Steven G. Clarke, (born November 19, 1949) an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

, is a director of the UCLA Molecular Biology Institute, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA biochemistry department. Clarke heads a laboratory at UCLA's department of chemistry and biochemistry. Clarke is famous for his work on molecular damage and discoveries of novel molecular repair mechanisms. Clarke has been on the faculty of the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry since 1978. He is currently a professor of biochemistry and director of the UCLA Molecular Biology Institute.

Early life and education

He was born in Los Angeles and attended public schools in

Altadena Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 miles (23 km) from the downtown ...

and

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. He did his undergraduate work at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

, a private institution, in Claremont, majoring in Chemistry and Zoology and graduating in 1970. During this time, he did undergraduate research at the

Brain Research Institute with James E. Skinner and Professor Donald B. Lindsley on neural mechanisms of attention. He was also an NIH fellow in the laboratory of

Peter Mitchell Peter or Pete Mitchell may refer to: Media *Pete Mitchell (broadcaster) (1958–2020), British broadcaster *Peter Mitchell (newsreader) (born 1960), Australian journalist *Peter Mitchell (photographer) (born 1943), British documentary photographer ...

at Glynn Research Laboratories in Bodmin, England studying mitochondrial amino acid transport. He obtained a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

working as an NSF Fellow with Professor Guido Guidotti on membrane protein-detergent interactions and the identification of the major rat liver mitochondrial polypeptides as enzymes of the urea cycle. He returned to California to do postdoctoral work as a

Miller Fellow The Miller Research Fellows program is the central program of the Adolph C. and Mary Sprague Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science on the University of California Berkeley campus. The program constitutes the support of Research Fellows - ...

at the University of California, Berkeley, with Professor Daniel Koshland, identifying membrane receptors for bacterial chemotaxis.

Career

Clarke's research at UCLA has focused on roles of novel protein methyltransferases in aging and biological regulation highlighted by discoveries of the protein repair

L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase Protein L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase (PIMT, PCMT), also called S-adenosyl-L-methionine:protein-L-isoaspartate O-methyltransferase, is an enzyme which recognizes and catalyzes the repair of damaged L-isoaspartyl and D-aspartyl groups in prote ...

, the isoprenylcysteine protein methyltransferase, and the

protein phosphatase A protein phosphatase is a phosphatase enzyme that removes a phosphate group from the phosphorylated amino acid residue of its Substrate (biochemistry), substrate protein. Protein phosphorylation is one of the most common forms of reversible protei ...

2A methyltransferase. He was a visiting scholar at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

(1986–87) and at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

(2004-2005). Clarke has conducted research on the biochemistry of brains and

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

since 1990.

References

External links

UCLA Personnel Portal

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Steven Living people American biochemists Princeton University faculty University of Washington faculty Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of California, Berkeley fellows 1949 births Pomona College alumni