Vishva Dixit

Vice President, Physiological Chemistry

POSTDOC MENTOR

"My mission is to further our knowledge of disease-related cellular signaling and to develop novel, high-impact therapeutics."

• 16
  years at Genentech
• 60
  publications (2010-12)
• 11
  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.

• My Focus

  My laboratory studies the apoptotic and NF-kB signaling pathways. More recently we've become interested in the role of ubiquitin hydrolases as regulators of these and related pathways.

  We are also interested in characterizing regulatory components of the innate immune system, including adaptors that activate pro-inflammatory caspases in response to intracellular pathogens or engagement of Toll Like Receptors.

• 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

  • Inflammasomes and Their Roles in Health and Disease

    Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 2012, ISSN: 1081-0706

    Lamkanfi, Mohamed; Dixit, Vishva M.

     View on PubMed

  • Caspase-11 increases susceptibility to Salmonella infection in the absence of caspase-1

    Nature, 2012, ISSN: 0028-0836

    Broz, Petr; Ruby, Thomas; Belhocine, Kamila; Bouley, Donna M.; Kayagaki, Nobuhiko; Dixit, Vishva M.; Monack, Denise M.

     View on PubMed

  • Phosphorylation of NLRC4 is critical for inflammasome activation

    Nature, 2012, ISSN: 0028-0836

    Qu, Yan; Misaghi, Shahram; Izrael-Tomasevic, Anita; Newton, Kim; Gilmour, Laurie L; Lamkanfi, Mohamed; Louie, Salina; Kayagaki, Nobuhiko; Liu, Jinfeng; Kömüves, László; Cupp, James E; Arnott, David; Monack, Denise; Dixit, Vishva M

     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

  • Regulation of NF-κB by deubiquitinases

    Immunological Reviews, 2012, ISSN: 0105-2896

    Harhaj, Edward W; Dixit, Vishva M;

     View on PubMed

  • Using linkage-specific monoclonal antibodies to analyze cellular ubiquitylation

    Methods in Molecular Biology, 2012, ISSN: 1064-3745

    Newton, Kim; Matsumoto, Marissa L; Ferrando, Ronald E; Wickliffe, Katherine E; Rape, Michael; Kelley, Robert F; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • Signaling in Innate Immunity and Inflammation

    Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2012, ISSN:

    Newton, Kim; Dixit, Vishva M

     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

  • Increased Targeting of Donor Switch Region and IgE in S gamma 1- Deficient B Cells

    Journal of Immunology, 30 Nov 2011, V185, N1, p.166-173, ISSN: 0022-1767, eISSN: 1550-6606.

    Misaghi, Shahram; Garris, Christopher S; Sun, Yonglian; Nguyen, Allen; Zhang, Juan; Sebrell, Andrew; Senger, Kate; Yan, Donghong; Lorenzo, Maria N; Heldens, Sherry; Lee, Wyne P; Xu, Min; Wu, Jiansheng; DeForge, Laura; Sai, Tao; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • Non-canonical inflammasome activation targets caspase-11.

    Nature, 16 Oct 2011, ISSN: 1476-4687.

    Kayagaki, Nobuhiko; Warming, Soeren; Lamkanfi, Mohamed; Walle, Lieselotte Vande; Louie, Salina; Dong, Jennifer; Newton, Kim; Qu, Yan; Liu, Jinfeng; Heldens, Sherry; Zhang, Juan; Lee, Wyne P; Roose, Girma Merone; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • USP1 Deubiquitinates ID Proteins to Preserve a Mesenchymal Stem Cell Program in Osteosarcoma.

    Cell, 16 Sep 2011, vol. 146, no. 6, p. 918-30, ISSN: 1097-4172.

    Williams, Samuel A; Maecker, Heather L; French, Dorothy M; Liu, Jinfeng; Gregg, Andrew; Silverstein, Leah B; Cao, Tim C; Carano, Richard A D; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • A20 edits ubiquitin and autoimmune paradigms.

    Nature genetics, 1 August 2011, vol. 43, no. 9, p. 822-3, ISSN: 1546-1718.

    Martin, Flavius; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • Cross Talk between Ubiquitination and Demethylation.

    Molecular and Cellular Biology, 1 Aug 2011, ISSN: 1098-5549.

    Huang, Xiaodong; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • Modulation of Inflammasome Pathways by Bacterial and Viral Pathogens.

    JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY, 2011, V187, N2, JUL 15, pp 597-602. ISSN: 0022-1767.

    Lamkanfi, Mohamed; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • Ubiquitylation in apoptosis: a post-translational modification at the edge of life and death.

    Nature reviews. Molecular cell biology, {Nat-Rev-Mol-Cell-Biol}, 2011 (epub), vol. 12, no. 7, p. 439-52, ISSN: 1471-0080.

    Vucic, Domagoj; Dixit, Vishva M; Wertz, Ingrid E

     View on PubMed

  • Immunology: In command of commensals.

    NATURE, 2011, V474, N7349, JUN 2, pp 43-44. ISSN: 0028-0836.

    van Lookeren Campagne, Menno; Dixit, Vishva M

     View on PubMed

  • Deubiquitinase USP37 Is Activated by CDK2 to Antagonize APCCDH1 and Promote S Phase Entry.

    Molecular Cell, 2011, ISSN: 1097-4164

    Huang, X.; Summers, M.K.; Pham, V.; Lill, J.R.; Liu, J.; Lee, G.; Kirkpatrick, D.S.; Jackson, P.K.; Fang, G.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Improved quantitative mass spectrometry methods for characterizing complex ubiquitin signals

    Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 2011, ISSN: 1535-9476

    Phu, L.; Izrael-Tomasevic, A.; Matsumoto, M.L.; Bustos, D.; Dynek, J.N.; Fedorova, A.V.; Bakalarski, C.E.; Arnott, D.; Deshayes, K.; Dixit, V.M.; Kelley, R.F.; Vucic, D.; Kirkpatrick, D.S.

  • Pannexin-1 Is Required for ATP Release during Apoptosis but Not for Inflammasome Activation.

    Journal of Immunology, 2011, ISSN: 1550-6606

    Qu, Y.; Misaghi, S.; Newton, K.; Gilmour, L.L.; Louie, S.; Cupp, J.E.; Dubyak, G.R.; Hackos, D.; Dixit, V.M.

  • COP1 is a tumour suppressor that causes degradation of ETS transcription factors.

    Nature, 2011, ISSN: 0028-0836

    Vitari, A.C.; Leong, K.G.; Newton, K.; Yee, C.; O'Rourke, K.; Liu, J.; Phu, L.; Vij, R.; Ferrando, R.; Couto, S.S.; Mohan, S.; Pandita, A.; Hongo, J.A.; Arnott, D.; Wertz, I.E.; Gao, W.Q.; French, D.M.; Dixit, V.M.

     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.

  • Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species drive proinflammatory cytokine production.

    The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2011, ISSN: 1540-9538

    Naik, E.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Sensitivity to antitubulin chemotherapeutics is regulated by MCL1 and FBW7.

    Nature, 2011, ISSN: 0028-0836

    Wertz, I.E.; Kusam, S.; Lam, C.; Okamoto, T.; Sandoval, W.; Anderson, D.J.; Helgason, E.; Ernst, J.A.; Eby, M.; Liu, J.; Belmont, L.D.; Kaminker, J.S.; O'Rourke, K.M.; Pujara, K.; Kohli, P.B.; Johnson, A.R.; Chiu, M.L.; Lill, J.R.; Jackson, P.K.; Fairbrother, W.J.; Seshagiri, S.; Ludlam, M.J.C.; Leong, K.G.; Dueber, E.C.; Maecker, H.; Huang, D.C.S.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Deubiquitinases in the regulation of NF-κB signaling.

    Cell Research, 2011, ISSN: 1001-0602

    Harhaj, E.; Dixit, V.

  • 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.

  • Cytotoxins of the human pathogen Aeromonas hydrophila trigger, via the NLRP3 inflammasome, caspase-1 activation in macrophages.

    European Journal of Immunology, 2010, ISSN: 0014-2980

    McCoy, A.J.; Koizumi, Y.; Toma, C.; Higa, N.; Dixit, V.; Taniguchi, S.; Tschopp, J.; Suzuki, T.

  • Improved quantitative mass spectrometry methods for characterizing complex ubiquitin signals.

    Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 2010, ISSN: 1535-9484

    Phu, L.; Izrael, T.A.; Matsumoto, M.L.; Bustos, D.J.; Dynek, J.N.; Fedorova, A.V.; Bakalarski, C.E.; Arnott, D.; Deshayes, K.; Dixit, V.M.; Kelley, R.F.; Vucic, D.; Kirkpatrick, D.S.

