Sarah Hymowitz

Associate Director, Structural Biology

POSTDOC MENTOR

"I am motivated by the hope that our work may someday help patients. I am inspired by the talents and insights of my colleagues."

• 14
  years at Genentech
• 23
  publications (2010-12)
• 3
  awards & honors

I started at Genentech as a postdoctoral fellow with Bart de Vos in 1999 studying the structure and function of members of the TNF super family of ligands and receptors. I was attracted to Genentech by the excellent science and the collaborative environment.

• My Focus

  My area of expertise is X-ray crystallography. We study the structure and interactions of macromolecules with ligands. These ligands can be receptors, small molecules or Fab fragments of antibodies. This information assists in the discovery of potential therapeutics and contributes to a better fundamental understanding of signaling events of importance to human disease.

  Active research projects include structure-based drug design, receptor-ligand interactions, the structural biology of ubiquitin signaling and antibody-antigen complexes.

• Publications

  • Phosphorylation of Dishevelled by Protein Kinase RIPK4 Regulates Wnt Signaling

    Science, 2013, ISSN: 0036-8075

    Huang, Xiaodong; McGann, James C; Liu, Bob Y; Hannoush, Rami N; Lill, Jennie R; Pham, Victoria; Newton, Kim; Kakunda, Michael; Liu, Jinfeng; Yu, Christine; Hymowitz, Sarah G; Hongo, Jo-Anne; Wynshaw-Boris, Anthony; Polakis, Paul; Harland, Richard M; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • ABT-199, a potent and selective BCL-2 inhibitor, achieves antitumor activity while sparing platelets

    Nature Medicine, 2013, ISSN: 1078-8956

    Souers, Andrew J.; Leverson, Joel D.; Boghaert, Erwin R.; Ackler, Scott L.; Catron, Nathaniel D.; Chen, Jun; Dayton, Brian D.; Ding, Hong; Enschede, Sari H.; Fairbrother, Wayne J.; Huang, David C. S.; Hymowitz, Sarah G.; Jin, Sha; Khaw, Seong Lin; Kovar, Peter J.; Lam, Lloyd T.; Lee, Jackie; Maecker, Heather L.; Marsh, Kennan C.; Mason, Kylie D.; Mitten, Michael J.; Nimmer, Paul M.; Oleksijew, Anatol; Park, Chang H.; Park, Cheol-Min; Phillips, Darren C.; Roberts, Andrew W.; Sampath, Deepak; Seymour, John F.; Smith, Morey L.; Sullivan, Gerard M.; Tahir, Stephen K.; Tse, Chris; Wendt, Michael D.; Xiao, Yu; Xue, John C.; Zhang, Haichao; Humerickhouse, Rod A.; Rosenberg, Saul H.; Elmore, Steven W.

     View on PubMed

  • The Crystal Structure of the Catalytic Domain of the NF-κB Inducing Kinase Reveals a Narrow but Flexible Active Site

    Structure, 2012, ISSN: 0969-2126

    de Leon-Boenig, Gladys; Bowman, Krista K; Feng, Jianwen A; Crawford, Terry; Everett, Christine; Franke, Yvonne; Oh, Angela; Stanley, Mark; Staben, Steven T; Starovasnik, Melissa A; Wallweber, Heidi J A; Wu, Jiansheng; Wu, Lawren C; Johnson, Adam R; Hymowitz, Sarah G

     View on PubMed

  • Loss of the Tumor Suppressor BAP1 Causes Myeloid Transformation

    Science, 2012, ISSN: 0036-8075

    Dey, Anwesha; Seshasayee, Dhaya; Noubade, Rajkumar; French, Dorothy M; Liu, Jinfeng; Chaurushiya, Mira S; Kirkpatrick, Donald S; Pham, Victoria C; Lill, Jennie R; Bakalarski, Corey E; Wu, Jiansheng; Phu, Lilian; Katavolos, Paula; Lafave, Lindsay M; Abdel-Wahab, Omar; Modrusan, Zora; Seshagiri, Somasekar; Dong, Ken; Lin, Zhonghua; Balazs, Mercedesz; Suriben, Rowena; Newton, Kim; Hymowitz, Sarah; Garcia-Manero, Guillermo; Martin, Flavius; Levine, Ross L; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • Discovery of a Potent Small-Molecule Antagonist of Inhibitor of Apoptosis (IAP) Proteins and Clinical Candidate for the Treatment of Cancer (GDC-0152)

    Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2012, ISSN: 0022-2623

    Flygare, John A; Beresini, Maureen; Budha, Nageshwar; Chan, Helen; Chan, Iris T; Cheeti, Sravanthi; Cohen, Frederick; Deshayes, Kurt; Doerner, Karl; Eckhardt, S. Gail; Elliott, Linda O; Feng, Bainian; Franklin, Matthew C; Reisner, Stacy Frankovitz; Gazzard, Lewis; Halladay, Jason; Hymowitz, Sarah G; La, Hank; LoRusso, Patricia; Maurer, Brigitte; Murray, Lesley; Plise, Emile; Quan, Clifford; Stephan, Jean-Philippe; Young, Shin G; Tom, Jeffrey; Tsui, Vickie; Um, Joanne; Varfolomeev, Eugene; Vucic, Domagoj; Wagner, Andrew J; Wallweber, Heidi J. A; Wang, Lan; Ware, Joseph; Wen, Zhaoyang; Wong, Harvey; Wong, Jonathan M; Wong, Melisa; Wong, Susan; Yu, Ron; Zobel, Kerry; Fairbrother, Wayne J;

     View on PubMed

  • Phosphorylation-dependent activity of the deubiquitinase DUBA

    Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2012, ISSN: 1545-9985

    Huang, Oscar W; Ma, Xiaolei; Yin, Jianping; Flinders, Jeremy; Maurer, Till; Kayagaki, Nobuhiko; Phung, Qui; Bosanac, Ivan; Arnott, David; Dixit, Vishva M; Hymowitz, Sarah G; Starovasnik, Melissa A; Cochran, Andrea G

     View on PubMed

  • Engineering and Structural Characterization of a Linear-Polyubiquitin-Specific Antibody

    Journal of Molecular Biology, 2011, ISSN: 0022-2836

    Matsumoto, Marissa L; Dong, Ken C; Yu, Christine; Phu, Lilian; Gao, Xinxin; Hannoush, Rami N; Hymowitz, Sarah G; Kirkpatrick, Donald S; Dixit, Vishva M; Kelley, Robert F

     View on PubMed

  • Antagonists induce a conformational change in cIAP1 that promotes autoubiquitination.

    Science, 21 Oct 2011, vol. 334, no. 6054, p. 376-80, ISSN: 1095-9203.

    Dueber, Erin C; Schoeffler, Allyn J; Lingel, Andreas; Elliott, J Michael; Fedorova, Anna V; Giannetti, Anthony M; Zobel, Kerry; Maurer, Brigitte; Varfolomeev, Eugene; Wu, Ping; Wallweber, Heidi J A; Hymowitz, Sarah G; Deshayes, Kurt; Vucic, Domagoj; Fairbrother, Wayne J

     View on PubMed

  • Preparation of Distinct Ubiquitin Chain Reagents of High Purity and Yield

    Structure, 10 Aug 2011, vol. 19, no. 8, p. 1053-63, ISSN: 1878-4186.

    Dong, Ken C; Helgason, Elizabeth; Yu, Christine; Phu, Lilian; Arnott, David P; Bosanac, Ivan; Compaan, Deanne M; Huang, Oscar W; Fedorova, Anna V; Kirkpatrick, Donald S; Hymowitz, Sarah G; Dueber, Erin C

     View on PubMed

  • Modulation of K11-Linkage Formation by Variable Loop Residues within UbcH5A.

    Journal of Molecular Biology, 2011, ISSN: 1089-8638

    Bosanac, I.; Phu, L.; Pan, B.; Zilberleyb, I.; Maurer, B.; Dixit, V.M.; Hymowitz, S.G.; Kirkpatrick, D.S.

  • Regulation and functions of the IL-10 family of cytokines in inflammation and disease.

    Annual Review of Immunology, 2011, ISSN: 1545-3278

    Ouyang, W.; Rutz, S.; Crellin, N.; Valdez, P.A.; Hymowitz, S.G.

  • Specific Btk inhibition suppresses B cell- and myeloid cell-mediated arthritis.

    Nature Chemical Biology, 2011, ISSN: 1552-4469

    Di Paolo, J.; Huangm T.; Balazs, M.; Barbosa, J.; Barck, K.; Bravo, B.; Carano, R.; Darrow, J.; Davies, D.; DeForge, L.; Diehl, L.; Ferrando, R.; Gallion, S.; Giannetti, A.; Gribling, P.; Hurez, V.; Hymowitz, S.; Jones, R.; Kropf, J.; Lee, W.; Maciejewski, P.; Mitchell, S.; Rong, H.; Staker, B.; Whitney, A.; Yeh, S.; Young, W.; Yu, C.; Zhang, J.; Reif, K.; Currie, K.

  • Regulation and Functions of IL-10 Family Cytokines in Inflammation and Diseases.

    Annual Review of Immunology, 2010, ISSN: 1545-3278

    Ouyang, W.; Rutz, S.; Crellin, N.K.; Valdez, P.A.; Hymowitz, S.G.

