Susan Taylor (born 1942) is an American biochemist who is a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and a Professor of Pharmacology at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

. She is known for her research on

protein kinase A protein kinase is a kinase which selectively modifies other proteins by covalently adding phosphates to them (phosphorylation) as opposed to kinases which modify lipids, carbohydrates, or other molecules. Phosphorylation usually results in a fu ...

s, particularly

protein kinase A In cell biology, protein kinase A (PKA) is a family of enzymes whose activity is dependent on cellular levels of cyclic AMP (cAMP). PKA is also known as cAMP-dependent protein kinase (). PKA has several functions in the cell, including regulatio ...

. She was elected to the Institute of Medicine and the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1996.

Early life and education

Taylor was born in 1942 in Racine, Wisconsin. She attended the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

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 Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

in 1968 and then worked as a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

at the Medical Research Council

Laboratory of Molecular Biology The Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is a research institute in Cambridge, England, involved in the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s. Since then it has remained a major medical r ...

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

, where she has said she settled on a career in research science. After returning to the United States, she worked as a postdoc at the

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 Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1985. She was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator from 1997 to 2014. 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 The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel ( Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Ph ...

in 1995.

Research

Taylor's research group has focused on the structure and function of

s, particularly

, since shortly after she began her independent research career. Her group, collaborating with Janusz Sowadski, was the first to solve the

crystal structure In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of the ordered arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from the intrinsic nature of the constituent particles to form symmetric patterns ...

of a protein kinase when they reported the structure of PKA in 1991. The group has subsequently published a number of papers on the dynamics and mechanism of PKA, or

cyclic AMP Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP, cyclic AMP, or 3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate) is a second messenger important in many biological processes. cAMP is a derivative of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and used for intracellular signal tra ...

-dependent protein kinase.

Awards and honors

* 1992: Elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

* 1996: Elected to the Institute of Medicine * 1996: Elected to the

* 2001: Received the Garvan-Olin Medal, awarded by the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all ...

* 2007: Received the

William C. Rose Award The William C. Rose Award given by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology recognizes outstanding contributions to biochemical and molecular biological research and a demonstrated commitment to the training of younger scientists ...

, awarded by the

* 2008: Elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science * 2009: Received the FASEB Excellence in Science Award, awarded by the

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is a non-profit organization that is the principal umbrella organization of U.S. societies in the field of biological and medical research. This organization organizes academ ...

* 2017: Earl and Thressa Stadtman Distinguished Scientist Award *2022: Herbert Tabor Research Award

References

External links

iBiology seminar series
- lectures on protein kinases by Susan Taylor

- podcast interview with Taylor {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Susan S. American women biochemists University of California, San Diego faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the National Academy of Medicine Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1942 births Living people People from Racine, Wisconsin Johns Hopkins University alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators 21st-century American women