portrait of a man

James Rothman

Sterling Professor of Cell Biology and Professor of Chemistry
Director, Nanobiology Institute

Member of Yale faculty since 2008.

Research Interests

Contact Info

james.rothman@yale.edu

Sterling Hall of Medicine, C-Wing
333 Cedar Street, Ste SHM C-434
New Haven, CT 06510

Rothman Lab Website

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Research 

Elucidating the underlying mechanisms of vesicular transport within cells and the secretion of proteins. Projects include (1) the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms of vesicle budding and fusion; (2) cellular regulation of vesicle fusion in exocytosis and synaptic transmission; (3) structural and functional organization of the Golgi apparatus from a cellular systems view. We take an interdisciplinary approach which includes cell-free biochemistry, single-molecule biophysics, high-resolution optical imaging of single events/single molecules in the cell and in cell-free formats. The overall goal is to understand transport pathways from structural mechanism to cellular physiology. The latter is facilitated by high throughput functional genomics at the cellular level (see Yale Center for High Throughput Cell Biology). We have a strong interest in new lab members who bring backgrounds in chemistry, physics, and engineering.

Education

B.A. Yale University, 1971
Ph.D. Harvard University, 1976
Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1976-78

Honors

  • Scholar of the House in Yale College, 1970 71
  • Andrew W. Mellon Fellow, 1979 82
  • Dreyfus Fndn. Teacher Scholar, 1981 86
  • The Eli Lilly Award for Fundamental Res. in Biol. Chem., 1986
  • The Passano Young Scientist Award, 1986
  • The Alexander Von Humboldt Award, 1989
  • The Heinrich Wieland Prize, 1990
  • Member, Natl. Acad. of Sciences, 1993
  • The Rosenstiel Award in Biomedical Sciences, 1994
  • Fellow, Amer. Acad. Arts & Sciences, 1994
  • The V.D. Mattia Award, 1994
  • The Fritz Lipmann Award, 1995
  • Member, Institute of Med., Natl. Acad. of Sciences, 1995
  • Dr. h.c., Univ. of Regensburg, 1995
  • Foreign Assoc., European Molec. Biol. Org’n., 1995
  • Mayor’s Award For Excellence in Sci. & Tech., 1995
  • Gairdner Fndn. Internat’l. Award, 1996
  • King Faisal Internat’l. Prize in Science, 1996
  • The Harden Medal, 1997
  • The Lounsbery Award, Natl. Acad. of Sciences, 1997
  • The Feodor Lynen Award, 1997
  • Dr. h.c., Univ. of Geneva, 1997
  • The Heineken Prize, 2000
  • The Otto-Warburg Medal, 2001
  • The Lasker Award – Basic Medical Research, 2002
  • The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, 2002

Recent Publications

J.E. Rothman. Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. The machinery and principles of vesicle transport in the cell. Nature Med. 2002, 8, 1059-1062.

.J. Shen, D.C. Tareste, F. Paumet, J.E. Rothman, & T.J. Melia. Selective Activation of Cognate SNAREpins by Sec1/Munc18 Proteins. Cell 2007, 128, 183-95.

C. G. Giraudo, A. Garcia-Diaz, W.S. Eng, Y. Chen, W.A. Hendrickson, T.J. Melia, & J.E. Rothman. Alternative Zippering as an On-Off Switch for SNARE-Mediated Fusion. Science 2009, 323, 512-516.