Angelika Amon, Ph.D. (b. 1967) is an Austrian American molecular and cell biologist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Amon's research centers on how chromosomes are regulated, duplicated, and partitioned in the cell cycle.[1]
Background
Amon had an early interest in plant and animal biology as a child, keeping a notebook full of newspaper clippings, and was motivated to study biology after learning about Mendelian genetics in middle school.[2] She received her B.S. from the University of Vienna and continued her doctoral work there under Professor Kim Nasmyth at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, receiving the Ph.D. in 1993. She completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was subsequently named a Whitehead Fellow for three years.[2] She joined the MIT Center for Cancer Research and MIT's Department of Biology in 1999 and was promoted to full professor in 2007.[3][4]
Amon won a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 1998,[5] was named an associate investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2000,[6] and was the 2003 recipient of the National Science Foundation's Alan T. Waterman Award.[7][8] Amon also shared the 2007 Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research and won the 2008 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology.[9][10][11]
Amon is married and has two daughters.[2]
Research
Amon's research has investigated how cells control and organize the segregation of their chromosomes during cell division. More specifically, her research examines the regulation of exit from mitosis, the regulation of the meiotic cell cycle, and effects of aneuploidy on normal physiology and tumorigenesis.[1]
As a student under Nasmyth, Amon demonstrated that CDC28 protein kinase is not required for the metaphase to anaphase transition and CLB2 proteolysis continues until reactivation of CDC28 toward the end of G1.[12][13]
The Amon lab primarily investigates yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as a model for understanding the controls that govern cell-cycle progression.[7] As a Whitehead Fellow, her team discovered that CDC20 plays a crucial role in cell division.[14] Her Whitehead team identified an interaction between phosphatase and CDC14 which initiates the exit of cells from mitosis to the G1 phase.[15] Amon's team demonstrated that CDC20 is the target protein in the spindle checkpoint during mitosis.[16]
Amon's more recent work has investigated the regulation of chromosome segregation and how chromosomes are accurately transmitted to gametes in meiosis by examining gene regulatory networks. She identified two regulatory networks (FEAR and MEN) that promote the release of CDC14 which have the potential to identify the mechanisms that control the final stages of the mitotic cell cycle.[17][18][19][20]
Her research group recently created haploid yeast cells containing extra copies of chromosomes and discovered that these aneuploid strains elicit phenotypes independent of the identity of the additional chromosome such as defects in cell cycle progression, increased energy demands, and interference with protein biosynthesis.[21] Amon has also examined trisomy in the mouse as a model of mammalian cell growth and physiology and demonstrated that mammalian aneuploidy results in a stress response analogous to yeast aneuploidy.[22] Amon's aneuploidy research has potential applications to cancer research.[23]
References
1. ^ a b "HHMI Scientist Abstract: Angelika Amon". Howard Hughes Medical Institute. http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/amon.html. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
2. ^ a b c "Besser forschen in den USA" (in German). Der Standard. March 21, 2007. http://derstandard.at/fs/2803431.
3. ^ "Department of Biology, Annual Reports to the President: 1998-1999". Office of the President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres99/14.01.html. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
4. ^ "Corporation announces faculty promotions". MIT News Office. June 13, 2007. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/faculty-promotions-tt0613.html. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
5. ^ "The Presidential Early Award for Scientists and Engineers Program Archive". U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/pecase_archive.htm. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
6. ^ "Department of Biology, Annual Reports to the President: 1999-2000". Office of the President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/pres00/14.00.html. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
7. ^ a b "From Cell-Cycle Secrets to NSF's Waterman Award Amon Earns Top Honor for Young Scientists". Office of Legislative and Public Affairs, National Science Foundation. May 14, 2003. http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0358.htm.
8. ^ "Alan T. Waterman Award Recipients". Office of the Director, National Science Foundation. http://www.nsf.gov/od/waterman/waterman_recipients.jsp. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
9. ^ Thomson, Elizabeth (October 3, 2007). "Amon, Golub win cancer prize". MIT News Office. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/cancer-prize-tt1003.html.
