Ira Mellman is an American

cell biologist Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living and ...

who discovered

endosomes Endosomes are a collection of intracellular sorting organelles in eukaryotic cells. They are parts of endocytic membrane transport pathway originating from the trans Golgi network. Molecules or ligands internalized from the plasma membrane ca ...

. He serves as Vice President of Research Oncology at Genentech in South San Francisco, California.

Research

Mellman's work has examined the role of endocytosis in cell metabolism and human disease. He was among the first to characterize the endosomal system. Later projects include investigation of

LDL Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is one of the five major groups of lipoprotein that transport all fat molecules around the body in extracellular water. These groups, from least dense to most dense, are chylomicrons (aka ULDL by the overall densit ...

cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...

receptor internalization, cellular sorting machinery, and the cellular basis for immunity. He is an authority on the cell biological mechanisms and function of dendritic cells, the cell type responsible for initiating the immune response, an interest that dates back to his postdoctoral period at Rockefeller University in the lab of

Ralph Steinman Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

, who won the Nobel Prize in 2011 for his discovery of dendritic cells.

Early life and education

Mellman grew up in New York, where he lived until he enrolled at Oberlin College in

Oberlin, Ohio Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, 31 miles southwest of Cleveland. Oberlin is the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students. The town is the birthplace of th ...

. While in college he maintained an interest in music but focused on the rapidly expanding field of cell biology. Working with David Miller, he began to study Chlamydomonas and found that a significant amount of the cell wall consisted of

extensin Extensins are a family of flexuous, rodlike, hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs) of the plant cell wall. They are highly abundant proteins. There are around 20 extensions in ''Arabidopsis thaliana''. They form crosslinked networks in the yo ...

. After leaving Oberlin, he enrolled in the graduate program at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, but later transferred to

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

to switch to research more applicable to people. At Yale, he studied the genetics behind

vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. It is one of eight B vitamins. It is required by animals, which use it as a cofactor in DNA synthesis, in both fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. ...

metabolism under the guidance of geneticist Leon Rosenberg. He became interested in endocytosis and did a postdoc with

and Zanvil A. Cohn at Rockefeller University and started characterizing

Return to Yale and later years

He returned to Yale after completing postdoctoral work and remained there as a professor for over twenty years. During this time he was the Sterling Professor of Cell Biology &

Immunobiology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

, chair of the Cell Biology Department, Scientific Director of the Yale Cancer Center and a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Mellman has served on the council of the

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.Journal of Cell Biology The ''Journal of Cell Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Rockefeller University Press. History In the early 1950s, a small group of biologists began to explore intracellular anatomy using the emerging technology of ele ...

from 1999 to 2008. He remains active as a senior editor for the journal. In 2007, he was recruited to Genentech as the VP of Research Oncology to replace

Marc Tessier-Lavigne Marc Trevor Tessier-Lavigne (born December 18, 1959) is a Canadian-American neuroscientist who is the 11th and current president of Stanford University. Previously, he was a professor at the University of California, San Francisco and then pre ...

. There, the company is developing understanding of immunology and along that,

immunotherapy Immunotherapy or biological therapy is the treatment of disease by activating or suppressing the immune system. Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as ''activation immunotherapies,'' while immunotherap ...

. Mellman is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of 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 ...

, and a Foreign Associate of the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO). In 1976, he married Margaret Moench; the couple have three children.

Appearances

In December 2018, Mellman spoke at the 'Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics" conference, which took place in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellman, Ira Living people Yale University faculty Jewish American scientists Oberlin College alumni Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Genentech people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Yale Sterling Professors 21st-century American biologists Cell biologists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews