Robert B. Darnell

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Robert B. Darnell
Neurooncology
Neuroscience
Immunology
InstitutionsRockefeller University 1992-present
Howard Hughes Medical Institute 2002-present
Doctoral advisorRobert G. Roeder

Robert Bernard Darnell (born October 29, 1957) is an American

The Rockefeller University,[5] and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research into rare autoimmune brain diseases led to the invention of the HITS-CLIP method to study RNA regulation, and he is developing ways to explore the regulatory portions—known as the "dark matter"—of the human genome.[6]

At

ORCID ID
0000-0002-5134-8088.

Career

Darnell's early research was concentrated on paraneoplastic syndromes (PNDs, the paraneoplastic neurologic disorders), disorders touching on various clinical and basic aspects of biology including cancer immunology and neuroimmunology. He was the first to definitively demonstrate that naturally occurring tumor immunity in humans was caused by antigen-specific cytotoxic (CD8+) T cells, helping to generate the foundation for the field of immuno-oncology.[10] His lab was the first to use PND patient antisera to screen expression cDNA libraries to identify the genes encoding the PND antigens.[11][12] This opened the door to the cloning of the Nova,[13] cdr2 and Elavl (Hu) antigens, and led Darnell to hypothesize, based on the intracellular nature of the antigens, that tumor immunity was mediated by CD8+ T cells.[14] His laboratory went on to prove this hypothesis, demonstrating cdr2-specific CD8+ T cells were present in the peripheral blood[10] and cerebrospinal fluid[15] of patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration associated with tumor immunity to breast or ovarian cancers.

The discovery of that the Nova PND antigen (associated with paraneoplastic opsoclonus-opsoclonus) was the first of a class of neuron-specific RNA-binding proteins led his laboratory to question the nature of RNA regulation in the brain and why it might be co-opted in cancer cells. His laboratory developed the HITS-CLIP technique that is used to map the sites of regulatory interactions between RNA-binding proteins and their target RNA sequences, originally using it to study the Nova proteins[4] and subsequently a large number of other RNA binding proteins that are implicated in brain disease, including FMRP[16] (associated with intellectual disability and autism), RbFox[17] (associated with autism), Mbnl[18] (associated with myotonic dystrophy), Elavl[19] (the Hu PND antigen) and cancer (including RBM47[20] and Argonaute-miRNA interactions,[21] both implicated in breast cancer).

In 2012, Darnell became the founding director and CEO of the New York Genome Center,

NIH to use genomic sequencing to study common diseases.[27] After securing a $100M philanthropic grant for NYGC[28] and a seven-year Research Program Award from NINDS,[3]
Darnell returned to pursue his work on genomic medicine and neuroscience at the Rockefeller University and HHMI in 2017.

Darnell received his undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry in 1979 from

Fellow of the AAAS (the American Association for the Advancement of Science), in 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2019 he was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[30]

Personal life

Darnell comes from a family of scientists; he is the son of American scientist James E. Darnell, another pioneer in RNA research, the father of Alicia Darnell, a postdoctoral fellow at MIT and second-place winner in the 2007 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology,[31][32] as well as the father of Andrew J. Darnell, MBA, who completed a master's in Bioethics and Science Policy at Duke and graduated from Duke Law School in 2019.

Darnell is a passionate amateur cellist; he studied with Gilda Barston, herself a student of Leonard Rose,

Juilliard.[34] In 2000, after his mother died of breast cancer, Darnell founded the Chamber Orchestra of Science and Music at Rockefeller University in her honor, saying in an interview with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Clinical Scientist Award for Translational Research: "I love to breathe in music and art...seeing the intensity others put into life is a source of inspiration".[35]

Darnell is also a triathlete, and has completed the New York City Triathlon every year since 2012[36] except 2019 when the event was cancelled, and Darnell completed the Atlantic City Ironman.[37]

