protein-protein interactions and sensitive visualization of synapses. . Nature Biotechnology . 2016 . 27240195 . 10.1038/nbt.3563 . 34 . 7 . 774–80. 4942342 .
  20. Wang . W . A light- and calcium-gated transcription factor for imaging and manipulating activated neurons. . Nature Biotechnology . 2017 . 28650461 . 10.1038/nbt.3909 . 35 . 9 . 5595644 . 864–871.
  21. Kim . MW . Time-gated detection of protein-protein interactions with transcriptional readout. . eLife . 2017 . 29189201 . 10.7554/eLife.30233 . 6 . 5708895 . free .