Susan S. Taylor

American biochemist

United States National Academy of Sciences, 1996
Institute of Medicine, 1996

Scientific careerFieldsBiochemistryInstitutionsUniversity of California, San Diego

Susan Taylor (born 1942^[1]) is an American biochemist who is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a Professor of Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego. She is known for her research on protein kinases, particularly protein kinase A.^[2] She was elected to the Institute of Medicine and the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1996.^[3]^[4]

Early life and education

Taylor was born in 1942 in Racine, Wisconsin.^[1] She attended the University of Wisconsin as an undergraduate and received a B.A. in biochemistry in 1964. Despite originally planning for a career as a medical doctor, she received her PhD in physiological chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1968 and then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, where she has said she settled on a career in research science.^[5] After returning to the United States, she worked as a postdoc at the University of California, San Diego.^[1]^[2]

Academic career

After a brief postdoc position at UCSD, Taylor joined the faculty there in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1972 and became a full professor in 1985.^[1] She was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 1997 to 2014.^[6]

Taylor served on the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry from 1985-1990 and served a term as the president of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 1995.^[2]

Research

Taylor's research group has focused on the structure and function of protein kinases, particularly protein kinase A, since shortly after she began her independent research career.^[1] Her group, collaborating with Janusz Sowadski, was the first to solve the crystal structure of a protein kinase when they reported the structure of PKA in 1991.^[7] The group has subsequently published a number of papers on the dynamics and mechanism of PKA, or cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Awards and honors

1992: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences^[2]
1996: Elected to the Institute of Medicine^[4]
1996: Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences^[3]
2001: Received the Garvan-Olin Medal, awarded by the American Chemical Society^[2]
2007: Received the William C. Rose Award, awarded by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology^[2]
2008: Elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science^[2]
2009: Received the FASEB Excellence in Science Award, awarded by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology^[2]
2017: Earl and Thressa Stadtman Distinguished Scientist Award
2022: Herbert Tabor Research Award

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "1995 - Susan Taylor". ASBMB Past Presidents. ASBMB. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Taylor, Susan. "Taylor, Susan". UCSD Faculty Profiles. UCSD. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Susan S. Taylor". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
^ ^a ^b "IOM Member- Susan S. Taylor, Ph.D." Institute of Medicine. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
^ "Susan S. Taylor". Chemical Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original on July 12, 2016.
^ "Susan S. Taylor". Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
^ Knighton, DR; Zheng, JH; Ten Eyck, LF; Ashford, VA; Xuong, NH; Taylor, SS; Sowadski, JM (26 July 1991). "Crystal structure of the catalytic subunit of cyclic adenosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase". Science. 253 (5018): 407–14. doi:10.1126/science.1862342. PMID 1862342.
^ Taylor, SS; Yang, J; Wu, J; Haste, NM; Radzio-Andzelm, E; Anand, G (11 March 2004). "PKA: a portrait of protein kinase dynamics". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Proteins and Proteomics. 1697 (1–2): 259–69. doi:10.1016/j.bbapap.2003.11.029. PMID 15023366.
^ Kim, C; Xuong, NH; Taylor, SS (4 February 2005). "Crystal structure of a complex between the catalytic and regulatory (RIalpha) subunits of PKA". Science. 307 (5710): 690–6. doi:10.1126/science.1104607. PMID 15692043. S2CID 32156686.
^ Zhang, P; Smith-Nguyen, EV; Keshwani, MM; Deal, MS; Kornev, AP; Taylor, SS (10 February 2012). "Structure and allostery of the PKA RIIβ tetrameric holoenzyme". Science. 335 (6069): 712–6. doi:10.1126/science.1213979. PMC 3985767. PMID 22323819.