Yoav Altman received his B.A. degree in Integrative Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. He started working with flow cytometry in 2001 at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology and joined Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in 2002 as Manager of the Flow Cytometry Shared Resource and was promoted to Director in 2009. Yoav has over 18 years of experience sorting and analyzing a variety of cell lines and primary cells, including IPSCs, hESCs, immune cells, disaggregated tumors and solid tissues, such as cardiomyocytes, hepatocytes, intestinal epithelium, brain tissue, and skeletal muscle. His expertise includes a variety of single-cell assays including side population, cell cycle, apoptosis determination, immunophenotyping, calcium flux, mitochondrial membrane potential, ROS, fluorescent proteins, and FRET. Yoav is available to assist with reagent selection, experiment design, data analysis, protocol development, grant preparation, instrument training and operation and writing methods sections for publications. Yoav’s current interests include developing new imaging flow cytometry methods as well as single-particle analysis of submicron biological particles.
Technique and Technology: Microscopy and Imaging
Related Disease
Cardiomyopathies, Cardiovascular Diseases
Anatomical Systems and Sites
Cardiovascular System, General Cell Biology, Heart
Research Models
Computational Modeling, Drosophila, Human
Techniques and Technologies
Bioinformatics, Cell Biology, Confocal Microscopy, Fluorescence Microscopy, Genetics, In vivo Modeling, Live Cell Imaging, Live Imaging, Microscopy and Imaging, Molecular Biology, RNA Interference (RNAi), Systems Biology, Transgenic Organisms
Dr. Yu Xin (Will) Wang received his PhD at the University of Ottawa where he identified cellular asymmetry and polarity mechanisms regulating muscle stem cell self-renewal and skeletal muscle regeneration. He then carried out postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine developing single cell multi-omic approaches to characterize the regenerative process and what goes awry with disease and aging.
“I’ve always had a passion for science and became fascinated with how the body repairs and heals itself when I was introduced to the potential of stem cells in regenerative medicine. I was struck by the ability of a small pool of muscle stem cells that can rebuild and restore the function of muscle. My lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys aims to better understanding the repair process and harness our body’s ability to heal in order to combat chronic diseases and even counteract aging.”
Education and Training
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Stanford University School of Medicine
PhD in Cellular Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Canada
BS in Biomedical Sciences, University of Ottawa, Canada
Prestigious Funding Awards
2020: NINDS K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award
Honors and Recognition
Governor General’s Gold Medal – Canada
Select Publications
Showing 3 of 3Inhibition of prostaglandin-degrading enzyme 15-PGDH rejuvenates aged muscle mass and strength.
EGFR-Aurka Signaling Rescues Polarity and Regeneration Defects in Dystrophin-Deficient Muscle Stem Cells by Increasing Asymmetric Divisions.
Dystrophin expression in muscle stem cells regulates their polarity and asymmetric division.
Xueqin (Sherine) Sun seeks to better understand the genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of cancers, using genome editing technologies, animal and patient-derived models, and other tools to develop more effective cancer therapies.
“My lab is interested in studying how DNA or the machinery that interprets it leads to the transformation of normal cells into cancerous cells and concurrently, their specific vulnerabilities. Identifying these intrinsic vulnerabilities and targeting them properly is profoundly important to developing effective cancer therapies.”
Another aspect of Sun’s work is understanding how cancer cells and tumors change their circumstances and environment to improve survival, including hiding from or repressing the immune system.
“Changes to DNA itself and the way how DNA is interpreted by cells can transform normal cells into cancer cells. And transformed cells propagate by enhancing the misinterpreted DNA information, which in turn becomes the Achilles’ heel of cancer cells. Our goal is to find out how DNA information is misinterpreted in different ways and how to correct it to halt cancer.”
At Sanford Burnham Prebys, Sun and colleagues will employ a host of leading-edge tools and approaches, including functional genomics, artificial intelligence, structural biology, large-scale drug screening, and advanced imaging/spatial technologies.
Sun conducted her postdoctoral fellowship at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory under the guidance of Alea Mills, PhD, a professor at the National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center at Cold Spring Harbor.
She received her PhD from Wuhan University in China.
Select Publications
Showing 3 of 3After a successful teaching career at the University of Michigan I have had the privilege to “reboot” my research career at Sanford Burnham Prebys where I have had the opportunity to develop novel methodologies to understand cardiomyopathy. I have also had the opportunity to work with NASA scientists to do experiments on the International Space Station.
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, Neurochemistry
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX, Neuroscience NIMH
PhD, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, Neuroscience NIMH
B.A., Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, Biology
Prestigious Runding Awards or Major Collaborative Grants
2015-2020: NIH R01 HL132241-01A1 – Using Drosophila genetics to identify molecular links between ion channel dysfunction and pathological cardiac remodeling. (PI) 2013-2018 NASA NRA #NNH12ZTT001N – The effects of microgravity on cardiac function, structure and gene expression using the Drosophila model. (Co-I)
Honor and Awards
2014: Space Florida International Space Station Research Competition Winner – Co-investigator – One of three Basic Research proposals selected for launch aboard SpaceX3 – Mission completed, live flies returned on May 18,2014
2001: Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Michigan
1997: Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Michigan
1986-1988: National Institute of Mental Health Fellowship
1983-1985: National Institute of Mental Health Fellowship
1981: Sigma Xi Research Award 1980 MBL Scholarship, Neural Systems and Behavior Course
1971-1975: National Merit Scholarship, Lehigh University
Board Appointments
2018-present: Board member American Society for Gravitational and Space Research