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Barbara Wold

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Barbara Wold
Born1951
Alma materArizona State University (Tempe), California Institute of Technology
Scientific career
FieldsDevelopmental Biology and Genetics, Systems Biology
InstitutionsBeckman Institute, California Institute of Technology
ThesisStudies of structural gene transcripts in sea urchin embryos and adult tissues (1978)
Doctoral advisorEric H. Davidson
Doctoral studentsTracy Teal
Ardem Patapoutian

Barbara J. Wold is the Bren Professor of Molecular Biology,[1] the principal investigator of the Wold Lab[2] at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the principal investigator of the Functional Genomics Resource Center at the Beckman Institute at Caltech.[3] Wold was director of the Beckman Institute at Caltech from 2001 to 2011.[4]

Education

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Barbara Wold graduated with a B. S. in zoology from Arizona State University (Tempe) in 1973. She was inspired by laboratory work with zoology professor Shelby Gerking and developmental biologist Jerry Justus, and lectures with professor emerita Kathleen Church. While at ASU, Wold became interested in understanding the informational code that regulates gene expression.[1] She also met her husband, geophysicist Lawrence "Larry" Burdick.[1]

Wold received a Ph.D. in molecular developmental biology from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1978,[5] studying genome structure and gene regulation during embryo development.[6] She was appointed as a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1978.[5] There she developed methods for assaying cis-regulatory element function.[6]

Career

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Wold in 1986

In 1981, Wold returned to Caltech as an assistant professor in the Biology department. She was promoted to associate professor in 1988 and full professor in 1996, holding the position until 2002. She became Bren Professor of Molecular Biology as of 2003.[7]

Wold helped to found the L. K. Whittier Gene Expression Center at Caltech in 1999, with Stephen Quake and Mel Simon, collaborating with the Human Genome Project.[8] She has also been involved in establishing the Center for Biological Circuit Design at Caltech.[9] She has been an advisor to the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy in the area of genomics.[5][10]

Wold was director of the Beckman Institute at Caltech from 2001 to 2011, succeeding founding director Harry B. Gray.[5] As of January 30, 2012, she was succeeded as director by David A. Tirrell.[4]

Research

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Barbara Wold has published more than sixty papers in the areas of developmental biology and genetics.[5] Throughout her career, Wold has focused on exploring the architecture and logic of gene regulatory networks, in an effort to understand the mechanisms that drive cell state transitions in the development and differentiation of individual cells. In particular, she has investigated the ways in which these differentiation mechanisms are encoded in DNA, and furthermore, how they are executed via transcription.[11]

Beginning with undifferentiated precursor cells, Wold and her lab have focused particularly on transitions from mesodermal cells in early development to fully developed skeletal muscle and cardiac muscle in animals, primarily through the use of mouse models. In addition, she is interested in the transitions in cell development which lead to tumorigenesis.[12]

Wold and her lab have used various techniques,[2] including genome-wide and proteome-wide assays, wet-bench genomic technology, and computational methods, many of which they have developed in conjunction with other researchers, to study skeletal muscle development, degeneration and regeneration.[12] She has also used such techniques as microarray gene expression analysis, global protein/DNA interaction measures, mass spectrometry-based proteomics, and comparative genomics.[12] In collaboration with others, her lab has also pioneered a modification of mass spectrometry and dual-affinity epitope tagging that enables efficient and accurate classification of multi-protein complexes.[12]

Much of Wold's recent work focuses on biological information processing, developing and using new techniques such as ultra-high-throughput DNA sequencing techniques[13] to computationally model the inputs and outputs of gene networks. She studies embryonic development and regeneration in vertebrates, examining transcriptional networks and using comparative genomics to model mouse, human and dog genomes. This work is leading to increased understanding of direct transcriptional regulation and of post-transcriptional and translational mechanisms and their mediation by microRNAs.[14] Wold's goal is a deep understanding of biological circuit design and the mechanisms of genetics and cell development.[9] To this end, Wold seeks to use her research to contribute to the development of the international reference transcriptome and regulatory element databases.[11]

Wold's lab has recently been concerned with human disease genomics. In particular, they are looking into diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer, and musculoskeletal disorders.[11]

Awards and honors

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Selected publications

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  • Jingli A Zhang; Ali Mortazavi; Brian A Williams; Barbara J Wold; Ellen V. Rothenberg (1 April 2012). "Dynamic transformations of genome-wide epigenetic marking and transcriptional control establish T cell identity". Cell. 149 (2): 467–482. doi:10.1016/J.CELL.2012.01.056. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 3336965. PMID 22500808. Wikidata Q42136153.
  • Wen Zhou; Mary A. Yui; Brian A Williams; Jina Yun; Barbara J Wold; Long Cai; Ellen V. Rothenberg (16 October 2019). "Single-Cell Analysis Reveals Regulatory Gene Expression Dynamics Leading to Lineage Commitment in Early T Cell Development". Cell Systems. 9 (4): 321-337.e9. doi:10.1016/J.CELS.2019.09.008. ISSN 2405-4712. PMID 31629685. Wikidata Q90821356.
  • Manolis Kellis; Barbara Wold; Michael P Snyder; et al. (29 April 2014). "Defining functional DNA elements in the human genome". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 111 (17): 6131–8. Bibcode:2014PNAS..111.6131K. doi:10.1073/PNAS.1318948111. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4035993. PMID 24753594. Wikidata Q22066251.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Coulombe, Peggy (November 10, 2010). "ASU's Barbara Wold to receive SOLS alumni award". ASU School of Life Sciences. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b "People". Wold Lab. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Functional Genomics Resource Center". Beckman Institute. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Caltech Professor David Tirrell Named Director of the Beckman Institute". About Caltech. Archived from the original on 29 August 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Caltech biologist Barbara Wold named Beckman Institute director". Caltech News & Events. November 8, 2001.
  6. ^ a b "Barbara Wold". Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology (IGSB). University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  7. ^ "Barbara J. Wold". Caltech. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Caltech Receives $1.4 Million for L. K. Whittier Gene Expression Center". Caltech News. March 25, 1999. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  9. ^ a b Center for Biological Circuit Design (2003). "Circuitry and Liquid Algorithms—A New Bioengineering Frontier Takes Form: A Conversation with Niles Pierce, Paul Sternberg, Erik Winfree, and Barbara Wold". ENGenius. Winter (3): 19–22. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  10. ^ Tindol, Robert (June 26, 2000). "Caltech and the Human Genome Project". Caltech News and Events. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  11. ^ a b c "Welcome - Wold Lab". woldlab.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  12. ^ a b c d "Research - Wold Lab". woldlab.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  13. ^ Fesenmaier, Kimm (April 12, 2012). "Determining a Stem Cell's Fate". Caltech News & Events. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  14. ^ Mortazavi, A.; Thompson, E. C. L.; Garcia, S. T.; Myers, R. M.; Wold, B. (1 October 2006). "Comparative genomics modeling of the NRSF/REST repressor network: From single conserved sites to genome-wide repertoire". Genome Research. 16 (10): 1208–1221. doi:10.1101/gr.4997306. PMC 1581430. PMID 16963704.
  15. ^ "Barbara Wold Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences". California Institute of Technology. 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
  16. ^ "Scholar Profile Barbara J. Wold". Searle Scholars Program. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  17. ^ "Rita Allen Foundation". Rita Allen Foundation. Retrieved 2023-11-03.
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