asbmbnews

Harvard
med school
investigator
recognized
BY ANGELA HOPP
A
my Walker, an instructor at Harvard Medical
School and the Center for Cancer
Research at Massachusetts General Hospital,
received the Journal of Biological Chemistry/
Herbert Tabor Award for her studies of how
metabolic pathways are linked to transcriptional
programs and other aspects of cell
biology.
“In my graduate and postdoctoral work, my primary
interest was how transcriptional activators and the basal
transcription machinery played roles in specific developmental
processes,” Walker says.
Today, Walker and colleague Ander Näär focus on
links between transcriptional regulation and lipid production.
“In my lab, I use a combination of C. elegans and
mammalian models to understand how regulation of lipid
Amy Walker received her award at
the 52nd International Conference on
the Bioscience of Lipids, which was
held July 17 – 22 in Waterville Valley,
N.H., and attended by JBC Associate
Editor George Carman.
PhoTo CourTESy oF JoESEPh FErrAro.
and 1-carbon metabolism
is related to mechanisms of
transcription factor function,
such as the sterol regulatory
elements binding proteins,”
she says.
A Mobile, Ala., native, Walker
completed her undergraduate
studies in microbiology at
Auburn University, graduate
studies in molecular microbiology
at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, and
postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.
Sharing made easy
Try out various social-bookmarking options when visiting ASBMB journal sites.
Angela Hopp (ahopp@asbmb.org) is a science
writer and handles public relations for ASBMB.
September 2011 ASBMB Today 11