Directory

Image of Donald D. Mark
Donald D. Mark Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Rockefeller University

Appointed in 1947

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Image of Vadim V. Markovtsov
Vadim V. Markovtsov Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Los Angeles

Appointed in 1997

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Image of Michele Markstein
Michele Markstein Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University Medical School

Appointed in 2005

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Image of Sudhakar S. Marla
Sudhakar S. Marla Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Appointed in 1997

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Image of Luciano Marraffini
Luciano Marraffini Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Northwestern University

Appointed in 2008

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Image of Nicholas R. Marsh-Armstrong
Nicholas R. Marsh-Armstrong Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Carnegie Institute for Science

Appointed in 1994

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Image of Ian C.B. Marshall
Ian C.B. Marshall Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Johns Hopkins University

Appointed in 1995

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Image of G. Steven Martin
G. Steven Martin Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Appointed in 1968

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Image of Sandra L. Martin
Sandra L. Martin Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of North Carolina

Appointed in 1982

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Image of Katherine J. Martin
Katherine J. Martin Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University

Appointed in 1987

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Image of Gustavo Martinez
Gustavo Martinez Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology

Appointed in 2012

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Image of Nicole Martinez
Nicole Martinez Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Yale University

Appointed in 2016

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Image of John T. Matschiner
John T. Matschiner Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Appointed in 1957

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Image of Steven W. Matson
Steven W. Matson Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University

Appointed in 1980

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Image of William D. Matthew
William D. Matthew Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University Medical School

Appointed in 1981

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Image of Richard E.F. Matthews
Richard E.F. Matthews Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Appointed in 1965

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Image of Hugh R. Matthews
Hugh R. Matthews Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University

Appointed in 1971

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Image of David A. Matthews
David A. Matthews Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Diego

Appointed in 1972

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Image of Benjamin Matthews
Benjamin Matthews Jane Coffin Childs - HHMI Fellow

Rockefeller University

Appointed in 2011

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Image of M. Uljana Mayer
M. Uljana Mayer Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Pennsylvania State University

Appointed in 2000

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Image of Andrew D. McAinsh
Andrew D. McAinsh Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Appointed in 2001

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Image of Gretchen McCaffrey
Gretchen McCaffrey Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

Appointed in 1988

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Image of William H. McClain
William H. McClain Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

MRC Center, University Medical School, England

Appointed in 1969

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Image of Margaret (Meghan)  McDaniel, Ph.D.
Margaret (Meghan) McDaniel, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Washington

Appointed in 2022

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The innate immune system is paramount in recognizing foreign or mutated material and initiating proper immune responses to combat them. Recognition of allergens and parasitic worms (helminths) elicit a socalled “type 2” immune response focused on expulsion of stimuli and tissue repair. Type 2 immune responses impact the prognosis of many cancers and the success of immunotherapies, but how these responses are established remains poorly understood. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) initiate and propagate type 2 immune responses, but do not sense immune agonists directly. The origin and regulation of host-derived signals leading to ILC2 activation is therefore an area of immense interest. Recent work identified a specialized population of epithelial tuft cells responsible for sensing helminths and activating ILC2s by secreting interleukin(IL)-25 and cysteinyl leukotrienes in the small intestine. Airway ILC2s are similarly important for type 2 immune responses in the lung, but tuft cells are dispensable in this context. My proposal seeks to identify the signals that activate intestinal tuft cells and a novel cell subset responsible for airway ILC2 activation. Examining the initiation of type 2 immunity in multiple organs will uncover both convergent and divergent mechanisms by which type 2 responses can be further manipulated.

Image of Kevin McEntee
Kevin McEntee Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University

Appointed in 1977

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Image of Duncan J. McGeoch
Duncan J. McGeoch Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University Medical School

Appointed in 1971

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Image of William J. McGinnis
William J. McGinnis Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Los Angeles /
University of Basel, Switzerland

Appointed in 1983

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Image of Bradley W. McIntyre
Bradley W. McIntyre Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University

Appointed in 1985

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Image of David B. McKay
David B. McKay Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

California Institute of Technology /
Yale University

Appointed in 1976

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Image of Bruce D. McKee
Bruce D. McKee Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Diego

Appointed in 1981

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Image of Jeffrey F. McKelvy
Jeffrey F. McKelvy Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

