UW Medicine

David Baker

David Baker

Titles

Professor of Biochemistry
Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences
Director, Institute for Protein Design

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Innovation in protein design to target aging and age-related disease Dr. Baker has pioneered methods to predict and design the three-dimensional structures of proteins. He is the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry and an adjunct professor of Genome Sciences, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, and Physics. He serves as the Director of […]

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Suzanne Hoppins

Suzanne Hoppins

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Associate Professor

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Dr. Suzanne Hoppins joined the UW Biochemistry faculty as an assistant professor in 2013 and was promoted to Associate professor in 2020. She has studied different aspects of mitochondrial biology for her entire career. As an undergraduate researcher and then a graduate student she studied mitochondrial protein import, a complex system of translocation and sorting […]

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James Hurley

James Hurley

Titles

Professor of Biochemistry

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The Hurley lab focuses on understanding how energy metabolism is controlled in photoreceptors and how this changes with age. In darkness, photoreceptors consume energy rapidly to offset the leakage of ions across the plasma membrane. Light stops that leakage but it introduces qualitatively different energy demands. Dr. Hurley and his colleagues are investigating how the […]

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Abdiasis Hussein

Abdiasis Hussein

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Mr. Abdiasis is a PhD candidate in the department of biochemistry performing his thesis research in the laboratory of Professor Hannele Ruohola-Baker. He previously studied an intermediate pluripotent step, embryonic diapause, which disrupts the transition from the pre-implantation naïve to post-implantation primed embryonic. He foun that diapause has a distinct lipid metabolic profile compared to […]

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Maria Janowska

Maria Janowska

Titles

Postdoctoral Fellow

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Dr. Janowska is a post-doctoral researcher in the Klevit laboratory. Her interests lie in understanding the biochemistry of the protective mechanisms utilized by proteins to prevent the formation of toxic protein aggregates in the brain.  When she is not at work, she enjoys the beautiful Pacific Northwest, either skiing or hiking, and when stationary at […]

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Rachel Klevit

Rachel Klevit

Titles

Edmond H. Fischer/WRF Endowed Chair in Biochemistry
Adjunct Professor of Chemistry
Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology

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Understanding of molecular recognition, and interactions that play important roles in aging and disease  Dr. Klevit is the Edmond H. Fischer/WRF Endowed Chair in Biochemistry, an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology, and Adjunct Professor of Chemistry. Current research in Dr. Klevit’s laboratory is directed towards an understanding of fundamental molecular recognition events involved in the process […]

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Dana Miller

Dana Miller

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Associate Professor of Biochemistry

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Dr. Miller’s lab uses C. elegans to define relationships between proteostasis, the responses to hypoxia and hydrogen sulfide, and fasting. This work is also at the crux of understanding the relationships between stress response and aging. She has found that protein homeostasis is disrupted by exposure to specific hypoxic O2 concentrations [66]. One goal of […]

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Hannele Ruohola-Baker

Hannele Ruohola-Baker

Titles

Professor of Biochemistry
Adjunct Professor of Biology
Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences

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Adult stem cell aging Dr. Ruohola-Baker’s laboratory studies the molecules and cellular properties that are required for stem cell states and their differentiation capacity. During the recent years the laboratory has shown that microRNAs and the HIF pathway play key roles in regulating adult and embryonic stem cell self-renewal in model organisms as well as […]

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Andrea Wills

Andrea Wills

Titles

Assistant Professor of Biochemistry

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Dr. Wills joined the UW Biochemistry faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2015.  Her research is focused on understanding the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of regeneration using the diploid frog Xenopus tropicalis as a model organism.  Loss of regenerative capacity is a fundamental aspect of aging biology.  The Wills lab uses high-throughput sequencing approaches (RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, ATAC-Seq) […]

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