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Dr. John D. Aitchison
Ph.D., Biochemistry
McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, 1992
Phone: 206-732-1344
Email:John.Aitchison@systemsbiology.org
Dr. Aitchison is Executive Director for Integrative Biology, Professor, and a founding member of the ISB faculty. He also holds an appointment at Seattle
Biomedical Research Institute as Director of Integrative Biology and Principal Investigator. As a student, he studied biochemistry, specializing in
biotechnology and genetic engineering, at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. There, in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Rachubinski, he investigated the
molecular mechanisms responsible for sorting proteins into peroxisomes. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Aitchison performed his postdoctoral work in the l
aboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Günter Blobel at Rockefeller University. In Dr. Blobel's lab, Dr. Aitchison applied classic cell biology techniques and yeast genetics to the study of protein import into the nucleus. During this time, he began to apply large-scale proteomics to the problem, which he continued as an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta until joining the ISB in 2000. Dr. Aitchison also holds affiliate appointments at the University of Washington, University of Alberta, and University of British Columbia. He is a member of the Molecular and Cellular Biology and Biomolecular Structural Design Graduate Programs at the University of Washington.
Since joining ISB in 2000, his laboratory has been exploiting systems based assays and analyses to reveal and understand complex biological phenomena.
Over the past ten years, his lab has focused on yeast as a model for developing systems biology approaches. He recently, took a Principal
Investigator position at Seattle Biomedical Research Institute to immerse his lab in an environment rich in infectious disease research to
enhance our collective exposure to, and education in, research of infectious diseases. With his current position and lab at ISB he will
remain at the cutting edge of systems biology while bringing new developments to infectious disease research at Seattle BioMed.
Areas of Research
Dr. Aitchison merges the traditional fields of cell biology and biochemistry with new high-throughput technologies and computational biology to bring about an understanding of how the three-dimensional architecture of cells imparts control over cellular function. Within this broad context, he is focusing two related areas of research.
Peroxisomes are highly dynamic cellular organelles that play diverse metabolic roles and are consequently linked to numerous human diseases. They respond dramatically by proliferation in response to a variety of extracellular cues including fatty acids. The Aitchison lab studies peroxisome biogenesis in this context. As all cellular dynamics are inextricably linked to the nucleus, the Aitchison lab also studies macromolecular transport between the nucleus and cytoplasm, focusing on how access to the nucleus is controlled and how spatial organization of the nucleus, imparted by nuclear pore complexes, coordinates nuclear activities.
Aitchison's work is devoted to using functional genomics, proteomics, and genetics to achieve a thorough understanding of the regulation of nuclear function and peroxisome development. The comprehensive understanding of these processes provide insight into the fundamental biology nuclear function and in particular, peroxisome biogenesis and disease processes associated with peroxisomes.
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