Appointed in 1968

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Image of Michael A. McMurray
Michael A. McMurray Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Appointed in 2005

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Image of Walter S. McNutt
Walter S. McNutt Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Copenhagen, Denmark /
Cambridge University, England

Appointed in 1949

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Image of Christina K. McPhee Kary
Christina K. McPhee Kary Jane Coffin Childs - HHMI Fellow

Harvard University

Appointed in 2011

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Image of Eric Meadows
Eric Meadows Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University

Appointed in 2000

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Image of Elizabeth M. Meiering
Elizabeth M. Meiering Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University Medical School

Appointed in 1992

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Image of Joshua Meisel
Joshua Meisel Jane Coffin Childs - Merck Fellow

Massachusetts General Hospital

Appointed in 2017

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Molecular oxygen presents a fundamental biological problem: it is vital for life, yet also incredibly toxic. As the terminal electron acceptor in aerobic respiration and the redox engine of mitochondria, oxygen provides eukaryotes with the vast majority of their energy. However when molecular oxygen is reduced it can form damaging reactive species, and recent work has demonstrated that animals with genetic lesions in the mitochondrial respiratory chain are extremely vulnerable to oxygen toxicity. How animals have evolved to manage this double-edged sword remains a fundamental question._x000D_
The biology and natural ecology of the nematode C. elegans make it an attractive system in which to study oxygen tolerance. Wild type C. elegans are tolerant of oxygen concentrations ranging from 1% to 100%, and years of genetic studies have generated a rich toolbox of mitochondrial mutants. I will use these mutants to study the biology of oxygen tolerance, which may simultaneously shed light on the connection between mitochondrial disease and oxygen toxicity.

Image of Justine A. Melo
Justine A. Melo Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Massachusetts General Hospital

Appointed in 2005

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Image of Elija Mena
Elija Mena Jane Coffin Childs - HHMI Fellow

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Appointed in 2020

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Ubiquitylation is a post-translational modification that regulates the stability of thousands of proteins in our cells. The specificity for ubiquitylation is typically conferred by E3 ubiquitin ligases that attach ubiquitin onto substrate proteins. Despite the critical role that ubiquitylation plays in regulating the abundance and activity of many proteins, most ubiquitylation pathways are still poorly understood and many of the estimated ~600 E3 ubiquitin ligases have no known protein substrates.

Our lab has developed the Global Protein Stability (GPS) assay, which is a way to rapidly monitor protein stability using fluorescent proteins. We have recently been adapting this approach for library-on-library genetic screens in order to map, in parallel, dozens of ubiquitylation substrates to their cognate E3 ubiquitin ligases. We have also been using GPS screens to find degradation pathways specific to particular intracellular compartments. Together, these approaches will shed light on ubiquitylation pathways that are important for human health.

Image of Mortimer L. Mendelsohn
Mortimer L. Mendelsohn Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Cambridge, England

Appointed in 1957

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Image of Michael D. Mendenhall
Michael D. Mendenhall Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Santa Barbara /
Scripps Research Institute

Appointed in 1985

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Image of Carlos Mendez-Dorantez, Ph.D.
Carlos Mendez-Dorantez, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Appointed in 2021

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Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1) is the only active, protein-coding transposon in humans. LINE-1 overexpression and LINE-1 retrotransposition are hallmarks of human cancers, although the impact of LINE-1 activity on cancer genomes and cancer cell growth remains poorly understood. My research focuses on addressing the hypothesis that LINE-1 retrotransposition causes substantial gross genome instability in cancers. Supporting this hypothesis, a recent pan-cancer analysis demonstrated associations between somatically-acquired LINE-1 insertions and segmental copy-number changes. Moreover, our lab recently identified that the Fanconi anemia/ BRCA pathway is required for growth of LINE-1(+) cells, suggesting that this DNA repair pathway might limit genotoxic effects of LINE-1. I am developing several approaches to assess the impact of LINE-1 on genome integrity, and I am evaluating the contribution of the FA/ BRCA pathway to LINE-1-associated DNA damage. These studies will be the first to evaluate the scope of LINE-1-mediated genome instability and should inform efforts to exploit LINE-1 genotoxicity as a cancer therapeutic strategy.

