David S. Eisenberg, Ph.D.

Molecular Biology Institute

Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Director, UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics & Proteomics

Director, Eisenberg Laboratory

Paul Boyer Hall
201A Paul Boyer Hall CAMPUS - 157005
Los Angeles, CA
Tel: (310) 825-3754
Lab: (310) 206-3642
Fax: (310) 206-3914
Email: david@mbi.ucla.edu

Biography

David Eisenberg is currently a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry, as well as an HHMI Investigator and Director of the UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics. Before he came to UCLA, Eisenberg earned an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College and a D.Phil. from Oxford University in Theoretical Chemistry on a Rhodes Scholarship. After a postdoctoral study at Princeton University on water and hydrogen bonding and at Caltech on protein crystallography, he joined the faculty at UCLA. Currently, he studies protein interactions by X-ray crystallography, bioinformatics, and biochemistry, emphasizing amyloid-forming proteins. This recently recognized protein state offers opportunities to understand cells in health and disease, synthesize new materials, and understand processes as diverse as biofilms and corrosion. Eisenberg has published over 300 papers and reviews and holds half a dozen patents. His awards include: the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the UCLA Faculty Research Lectureship, the Stein and Moore Award of the Protein Society, the ACS Faculty Mentoring Award, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine.

Specialty

Protein Structure, Folding, and Design.

Affiliations

COMPLETED - Project 3: Design and Structure of Drugs against AD

UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics

Department of Biological Chemistry at UCLA

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA

David Eisenberg Lab

Research Interests

David Eisenberg focuses on protein interactions. In his experiments he studies the structural basis for conversion of normal proteins to the amyloid state and conversion of prions to the infectious state. In bioinformatic work, he derives information on protein interactions from genomic and proteomic data. His goal is to learn the networks of interacting proteins in cells.

Education and Degrees

Ph.D., Oxford University, 1964

M.A., Cambridge, 1961

A.B., Harvard College

Awards and Honors

UCLA, McCoy Award

Amgen Award of the Protein Society

Pierce Award of the Immunotoxin Society

2008 Biophysical Society, Emily M. Gray Award

2008 Preceptor for the 2009 Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry

2008 Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Harvey Prize in Human Health

2005 Harvard, Westheimer Medal

2004 UCLA, Seaborg Medal

2001 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Investigator

1989 National Academy of Sciences, Elected Member

Publications

Cheng PN, Liu C, Zhao M, Eisenberg D, Nowick JS. Amyloid beta-sheet mimics that antagonize amyloid aggregation and reduce amyloid toxicity. Nature Chemistry 2012;4(11):927-933. PMCID: PMC3481199

Gallat FX, Laganowski A, Wood K, Gabel F, van Eijk L, Wuttke J, Moulin M, Härtlein M, Eisenberg D, Colletier JP, Zaccai G, Weik M. Dynamical coupling of intrinsically disordered proteins and their hydration water: comparison to folded soluble and membrane proteins. Biophysical Journal 2012;103(1):129-136. PMCID: PMC3388209

Kato M, Han T, Xie S, Shi K, Du X, Wu L, Mirzaei H, Pei J, Schneider J, Chan S, Li L, Tycko R, Eisenberg D, McKnight SL. Cell-free formation of RNA granules: low complexity sequence domains form dynamic fibers within hydrogels. Cell 2012;149(4):753-767. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.04.017. PMID: 22579281

Laganowsky A, Liu C, Sawaya MR, Whitelegge JP, Park J, Zhao M, Pensalfini A, Soriaga A, Landau M, Teng PK, Cascio D, Glabe C, Eisenberg D. Atomic view of a toxic amyloid small oligomer. Science 2012;335(6073):1228-1231. doi: 10.1126/science.1213151. PMID: 22403391

Liu C, Zhao M, Jiang L, Cheng PN, Park J, Sawaya MR, Pensalfini A, Gou D, Berk AJ, Glabe CG, Nowick J, Eisenberg D. Out-of-register β-sheets suggest a pathwayto toxic amyloid aggregates. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2012;109(51):20913-20918. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1218792109. PMCID: PMC3529048

Min AB, Miallau L, Sawaya MR, Habel J, Cascio D, Eisenberg D. The crystal structure of the Rv0301-Rv0300 VapBC-3 toxin-antitoxin complex from M. tuberculosis reveals a Mg2+ ion in the active site and a putative RNA-binding site. Protein Science 2012;21(11):1754-1767. PMCID: PMC3527712

Stroud JC, Liu C, Teng PK, Eisenberg D. Toxic fibrillar oligomers of amyloid-beta have cross-beta structure. PNAS 2012;109(20):7717-7722. PMID: 22547798; PMCID: PMC3356606

Teng PK, Anderson NJ, Goldschmidt L, Sawaya MR, Sambashivan S, Eisenberg D. Ribonuclease A suggests how proteins self-chaperone against amyloid fiber formation. Protein Science 2011;21(1):26-37. PMID: 22095666; PMCID: PMC3323778