Richard I. Morimoto

Richard I. Morimoto
Born (1952-06-09) June 9, 1952
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Residence Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
Nationality American
Fields Molecular biology
Biochemistry
Institutions Northwestern University
Alma mater University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Chicago
Doctoral advisor Murray Rabinowitz
Known for Protein folding
Heat shock response
Molecular chaperones
Neurodegenerative diseases
Proteostasis

Richard I. Morimoto (born June 9, 1952) is a Japanese American molecular biologist. He is the Bill and Gayle Cook Professor of Biology and Director of the Rice Institute for Biomedical Research at Northwestern University.

Education and academic career

He holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, received a Ph.D. in Biology (laboratory of Professor Murray Rabinowitz) from the University of Chicago in 1978, and conducted postdoctoral research (laboratory of Professor Matthew Meselson) and was a Tutor in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. In 1982, Morimoto joined the faculty of the Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He served previously as the Chair of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology, the Dean of The Graduate School, and the Associate Provost of Graduate Education at Northwestern University.

Civic leadership

Science

Morimoto is widely recognized for his research on the regulation of the heat shock stress response and the function of molecular chaperones. His current research is to understand how organisms sense and respond to physiologic and environmental stress through the activation of genetic pathways that integrate stress responses with molecular and cellular responses that determine cell growth and cell death. The stress of misfolded and damaged proteins influences neuronal function and lifespan at the level of the organism. Consequently, these studies provide a molecular basis to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, ALS, and Alzheimer's disease. His laboratory has published over 250 papers and three monographs including two books on the Heat Shock Response and Molecular Chaperones from Cold Spring Harbor Press. During that period he received two MERIT awards from the National Institutes of Health and has been supported by the grants from the National Institutes for General Medical Science, National Institutes of Aging, National Institutes for Neurological Diseases and Stroke, American Cancer Society, Huntington's Disease Society of America, the Hereditary Disease Foundation, and the ALS Association. In addition to giving frequent talks at universities and scientific symposia throughout the world, he has been a Visiting Professor at the Technion University in Israel, Osaka University, Kyoto University, Kyoto Sangyo University, University of Rome, Beijing University, Åbo Akademi University in Finland, and École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He is a founder of Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. in Cambridge, MA, a biotech company that is discovering and developing novel small molecule therapeutics designed to control the body’s protein homeostasis. These novel therapies are designed to treat multiple degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington’s disease, cancer, and type II diabetes.

Science recognition

Significant papers

In pop culture

The Morimoto lab captured the innate intelligence of C. elegans when a post doc in the lab told them to smile. Since they cannot smile individually (as they lack a face), they formed a smile on the culture plate as a group, proving that not only do they have ears, but also they can work in groups.[1]

References

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-86OQgcMTM
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