Image of Florian T. Merkle
Florian T. Merkle Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University Medical School

Appointed in 2008

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The sleep disorder narcolepsy is caused by the degeneration of hypocretin neurons. The goal of my research is to derive hypocretin neurons from narcoleptic patients to study the cause of hypocretin neuron loss.

I was born in Konstanz, Germany and moved to Minnesota at an early age. As a teenager, I decided I wanted to become a neurosurgeon and spent my summers in a neurosurgery laboratory. I discovered I preferred working at the bench and, as an undergraduate at Caltech, I explored different fields of neuroscience. I was most fascinated by the problem of how the brain develops, and studied the lineage and organization of neural stem cells and their progeny in the postnatal brain. My current work combines my interests in cell type specification, the connection of circuitry to behavior, and developing in-vitro models of human diseases. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, cycling, cooking, and bartending.

Image of John P. Merlie
John P. Merlie Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Institut Pasteur, France

Appointed in 1973

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Image of Janet E. Mertz
Janet E. Mertz Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University /
MRC Center, University Medical School, UK

Appointed in 1973

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Image of Kailin Mesa
Kailin Mesa Jane Coffin Childs - HHMI Fellow

New York University

Appointed in 2017

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Several vertebrate species have the astonishing ability to regenerate their limbs following amputation. In mammals, including both mice and humans, this regenerative capability has been restricted to the digit tip. Both digit tip and complete limb regeneration follow a stereotypic process termed epimorphic regeneration where a population of progenitor cells, termed the blastema, form at the injury site to replace the multiple tissues lost (including blood vessels, nerves, bone, etc.). Several studies have demonstrated that macrophages are essential for epimorphic regeneration. However, it remains largely unknown how macrophages facilitate blastema rather than scar formation. Utilizing the mouse digit tip, which displays regenerative or scarring outcomes dependent on amputation site, we are functionally testing which immune cell types uniquely contribute to epimorphic regeneration. Furthermore, by combining diverse genetic tools with intravital imaging, we are beginning to understand how injury-induced inflammation yields a permissive tissue environment for epimorphic regeneration in mammals.

Image of David G. Mets
David G. Mets Jane Coffin Childs - HHMI Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

Appointed in 2009

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Image of Tycho Mevissen
Tycho Mevissen Jane Coffin Childs - HHMI Fellow

Harvard University Medical School

Appointed in 2017

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DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs) covalently connect the two strands of DNA, thereby blocking essential processes including DNA replication and transcription. Cells have evolved intricate pathways to repair ICLs and other DNA lesions to ensure genome integrity. In the Walter laboratory, we use egg extracts from the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis to biochemically dissect the molecular events during DNA replication and repair. Importantly, these and other processes are faithfully recapitulated in this highly tractable cell-free system._x000D_
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My current work focuses on how different lesions, including ICLs, are repaired in a transcription-dependent manner. Although Xenopus egg extracts are generally considered to be transcriptionally quiescent, I set out to develop an in vitro transcription system to eventually investigate transcription-coupled DNA repair pathways of chemically distinct lesions. My study aims to biochemically characterize the underlying mechanisms as well as to identify novel factors involved in transcription-coupled DNA repair._x000D_

Image of Elliot M. Meyerowitz
Elliot M. Meyerowitz Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University

Appointed in 1977

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Image of Yuxuan Miao
Yuxuan Miao Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Rockefeller University

Appointed in 2016

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My research interest is to harness the power of immune system to combat cancer. This goal requires sophisticated understanding in both immunology and cancer biology. My prior graduate training has equipped me with extensive knowledge in immunology, and showed me how the immune system evokes robust and multilayered responses to defend our body against infections. However, compared to the vigorous response to infections, the immune system often becomes incompetent when it encounters cancer, especially malignant tumors. My  goal during the fellowship period is to develop a cancer model in which I can trace the co-evolution between tumor-initiating stem cells and immune system, ultimately to the point of evasion of immune surveillance, so that I can identify the root of the blunted ant-tumor immune response during the cancer progression. With Dr. Fuchs’ expertise in epithelial stem cells and cancers, and my background in immunology, I feel that I’m uniquely poised to tackle this fascinating problem.

Image of Roger L. Miesfeld
Roger L. Miesfeld Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

Appointed in 1983

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