Awards

References

  1. ^ "NIH Director's Transformative Research Award Program - 2012 Award Recipients - NIH Common Fund". commonfund.nih.gov. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2019-01-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ a b "NINDS Research Program Award (R35) Recipients FY 2017 - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke". www.ninds.nih.gov. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  4. ^
    S2CID 23420615
    .
  5. ^ a b "Robert B. Darnell". rockefeller.edu. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  6. ^ Kolata, Gina (5 September 2012). "Far From 'Junk,' DNA Dark Matter Proves Crucial to Health". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  7. ^ "The Rockefeller University Hospital". rockefeller.edu. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Robert B. Darnell". HHMI.org. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  9. ^ "Bio-IT World". www.bio-itworld.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  10. ^
    S2CID 10415863
    .
  11. PMID 1851215
    .
  12. S2CID 8094530
    .
  13. S2CID 22554933
    .
  14. PMID 8643438
    .
  15. S2CID 12989492
    .
  16. PMID 21784246
    .
  17. PMID 24613350
    .
  18. PMID 22884328
    .
  19. PMID 22998874
    .
  20. PMID 24898756
    .
  21. PMID 19536157
    .
  22. ^ "Darnell to Lead NY Genome Center". www.bio-itworld.com. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  23. ^ "Robert Darnell named president of New York Genome Center". News. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  24. ^ Says, Inara (2013-09-19). "Darnell to lead NY Genome Center; Tom Maniatis' Dream Becomes a Big Apple Reality". Xconomy. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  25. ^ New York Genome Center. "NYGC Opening". Retrieved 21 January 2019 – via YouTube.
  26. ^ "NY Genome Center hits growth spurt". Crain's New York Business. 2014-02-20. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  27. ^ Center, New York Genome. "The New York Genome Center Awarded $40 Million from the NIH to Use Genomic Sequencing to Explore Common Disease". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  28. ^ "$100 Million Gift for the New York Genome Center James H. Simons, PhD, and Russell L. Carson MakeTransformational Joint Gift". New York Genome. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  29. ISBN 978-0199772735
    .
  30. ^ "New 2019 Academy Members Announced". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
  31. ^ Millner-Fairbanks, Amanda (4 December 2007). "Girls Make History by Sweeping Top Honors at a Science Contest". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  32. ^ Following in family’s footsteps, Alicia Darnell wins national science prize
  33. ^ Kates, Joan Giangrasse (3 July 2016). "Gilda Barston, cellist and teacher, dies at 71". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  34. ^ "Ardyth Alton-Juilliard Pre-College Faculty". 11 March 2008.
  35. ^ "Interview with Dr. Darnell, recipient of BWF Clinical Scientist Award for Translational Research" (PDF). www.bwfund.org. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  36. ^ "Results, Photos & TV". nyctri.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  37. ^ "IRONMAN 70.3 Atlantic City - 70.3 Triathlon - Official Race Results at Online Race Results". OnlineRaceResults.com. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  38. ^ "Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award".
  39. ^ "Grant Recipients - Burroughs Wellcome Fund". www.bwfund.org. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  40. ^ "AAAS Members Elected as Fellows". AAAS - The World's Largest General Scientific Society. 2011-01-11. Archived from the original on 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  41. ^ "IOM Elects 65 New Members, Five Foreign Associates : Health and Medicine Division". www.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  42. ^ "NIH Director's Transformative Research Award Program - 2012 Award Recipients - NIH Common Fund". commonfund.nih.gov. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  43. ^ "2014 New Members and Foreign Associates Elected". www.nasonline.org. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015.
  44. ^ "Darnell receives Columbia/NY Presbyterian Award as Leader of NY Genome Center" (PDF). www.nygenome.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-01-21. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  45. ^ "NINDS Research Program Award (R35) Recipients FY 2017 | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke". www.ninds.nih.gov. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  46. ^ "New 2019 Academy Members Announced". 17 April 2019.

External links

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