Julie A. Theriot (born 1967) is a cell biologist, who studies the molecular mechanics and dynamics of cell movement and organization. Her work spans many fields from

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...

, and lab studies eukaryotic

cell motility Motility is the ability of an organism to move independently using metabolism, metabolic energy. This biological concept encompasses movement at various levels, from whole organisms to cells and subcellular components. Motility is observed in ...

as well as the hijacking of the

cytoskeleton The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane and is compos ...

by intracellular parasites like

listeria ''Listeria'' is a genus of bacteria that acts as an intracellular parasite in mammals. As of 2024, 28 species have been identified. The genus is named in honour of the British pioneer of sterile surgery Joseph Lister. ''Listeria'' species ...

. She has also published work that describes the mechanisms of Galvanotaxis in vertebrate cells. She is a professor at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, Department of Biology, a continuing Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator, and Chief Scientist at the Allen Institute for Cell Science. She was previously a professor at the

Stanford University School of Medicine The Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California, United States. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Fra ...

, and before that, she was a Predoctoral Fellow and Investigator at HHMI. She was also a fellow at the

Whitehead Institute Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a non-profit research institute located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States that is dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research. It was founded as a fiscally indep ...

for Biomedical Research. She graduated from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

with a B.S. in Biology and Physics in 1988, and from the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

, with a Ph.D. in Cell Biology in 1993. Her work has investigated bacterial infections, such as ''

Shigella ''Shigella'' is a genus of bacteria that is Gram negative, facultatively anaerobic, non–spore-forming, nonmotile, rod shaped, and is genetically nested within ''Escherichia''. The genus is named after Kiyoshi Shiga, who discovered it in 1 ...

'', and ''

Listeria ''Listeria'' is a genus of bacteria that acts as an intracellular parasite in mammals. As of 2024, 28 species have been identified. The genus is named in honour of the British pioneer of sterile surgery Joseph Lister. ''Listeria'' species ...

''.

Awards

* 2004

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

* 2019 Keith R. Porter Lecture * 2021 Member of the U. S.

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

Works

*"Mechanism for cell shapeliness decoded from fish scales", ''Nature'' 453, xi (22 May 2008) *''Physical biology of the cell'', Authors Rob Phillips, Janè Kondev, Julie Theriot, Garland Science, 2008,
"Bacterial Manipulation of the Host Cell Cytoskeleton"
''Cellular microbiology'', Editor Pascale Cossart, ASM Press, 2005,
"Movement of Bacterial Pathogens Driven by Actin Polymerization"
''Motion analysis of living cells'', Editors David R. Soll, Deborah Wessels, Wiley-IEEE, 1998,

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theriot, Julie American microbiologists 1968 births University of California, San Francisco alumni Howard Hughes Medical Investigators MacArthur Fellows Living people Stanford University School of Medicine faculty American women microbiologists Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences