Inventors
Thomas Silhavy is the Warner-Lambert Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. Silhavy is best known for his work on protein secretion, membrane biogenesis, and signal transduction. Using Escherichia coli as a model system, his lab was the first to isolate signal sequence mutations, to identify a component of cellular protein secretion machinery, and an integral membrane component of the outer membrane assembly machinery, and to identify and characterize a two-component regulatory system.
Professor Silhavy received his BS in Pharmacy (summa cum laude, 1971) from Ferris State College and his MS (1974) and PhD (1975) in Biological Chemistry from Harvard University. In recognition of his scientific accomplishments Silhavy was awarded an honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from his alma mater, Ferris State College (1982), was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (1994), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2004), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2005), and he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (2005) and an associate member of EMBO (2008). In 1999 he received an NIH MERIT award, and he received the Novitski Prize for creativity from the Genetics Society of America in 2008. His commitment to teaching is evidenced by the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton (1993), the Graduate Microbiology Teaching award from the American Society for Microbiology (2002), and the Graduate Advising Award at Princeton (2003).
Marcin Grabowicz, Post-Doctoral Researcher, obtained a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honors from the University of Adelaide, Australia, where he investigated prospective protein antigens for inclusion into a pneumococcal protein vaccine in the laboratory of Professor James C. Paton. He pursued his doctoral studies in Adelaide under the supervision of Associate Professor Renato Morona, investigating a key virulence protein of the pathogen Shigella. In 2010, Marcin joined the laboratory of Professor Thomas J. Silhavy at Princeton University and is carrying out research to understand the assembly of the Escherichia coli outer membrane.
David Kahne is Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. The Kahne Lab is interested in understanding the biogenesis of the cell envelope of Gram-negative bacteria, in particular peptidoglycan biosynthesis and outer membrane assembly. The assembly of this organellar membrane must be accomplished outside the cell in the absence of an obvious energy source. The research focuses on identifying and understanding the machinery necessary for proper assembly of this membrane barrier, as well as the mechanisms that lead to defects.
Intellectual Property Status
Patent protection is pending.
Princeton is seeking to identify appropriate partners for the further development and commercialization of this technology.
Contact
Laurie Tzodikov
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-7256• tzodikov@princeton.edu
Laurie Bagley
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-5579• lbagley@princeton.edu