  • Ubiquitin Binding to A20 ZnF4 Is Required for Modulation of NF-κB Signaling.

    Molecular Cell, 2010, ISSN: 1097-2765

    Bosanac, I.; Wertz, I.E.; Pan, B.; Yu, C.; Kusam, S.; Lam, C.; Phu, L.; Phung, Q.; Maurer, B.; Arnott, D.; Kirkpatrick, D.S.; Dixit, V.M.; Hymowitz, S.G.

  • Unleashing cell death: the Fas-FADD complex.

    Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2010, ISSN: 1545-9985

    Hymowitz, S.G.; Dixit, V.M.

  • K11-Linked Polyubiquitination in Cell Cycle Control Revealed by a K11 Linkage-Specific Antibody.

    Molecular Cell, 2010, ISSN: 1097-4164

    Matsumoto, M.; Wickliffe, K.; Dong, K.; Yu, C.; Bosanac, I.; Bustos, D.; Phu, L.; Kirkpatrick, D.; Hymowitz, S.; Rape, M.; Kelley, R.; Dixit, V.

  • Hedgehog Pathway Antagonist 5E1 Binds Hedgehog at the Pseudo-active Site.

    The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2010, ISSN: 1083-351X

    Maun, H.; Wen, X.; Lingel, A.; de Sauvage, F.; Lazarus, R.; Scales, S.; Hymowitz, S.

  • A20: from ubiquitin editing to tumour supression

    Nature Reviews Cancer, 2010, ISSN: 1474-1768

    Hymowitz, S.G.; Wertz, I.E.

  • Therapeutic antibody targeting of individual Notch receptors.

    Nature, 2010, ISSN: 1476-4687

    Wu, Y.; Cain-Hom, C.; Choy, L.; Hagenbeek, T.J.; de Leon, G.P.; Chen, Y.; Finkle, D.; Venook, R.; Wu, X.; Ridgway, J.; Schahin-Reed, D.; Dow, G.J.; Shelton, A.; Stawicki, S.; Watts, R.J.; Zhang, J.; Choy, R.; Howard, P.; Kadyk, L.; Yan, M.; Zha, J.; Callahan, C.A.; Hymowitz, S.G.; Siebel, C.W.

  • Multiple Novel Classes of APRIL-specific Receptor-blocking Peptides Isolated by Phage Display.

    Journal of Molecular Biology, 2010, ISSN: 1089-8638

    Gordon, N.C.; Lien, S.; Johnson, J.; Wallweber, H.J.; Tran, T.; Currell, B.; Mathieu, M.; Quan, C.; Starovasnik, M.A.; Hymowitz, S.G.; Kelley, R.F.

  • Antagonism of c-IAP and XIAP proteins is required for efficient induction of cell death by small-molecule IAP antagonists.

    ACS Chemical Biology [Electronic Resource], 2009, ISSN: 1554-8937

    Ndubaku, C.; Varfolomeev, E.; Wang, L.; Zobel, K.; Lau, K.; Elliott, L.O.; Maurer, B.; Fedorova, A.V.; Dynek, J.N.; Koehler, M.; Hymowitz, S.G.; Tsui, V.; Deshayes, K.; Fairbrother, W.J.; Flygare, J.A.; Vucic, D.

  • The structure of SHH in complex with HHIP reveals a recognition role for the SHH pseudo-active site in signaling.

    Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2009, ISSN: 1545-9985

    Bosanac, I.; Maun, H.R.; Scales, S.J.; Wen, X.; Lingel, A.; Bazan, J.F.; de Sauvage, F.J.; Hymowitz, S.G.; Lazarus, R.A.

  • Ubiquitin chain editing revealed by polyubiquitin linkage-specific antibodies.

    Cell, 2008, ISSN: 1097-4172

    Newton, K; Matsumoto, M.L.; Wertz, I.E.; Kirkpatrick, D.S.; Lill, J.R.; Tan, J.; Dugger, D.; Gordon, N.; Sidhu, S.S,; Fellouse, F.A.; Komuves, L.; French, D.M.; Ferrando, R.E.; Lam, C.; Compaan, D.; Yu, C.; Bosanac, I.; Hymowitz, S.G.; Kelley, R.F.; Dixit, V.M.

• Education
  • University of California, San Francisco, Graduate Group in Biophysics, Ph.D. – 1998
  • Swarthmore College, Department of Chemistry, B.A. – 1992
• Awards & Honors
  • Clemens Prize for Outstanding Thesis in Biophysics – 1998
  • Chancellor's Dissertation Year Fellowship – 1997-1998
  • National Science Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship – 1992-1995