  • Inflammasome-Dependent Release of the Alarmin HMGB1 in Endotoxemia.

    Journal of Immunology, 2010, ISSN: 1550-6606

    Lamkanfi, M.; Sarkar, A.; Vande Walle, L.; Vitari, A.; Amer, A.; Wewers, M.; Tracey, K.; Kanneganti, T.D.; Dixit, V.

  • Redundant roles for inflammasome receptors NLRP3 and NLRC4 in host defense against Salmonella.

    Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2010, ISSN: 0022-1007

    Broz, P.; Newton, K.;Lamkanfi, M.; Mariathasan, S.; Dixit, V.; Monack, D.

  • Manipulation of Host Cell Death Pathways during Microbial Infections.

    Cell Host & Microbe, 2010, ISSN: 1931-3128

    Lamkanfi, M.; Dixit, V.

  • 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.

  • Modulation of Inflammasome Activity for the Treatment of Auto-inflammatory Disorders.

    Journal of Clinical Immunology, 2010, ISSN: 1573-2592

    Naik, E.; Dixit, V.

  • Increased Targeting of Donor Switch Region and IgE in Sγ1-Deficient B Cells

    The Journal of Immunology, 2010, ISSN: 1550-6606

    Misaghi, S.; Garris, C.S.; Sun, Y.; Nguyen, A.; Zhang, J.; Sebrell, A.; Senger, K.; Yan, D.; Lorenzo, M.N.; Heldens, S.; Lee, W.P.; Xu, M.; Wu, J.; Deforge, L.; Sai, T.; Dixit, V.M.; Zarrin, A.A.

  • Absent in melanoma 2 is required for innate immune recognition of Francisella tularensis

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010, ISSN: 0027-8424

    Jones, J.; Kayagaki, N.; Broz, P.; Henry, T.; Newton, K. O'Rourke, K.; Chan, S.; Dong, J.; Qu, Y.; Roose-Girma, M.; Dixit, V.; Monack, D.

  • Signalling lessons from death receptors: the importance of cleavage.

    Nature Cell Biology, 2010, ISSN: 1476-4679

    Dixit, V.

  • Ubiquitin hydrolase Dub3 promotes oncogenic transformation by stabilizing Cdc25A.

    Nature Cell Biology, 2010, ISSN: 1465-7392

    Pereg, Y.; Liu, B.; O'Rourke, K.; Sagolla, M.; Dey, A.; Komuves, L.; French, D.; Dixit, V.

  • Signaling to NF-_KB: Regulation by Ubiquitination.

    Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2010, ISSN: 1943-0264

    Wertz, I.E.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Deubiquitinase USP9X stabilizes MCL1 and promotes tumour cell survival.

    Nature, 2010, ISSN: 1476-4687

    Schwickart, M.; Huang, X.; Lill, J.R.; Liu, J.; Ferrando, R.; French, D.M.; Maecker, H.; O'Rourke, K.; Bazan, F.; Eastham-Anderson, J.; Yue, P.; Dornan, D.; Huang, D.C.; Dixit, V.M.

  • The inflammasomes - art. no. e1000510

    PLoS Pathogens, 2009, ISSN: 1553-7366

    Lamkanfi, M.; Dixit, V.

  • Violation of the sanctity of the cytosolic compartment provokes the wrath of the inflammasome

    Cytokine, 2009, ISSN: 1043-4666

    Dixit, V.

  • Regulation of death receptor signaling by the ubiquitin system.

    Cell Death and Differentiation, {Cell-Death-Differ}, January 2010, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 14-24, 115 refs, CODEN: CDDIE, eISSN: 1476-5403, ISSN: 1350-9047. Publisher: Nature Publishing Group, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 6XS, UK.

    Wertz, IE; Dixit, VM

     View on PubMed

  • Masking MALT1: the paracaspase's potential for cancer therapy.

    Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2009, ISSN: 1540-9538

    Vucic, D.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Glyburide inhibits the Cryopyrin/Nalp3 inflammasome.

    Journal of Cell Biology, 2009, ISSN: 1540-8140

    Lamkanfi, M.; Mueller, J.L.; Vitari, A.C.; Misaghi, S.; Fedorova. A.; Deshayes, K.; Lee, W.P.; Hoffman, H.M.; Dixit, V.M.

  • IL-33 raises alarm.