10. ^ "Paul Marks Prize Recognizes Three Young Cancer Researchers". Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. September 26, 2007. http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/81182.cfm.
11. ^ "Academy Honors 13 for Major Contributions to Science". Office of News and Public Information, National Academies. Januyary 22, 2008. http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=01222008.
12. ^ Surana, Uttam; Amon, Angelika; Dowzer, Celia; McGrew, Jeffrey; Byers, Breck; Nasmyth, Kim (1993). "Destruction of the CDC28/CLB mitotic kinase is not required for the metaphase to anaphase transition in budding yeast". The EMBO Journal 12 (5): 1969–1978. PMID 8491189.
13. ^ Amon, Angelika; Irniger, Stegan; Nasmyth, Kim (1994). "Closing the cell cycle circle in yeast: G2 cyclin proteolysis initiated at mitosis persists until the activation of G1 cyclins in the next cycle". Cell 77 (7): 1037–1050. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(94)90443-X. PMID 8020094.
14. ^ Vistinin, Rosella; Prinz, Susanne; Amon, Angelika (1997). "CDC20 and CDH1: A Family of Substrate-Specific Activators of APC-Dependent Protoloysis". Science 278 (5337): 460–463. doi:10.1126/science.278.5337.460. PMID 9334304.
15. ^ Vistinin, Rosella; Craig, Karen; Hwang, Ellen; Prinz, Susanne; Tyers, Mike; Amon, Angelika (1998). "The Phosphatase Cdc14 Triggers Mitotic Exit by Reversal of Cdk-Dependent Phosphorylation". Molecular Cell 2 (6): 709-708. doi:10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80286-5.
16. ^ Hwang, Lena; Lau, Lucius; Smith, Dana; Mistrot, Cathy; Harwick, Kevin; Hwang, Ellen; Angelika, Amon; Murray, Andrew (1998). "Budding yeast CDC20: A Target of the Spindle Checkpoint". Science (Science) 279 (5353): 1041–1044. doi:10.1126/science.279.5353.1041. PMID 9461437.
17. ^ "HHMI Scientist Bio: Angelika Amon, Ph.D.". Howard Hughes Medical Institute. http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/amon_bio.html. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
18. ^ Marston, Adele; Lee, Brian; Amon, Angelika (2002). "The Cdc14 Phosphatase and the FEAR Network Control Meiotic Spindle Disassembly and Chromosome Segregation". Developmental Cell 4 (5): 711–726. doi:10.1016/S1534-5807(03)00130-8. PMID 12737806.
19. ^ Bardin, Allison; Amon, Angelika (2003). "MEN and SIN: chat's the difference?". Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 2 (11): 815–826. doi:10.1038/35099020. PMID 11715048.
20. ^ D'Armours, Damien; Stegmeier, Frank; Amon, Angelika (2004). "Cdc14 and Condensin Control the Dissolution of Cohesin-Independent Chromosome Linkages at Repeated DNA". Cell 117 (4): 455–469. doi:10.1016/S0092-8674(04)00413-1. PMID 15137939.
21. ^ Torres, Eduardo; Sokolsky, Tanya; Tucker, Cheryl; Chan, Leon; Boselli, Monica; Dunham, Maitreya; Amon, Angelika (2007). "Effects of Aneuploidy on Cellular Physiology and Cell Division in Haploid Yeast". Science 317 (5840): 916–924. doi:10.1126/science.1142210. PMID 17702937.
22. ^ Williams, Bret; Prabhu, Vineet; Hunter, Karen; Glazier, Christina; Glazier, Charles; Whittaker, D. E.; Housman, David; Amon, Angelika (2008). "Aneuploidy Affects Proliferation and Spontaneous Immortalization in Mammalian Cells". Science 322 (5902): 703–709. doi:10.1126/science.1160058. PMID 18974345.
23. ^ Williams, Bret; Amon, Angelika (2009). "Aneuploidy: Cancer's Fatal Flaw?". Cancer Research 29 (2389): 5289. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-09-0944. PMID 19549887.
External links
* MIT Department of Biology homepage
o Amon Lab homepage
* Koch Institute homepage
* Howard Hughes Medical Institute homepage
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