User:DavidSavage

Update: Fall 2010

I will be moving next summer to start up my own lab at UC Berkeley in the Departments of Molecular & Cell Biology and Chemistry. I am currently looking for talented postdocs from all backgrounds, biology to mathematics, who are interested in studying the fundamentals of how living cells remodel their chemical environment and how this process can be engineered using the principles of synthetic biology. Please email me with a statement of your interests and CV.

A bit about me

I grew up in rural Iowa and studied chemistry and computer science at Gustavus Adolphus College. I moved west for graduate school at UCSF, where I studied membrane protein structure and function in the lab of Bob Stroud. Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Pamela Silver, developing the cyanbacterium Synechococcus as a model synthetic biology chassis for interrogating carbon fixation. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my wife Sarah, running, cooking, trying to garden in New England, and snowboarding.

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in better defining the biological reactions of photosynthesis. This process is of singular importance to humanity and poses many interesting questions that span from atomic to ecological levels. I am currently developing a cyanobacterial chassis as the basis for experiments in protein structure and engineering, elucidating gene networks (in collaboration with Ron Milo), and of metabolic engineering for the production of biofuels.

Publications

Engineering of the aquaporin selectivity filter. Savage, D.F., O’Connell III, J.D., Stroud R.M. (2010) In press at PNAS.

Engineered synthesis and export of hydrophillic products from cyanobacteria. Niederholt meyer, H., Wolfstaedter, B., Savage, D.F., Silver, P., Way, J.C. (2010) Appl. Environ. Microbiol, 76:3462-6. [PDF]

Spatially ordered dynamics of the bacterial carbon fixation machinery. Savage, D.F., Afonso, B., Chen, A., Silver, P.A. (2010) Science, 327:1258-61. [PDF]

A general protocol for the crystallization of membrane proteins for X-ray structural investi gation. Newby, Z.E., O'Connell 3rd, J.D., Gruswitz, F., Hays, F.A., Harries, W.E., Harwood, I.M., Ho, J.D., Lee, J.K., Savage, D.F., Miercke, L.J., Stroud, R.M. (2009) Nat Protoc. 4:619-37. [PDF]

Defossiling fuel: How synthetic biology can transform biofuel production. Savage, D.F., Way, J., Silver, P.A. (2008) ACS Chem. Biol. 3:13-6. [PDF]

Structural basis of aquaporin inhibition by mercury. Savage, D.F. and Stroud, R.M. (2007) J. Mol. Biol. 368: 607-17. [PDF]

Cell-free complements in vivo expression of the E. coli membrane proteome. Savage, D.F., Anderson C.L, Robles-Colmenares, Y., Newby, Z.A., Stroud R.M. (2007) Protein Sci. 16:966-76. [PDF]

Substrate twinning activates the signal recognition particle and its receptor. Egea P.F., Shan S.O., Napetschnig J., Savage D.F., Walter P., Stroud R.M. (2004) Nature, 426:215-221. [PDF]

Water and glycerol permeation through the glycerol channel GlpF and the aquaporin family. Lee, J.K., Khademi, S., Harries, W., Savage, D., Miercke, L, Stroud, R.M. (2004) J. Synchrotron Radiat. 11:86-88

Architecture and selectivity in aquaporins: 2.5Å x-ray structure of aquaporin Z. Savage, D. F., Egea, P.F., Robles, Y.C., O’Connell III, J.D., and Stroud, R.M. (2003) PLoS Biology, 1:334-340. [PDF]

Selectivity and conductance among the glycerol and water conducting aquaporin family of channels. Stroud, R.M., Savage, D.F., Miercke, L.J., Lee, J.K., Khademi, S., Harries, W. (2003). FEBS Letters, 555:79-84. [PDF]

Catalysis, specificity, and ACP docking site of Streptomyces coelicolor malonyl-CoA: ACP transacylase. Keatinge-Clay, A.T., Shelat, A.A., Savage, D.F., Tsai, S.C., Miercke, L.J.W., O'Connell 3rd, J.D., Khosla, C., and Stroud, R.M. (2003) Structure, 11:147-154. [PDF]

Contact info

Dave Savage
Department of Systems Biology
Harvard Medical School
200 Longwood Ave. WAB 536
Boston, MA 02115

E david_savage -*AT*- hms.harvard.edu
T 617.432.6402
C 415.637.4450