Vishva Dixit Vice President: Physiological Chemistry Profile | Education/Background | Top Scientific Papers | Awards & Honors

"I came to Genentech in 1997 to be Director of Molecular Oncology because the position offered a great opportunity to turn the bench-side science I had been doing into therapeutics that could make a meaningful impact on the lives of cancer patients. After 10 years of heading up Molecular Oncology, I decided to devote more of my efforts to basic research to study the biochemistry of components of signaling pathways that often go awry in disease. The newly formed Department of Physiological Chemistry will devote its energies to this quest. This is in keeping with the Genentech philosophy of pursing the best possible science in the pursuit of novel therapeutics that will meaningfully impact the lives of patients."

Current Projects "My laboratory has previously worked on both the biochemistry of extracellular matrix molecules (specifically thrombospondin) and signaling by receptor protein tyrosine kinases belonging to the Eph/Eck family. Our present and foreseeable focus, however, is the characterization of components of the apoptotic or death pathway. It is, indeed, rare these days to have the opportunity to decipher a biochemical pathway, let alone one as important as the death pathway. Fortunately, we have been able to make substantial contributions to the field, as evidenced by the publication of a number of citation classics that illuminate key components of the death pathway. We continue to define components of the death pathway and characterize members of the tumor necrosis factor family of ligands and receptors. More recently, however, we have devoted substantial effort to studying the role of ubiquitin modification in cellular signaling processes, especially those that relate to oncology and innate immunity."

Collaborations "A number of the projects are done in collaboration with Immunology and the structure group in Protein Engineering."

Inspiration/Vision "My overall mission and that of the department is to further our knowledge of disease-related cellular signaling and use that to develop novel, high-impact therapeutics."