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Stanford Report, May 6, 2009

Medical center people

Julie Baker

Garry Nolan

John Cooke

Julie Baker, PhD, has been promoted to associate professor of genetics, as of May 1. Her lab is focused on identifying proteins based upon their ability to alter a variety of cell fate decisions—including mesodermal, endodermal, neural, endothelial and somatic—within the vertebrate embryo. Last June, Baker received a $1.4 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine to create more than 15 new human embryonic stem cell lines containing mutations that affect the ability of the cells to become neural tissues in the brain and spinal cord. Many of these mutations are associated with disorders that cause mental retardation in children, including Hurler syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, Tay-Sachs disease and Canavan disease.

Garry Nolan, PhD, has been promoted to professor of microbiology and immunology, as of May 1. His lab uses high-throughput single-cell analysis technology of kinase-driven signaling cascades to study autoimmunity, cancer, virology (influenza) and bacterial pathogens (Listeria and Salmonella) as well as to better understand normal immune system function.

John Cooke, MD, PhD, professor of cardiovascular medicine, has received a $425,000 award from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. The mission of the TRDRP is to support research that focuses on the prevention, causes and treatment of tobacco-related disease and the reduction of the human and economic costs of tobacco use in California. The award will fund Cooke's research proposal, "Pathological angiogenesis and nicotine: Cellular mechanisms." His group has previously shown that nicotine can accelerate the growth of blood vessels to tumors. In addition, nicotine can increase the growth of abnormal vessels in the back of the eye, which can leak fluid and blood, and ultimately cause blindness.