Robert Rawson, PhD

Associate Professor
Molecular Genetics
Graduate Program: Genetics and Development

Contact Information

UT Southwestern Medical Center
5323 Harry Hines Boulevard
Dallas, Texas 75390

Office Phone: 214-648-2141
Office Fax: 214-648-8804

rob.rawson@utsouthwestern.edu

Biography

Rob Rawson studied botany and history at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1982. After a few years in the computer business in the San Francisco Bay Area, he earned a Master's degree in Biology from the California State University, Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) in 1987. He received a PhD in Genetics and Development from the University of Texas Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Science in 1993. He then did a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Drs. Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein in the Department of Molecular Genetics at U.T. Southwestern. There he participated in the identification of the two-step proteolytic processing of the membrane-bound transcription factors SREBP-1 and -2, isolation of CHO mutant cells defective in SREBP cleavage at site 1 and site 2, and the expression cloning of the two proteases. In 1999, he joined the faculty of Molecular Genetics and continues research into the control of lipid metabolism in vertebrates and insects.

Education

Graduate SchoolUniversity of Texas Southwestern Med Ctr Dallas, Biology (1993)
Graduate SchoolCalifornia State University-Hayward, Biology (1987)
UndergraduateUniversity of California-Berkeley, Biology (1982)

Research Interests

Cell biology of Site-2 protease
Evolution of the SREBP pathway
Genetics of the control of lipid metabolism in insects
Mammalian and insect somatic cell genetics

Publications

Featured
Fatty acid auxotrophy in Drosophila larvae lacking SREBP

Kunte, A. S., Matthews, K. M., and Rawson, R. B. , Cell Metabolism , June 2006; (3):439-448

Featured
Activation of SREBP by the caspase drice in Drosophila larvae.

Amarneh, B., Matthews, K.A., and Rawson, R.B. , J. Biol Chem. , February 2009; :e pub ahead of print

Featured
The SREBP Pathway in Drosophila: Regulation by Palmitate, Not Sterols.

Seegmiller, A. C., Dobrosotskaya, I., Goldstein, J. L., Ho, Y. K., Brown, M. S., Rawson, R.B. , Developmental Cell , 2002; (2):229-238

Featured
Regulation of SREBP Processing and Membrane Lipid Production by Phospholipids in Drosophila.

Dobrosotskaya, I. Y., Seegmiller, A. C., Brown, M. S., Goldstein, J. L., and Rawson, R. B. , Science , 2002; (269):879-883

Featured
Complementation Cloning of S2P, a Gene Encoding a Putative Metalloprotease Required for Intramembrane Cleavage of SREBPs.

Rawson, R. B., Zelenski, N. G., Nijhawan, D., Ye, J., Sakai, J., Hasan, M. T., Chang, T. Y., Brown, M. S., and Goldstein, J. L. , Molecular Cell , 1997; (1):47-57

Dual roles for cholesterol in mammalian cells

Xu F., Rychnovsky, S.D., Belani, J.D., Hobbs H.H., Cohen J.C., Rawson R.B. , PNAS (USA) , October 2005; (102):14551-14556

Fatty acid auxotrophy in Drosophila larvae lacking SREBP

Kunte, A. S., Matthews, K. M., and Rawson, R. B. , Cell Metabolism , June 2006; (3):439-448

Alternative Processing of SREBP during Larval Development in Drosophila melanogaster

Matthews, K. M., Kunte, A. S., Tambe-Ebot, E., and Rawson, R. B. , Genetics , January 2009; (81):119-128

Activation of SREBP by the caspase drice in Drosophila larvae.

Amarneh, B., Matthews, K.A., and Rawson, R.B. , J. Biol. Chem , April 2009; (v. 284, no. 15):9674-9682

Intriguing parasites and intramembrane proteases.

Rawson, R.B. , Genes Dev. , 2008; (22):1561-1562

Honors/Awards

Scientist Development Grant, American Heart Association

(2001)

Professional Associations/Affiliations

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Genetics Society of America