Jamie H Cate
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Biochemistry
Every cell turns genetic instructions into proteins through translation, the process in which ribosomes read messenger RNA (mRNA) and build proteins. Translation is the link between genes and traits, and human cells control it tightly.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Biophysics
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
translation
protein synthesis
ribosome
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Feb 2028
What they work on
- Determine how eIF3, a translation start factor, and partner proteins interact with structured RNA elements to switch translation of specific mRNAs on or off, using molecular and structural approaches.
- Examine how eIF3 regulates translation in activated T cells and how its control of T cell receptor production affects T cell development.
- Test whether cellular metabolites selectively regulate translation of specific mRNAs using mechanisms similar to drug-like compounds that bind the ribosome and stall specific human proteins.
- Map new ribosome quality control pathways that target translation frameshifting, the slipping of the ribosome out of its reading frame.
More about the research
This project asks how that control works in two places: at the start of translation in specific cells and tissues, and during elongation, the step that sets the ribosome's speed and accuracy. The lab expects this work to lead to discoveries that could eventually be used to treat human disease.
Why it matters
Many disease-causing proteins are "undruggable" because their behavior makes them poor targets for standard small-molecule drugs. Understanding how ribosome-binding compounds selectively stall translation could guide the design of new drugs that block these proteins at the moment they are made. Understanding how eIF3 controls T cell receptor production could provide a foundation for engineering improved cell-based immunotherapies.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Sohail Khoshnevis
Emory University, GA·Biochemistry
Define the composition and interacting partners of eIF3, a translation-starting protein complex, in different cell types of Candida albicans using biochemical assays and proteomics.
Matthieu Gagnon
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX·Biochemistry
Determine how release factor 3 (RF3) releases protein chains from ribosomes that have made errors and helps protein folding during synthesis, using cryo-EM structures of bacterial 70S ribosome complexes.
Fadia Ibrahim
Thomas Jefferson University, PA·Biochemistry
Measure how cellular conditions that stall ribosomes change the mRNA fragments produced by ribothrypsis, using transcriptome-wide sequencing methods that capture both ends of each mRNA.
The school
University of California-Berkeley: 46 labs on PI Pages, $1.1B a year on research, 825 research doctorates a year.
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