    Immunity, 2009, ISSN: 1097-4180

    Lamkanfi, M.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Association of C-terminal ubiquitin hydrolase BRCA1-associated protein 1 with cell cycle regulator host cell factor 1.

    Molecular & Cellular Biology, 2009, ISSN: 1098-5549

    Misaghi, S.; Ottosen, S.; Izrael-Tomasevic, A.; Arnott, D.; Lamkanfi, M.; Lee, J.; Liu, J; O'Rourke, K.; Dixit, V.M.; Wilson, A.C.

  • Death receptor signal transducers: nodes of coordination in immune signaling networks

    Nature Immunology, 2009, ISSN: 1529-2916

    Wilson, N.S.; Dixit, V.; Ashkenazi, A.

  • Fatal hepatitis mediated by tumor necrosis factor TNFα requires caspase-8 and involves the BH3-only proteins Bid and Bim.

    Immunity, 2009, ISSN: 1074-7613

    Kaufmann, T.; Jost, P.J.; Pellegrini, M.; Puthalakath, H.; Gugasyan, R.; Gerondakis, S.; Cretney, E.; Smyth, M.J.; Silke, J.; Hakem, R.; Bouillet, P.; Mak, T.W.; Dixit, V.M.; Strasser A.

  • GPS navigation of the protein-stability landscape.

    Nature Biotechnology, 2009, ISSN: 1087-0156

    Kirkpatrick, D.S.; Dixit, V.M.

  • Inflammasomes: guardians of cytosolic sanctity

    Immunological Reviews, 2009, ISSN: 1600-065X

    Lamkanfi, M.; Dixit, V.M.

  • 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.

  • Ubiquitin-mediated regulation of TNFR1 signaling.

    Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews, 2008, ISSN: 1359-6101

    Wertz, I.E; Dixit, V.M.

  • Targeted mass spectrometric strategy for global mapping of ubiquitination on proteins

    Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 2007, ISSN:

    Mollah, S.; Wertz, I.E.; Phung, Q.; Arnott, D.; Dixit, V.M.; Lill, J.R.

  • Yersinia virulence factor YopJ acts as a deubiquitinase to inhibit NF-κB activation

    J. Exp. Med., 2005, ISSN:

    Zhou, H.;Monack, D.M.;Kayagaki, N.;Wertz, I.;Yin, J.;Wolf, B.;Dixit, V.M.

  • De-ubiquitination and ubiquitin ligase domains of A20 downregulate NF-κ B signaling

    Nature, 2004, ISSN:

    Wertz, I.E.;O'Rourke, K.M.;Zhou, H.;Eby, M.;Aravind, L.;Seshagiri, S.;Wu, P.;Wiesmann, C.;Baker, R.;Boone, D.L.;Ma, A.;Koonin, E.V.;Dixit, V.M.

  • The ubiquitin ligase COP1 is a critical negative regulator of p53

    Nature, 2004, ISSN:

    Dornan, D.;Wertz, I.;Shimizu, H.;Arnott, D.;Frantz, G.D.;Dowd, P.;O'Rourke, K.;Koeppen, H.;Dixit, V.M.

  • Human de-etiolated-1 regulates c-Jun by assembling a CUL4A ubiquitin ligase

    Science, 2004, ISSN:

    Wertz, I.E.;O'Rourke, K.M.;Zhang, Z.;Dornan, D.;Arnott, D.;Deshaies, R.J.;Dixit, V.M.

  • Bcl10 activates the NF-κB pathway through ubiquitination of NEMO

    Nature, 2004, ISSN:

    Zhou, H.;Wertz, I.;O'Rourke, K.;Ultsch, M.;Seshagiri, S.;Eby, M.;Xiao, W.;Dixit, V.M.

• Education
  • Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Biological Chemistry, Postdoctoral Fellow – 1986
  • University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya, M.D. – 1980
• Awards & Honors
  • Member, National Academy of Sciences – 2013
  • Member, Association of American Physicians – 2012
  • Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences – 2012
  • Associate Member, EMBO – 2012
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow – 2011
  • Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Award in Experimental Pathology – 1996
  • American Heart Association Established Investigatorship Award – 1989-1994
  • Josiah Macy Postdoctoral Fellowship Award – 1983-1986
  • Tommy-Adamson Award for Best Student in Obstetrics and Gynecology – 1980
  • Kenya Medical Association Award for Best Student in Pathology – 1980
  • Kamala Memorial Award for Best Overall Medical Student – 1980