KARLENE A. CIMPRICH, PH.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Molecular Pharmacology
318 Campus Drive
Stanford, CA 94305-5441
cimprich@leland.stanford.edu
650-498-4720 (voice)
650-725-4665 (fax)
EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA – Assistant Professor, Department of
Molecular Pharmacology, 1998 - present.
Stanford University, Stanford, CA – Assistant Professor by courtesy, Department of Chemistry,
1998 - present.
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA – Postdoctoral fellow, 1994 - 1997.
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA – Ph.D. in chemistry, 1994.
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN – B.S. in chemistry, Summa Cum Laude, 1989.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor at Stanford University, 1998 - present.
Molecular and Cell Biology, Protein Biochemistry, Chemical Biology
• Functional analysis of the DNA damage and replication checkpoints in mammalian
cells and Xenopus egg extracts
• Synthesis/design of small organic molecules that act as checkpoint inhibitors or
activators to probe checkpoint signaling pathways.
Postdoctoral Research at Harvard University with Stuart Schreiber, 1994 - 1997.
Molecular and Cell Biology, Protein Biochemistry
• Cloning and characterization of the 301-kDa nuclear protein, FRP1/ATR, a protein
kinase implicated in cell cycle checkpoint signaling pathways.
• Functional studies demonstrating a role for FRP1/ATR in cell cycle checkpoints
and the DNA damage response.
Doctoral Research at Harvard University with E. J. Corey, 1989 - 1994.
Organic Methodology
• Design and development of a highly enantioselective method for the oxazaborolidinecatalyzed transfer of acetylenes to aldehydes.
• Development of an enantioselective route to chiral benzylic thiols, sulfinic esters
and sulfonic acids from achiral ketones.
Undergraduate Research with Paul Helquist at the University of Notre Dame, 1987-1989.
Asymmetric Synthesis
• Studies directed toward the asymmetric synthesis of the nine-membered lactone
of griseoviridin.
HONORS, AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Leukemia and Lymphoma Scholar Award, 2004
Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2000
Basil O'Connor Scholar Award, 1999
Howard Hughes Junior Faculty Scholar, 1999
Burroughs Wellcome New Investigator Award in Toxicology, 1999
Kimmel Scholar Award, 1998.
Stanford University Terman Fellow, 1998
Damon Runyon – Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1994 - 1997
Eli Lilly Predoctoral Fellowship, 1991 - 1993.
Outstanding Chemist Award, University of Notre Dame, 1989.
University of Notre Dame Honors Program, 1985 - 1989.
Notre Dame Scholar, 1985 - 1989.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Corey, E.J., Cheng, X-M., Cimprich, K.A., and Sarshar, S. (1991) Remarkably effective
and simple syntheses of enantiomerically pure secondary carbinols from archiral ketones.
Tetrahedron Letters 32, 6835-6839.
Corey, E.J., Cheng, X-M., and Cimprich, K.A. (1991) 1-Mesityl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, an
outstanding new controller for catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions. Tetrahedron Letters 32,
6839-6842.
Corey, E.J. and Cimprich, K.A. (1992) Enantioselective routes to chiral benzylic thiols,
sulfinic esters and sulfonic acids illustrated by the 1-phenylethyl series. Tetrahedron
Letters 33, 4099-4102.
Corey, E.J. and Cimprich, K.A. (1994) Highly enantioselective alkynylation of aldehydes
promoted by chiral oxazaborolidines. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116, 3151-3152.
Cimprich, K.A., Shin, T.B., Keith, C.T., and Schreiber, S.L. (1996) cDNA cloning and
gene mapping of a candidate human cell cycle checkpoint protein Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
USA 93, 2850-2855.
Cliby, W.A., Roberts, C.J., Cimprich, K.A., Stronger, C.M., Lamb, J.R., Schreiber, S.L.,
Friend, H.S. (1997) Overexpression of a kinase-inactive ATR protein causes sensitivity to
DNA damaging agents and defects in cell cycle checkpoints. EMBO J., 17, 159-169.
Canman, C. E., Lim, D-S., Cimprich, K. A., Taya, Y., Tamai, K., Sakaguchi, K., Appella,
E., Kastan, M. B., Siliciano, J. D. (1998) Activation of the ATM kinase by ionizing
radiation and phosphorylation of p53. Science, 281, 1677-1679.
Hekmat-Nejad, M., You, Z., Yee, M-C., Newport, J. W., Cimprich, K. A. (2000) Xenopus
ATR is a replication-dependent chromatin binding protein required for the DNA replication
checkpoint. Current Biology, 10, 1565-1573.
Post, S., Weng, Y., Cimprich, K.A., Chen, L.B., Xu, Y. and Lee, E. (2001) Phosphorylation
of serines 635 and 645 of human Rad17 is cell cycle regulated and is required for G1/S
checkpoint activation in response to DNA damage. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 98, 1310213107.
10. Lupardus, P. J., Byun, T., Yee, M-C., Hekmat-Nejad, M. and Cimprich, K. A. (2002) A
Requirement for Replication in Activation of the ATR-Dependent DNA Damage
Checkpoint. Genes and Development, 16, 2327-2332.
11. Costanzo, V., Shechter, D., Lupardus, P. J., Cimprich, K. A., Gottesman, M., Gautier, J.
(2003) An ATR and Cdc7-dependent DNA damage checkpoint that inhibits initiation of
DNA replication. Mol. Cell 11, 203-213.
12. Ferrell, J. E. Jr., Cimprich, K. A. (2003) Enforced proximity in the function of a famous
scaffold. Mol. Cell 11, 289-291.
13. Cimprich, K. A. (2003) Fragile sites: breaking up over a slowdown. Current Biology, 13,
R231-R233.
14. Barr, S. M., Leung, C. G., Chang, E. E., Cimprich, K. A. (2003) ATR kinase activity
regulates the intranuclear translocation of ATR and RPA following ionizing radiation.
Current Biology, 13, 1047-1051.
15. Bomgarden, R., Yean, D., Yee, M-C., Cimprich, K. A. (2004) A novel protein activity
mediates DNA binding of an ATR-ATRIP complex. J. Biol. Chem. 14, 13346-13353.
16. Lupardus, P. J. and Cimprich, K. A. (2004) Checkpoint adaptation: Molecular mechanisms
uncovered. Cell, 117, 556-557.
17. O’Connell, M. J. and Cimprich, K. A. (2005) G2 damage checkpoints: what is the turn on?
J. Cell Science, 118, 1-6.