American geneticist
Clifford James Tabin (born 1954)
[8] is chairman of the Department of Genetics at
Harvard Medical School .
[9]
[10]
Education
Tabin was educated at the
University of Chicago where he was awarded a
BS in physics in 1976.
[9] He went on to
graduate school at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was awarded a
PhD in 1984 for work on the
regulation of gene expression in the
Ras subfamily of
oncogenes supervised by
Robert Weinberg based in the
MIT Department of Biology .
[11] In Weinberg's lab, Tabin constructed
murine leukemia virus ,
[12] the first recombinant retrovirus that could be used as a
eukaryotic
vector .
[10]
Career
Following his PhD, Tabin did
postdoctoral research with
Douglas A. Melton at
Harvard University , then moved to
Massachusetts General Hospital where he worked on the molecular biology of limb development. He was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School in 1989, and promoted to full professor in 1997 and chairman of the department in January 2007.
[13]
[14]
Research
As of 2014
[update] Tabin's research
[15]
[16]
[17] investigates the genetic regulation of vertebrate development,
[18]
[19]
[20] combining classical methods of experimental
embryology with modern molecular and genetic techniques for regulating
gene expression during
embryogenesis .
[21]
[22]
[23]
Previously Tabin has worked on
retroviruses ,
homeobox genes, oncogenes,
developmental biology and
evolution . Early in his research he investigated limb regeneration in the
salamander , and described the expression of
retinoic acid receptor and
Hox genes in the
blastema . Comparative studies by Ann Burke
[24]
[25] in his lab showed that differences in boundaries of
Hox gene expression correlated with differences in skeletal morphology.
[5]
[26]
[27]
[28] The Tabin laboratory adjoins the laboratory of
Connie Cepko .
[29]
Awards and honors
Tabin was elected a
Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 2014. His nomination reads:
Tabin has made fundamental discoveries on embryonic development and evolution. A critical turning point in the history of developmental biology was the identification of the first known secreted
morphogen ,
Sonic hedgehog . He clarified how morphogens like
Shh orchestrate formation of the
embryo , elucidating why the heart is located on the left and not the right side of the body and explaining why the thumb is different from the little finger. This provided critical insight into the origins of human
congenital malformations . He has also solved important evolutionary riddles including the causes of variations in beak shape in
Darwin's finches .
[1]
Tabin has also been awarded the
Edwin Conklin Medal in 2012,
[2] the
March of Dimes
Prize in Developmental Biology jointly with
Philip A. Beachy in 2008
[3] and the
NAS Award in Molecular Biology in 1999. He was elected a member of the
National Academy of Sciences in 2007
[4]
and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2000. He was elected a Member of the
American Philosophical Society in 2019.
Personal life
Tabin is the son of Julius Tabin,
[9]
[10]
[30] a nuclear physicist who worked with
Enrico Fermi on the
Manhattan Project in
Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico during World War II. He has a brother,
Geoff Tabin , and two children. Tabin appears as himself in a
BBC Horizon programme titled Hopeful Monsters .
[31]
References
^
a
b
"Professor Clifford Tabin ForMemRS" . London: The Royal Society. Archived from
the original on May 2, 2014.
^
a
b
Clifford Tabin Awarded Conklin Medal ,
Society for Developmental Biology
^
a
b Anon (2008). "An Interview With... Cliff Tabin". Nature Reviews Genetics . 9 (6): 420.
doi :
10.1038/nrg2863 .
PMID
18504824 .
S2CID
45619315 .
^
a
b
"Clifford J. Tabin, Harvard University" . National Academy of Sciences. Archived from
the original on October 14, 2014.
^
a
b Patrick Goymer (April 2006).
"Milestone 17: (1979) First human oncogene: An important difference" . Nature Reviews Cancer . 6 . Nature: S18.
doi :
10.1038/nrc1859 .
^ Marigo, V.; Davey, R. A.; Zuo, Y.; Cunningham, J. M.; Tabin, C. J. (1996). "Biochemical evidence that Patched is the Hedgehog receptor". Nature . 384 (6605): 176–9.
Bibcode :
1996Natur.384..176M .
doi :
10.1038/384176a0 .
PMID
8906794 .
S2CID
4325188 .
^ Riddle, R. D.; Johnson, R. L.; Laufer, E.; Tabin, C. (1993). "Sonic hedgehog mediates the polarizing activity of the ZPA". Cell . 75 (7): 1401–16.
doi :
10.1016/0092-8674(93)90626-2 .
PMID
8269518 .
S2CID
4973500 .
^
Cliff Tabin
Archived 2016-03-04 at the
Wayback Machine , Harvard Medical School
^
a
b
c Mossman, K. (2009).
"Profile of Clifford Tabin" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 106 (21): 8407–8409.
Bibcode :
2009PNAS..106.8407M .
doi :
10.1073/pnas.0903946106 .
PMC
2688980 .
PMID
19458049 .
^
a
b
c Tabin, C (2009).
"Molecular tools, classic questions - an interview with Clifford Tabin. Interviewed by Richardson, Michael K" . The International Journal of Developmental Biology . 53 (5–6): 725–31.
doi :
10.1387/ijdb.072575mr .
PMID
19557679 .
^ Tabin, Clifford James (1984). Activation of the c-Ha-ras Oncogene (PhD thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
OCLC
13089293 .
^ Goff, S. P.;
Tabin, C. J. ; Wang, J. Y.;
Weinberg, R ;
Baltimore, D (1982).
"Transfection of fibroblasts by cloned Abelson murine leukemia virus DNA and recovery of transmissible virus by recombination with helper virus" . Journal of Virology . 41 (1): 271–85.
doi :
10.1128/JVI.41.1.271-285.1982 .
PMC
256749 .
PMID
6283119 .
^
Cliff Tabin molbio seminar ,
Princeton University
^ Harfe, B. D.; McManus, M. T.; Mansfield, J. H.; Hornstein, E.; Tabin, C. J. (2005).
"The RNaseIII enzyme Dicer is required for morphogenesis but not patterning of the vertebrate limb" . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 102 (31): 10898–903.
Bibcode :
2005PNAS..10210898H .
doi :
10.1073/pnas.0504834102 .
PMC
1182454 .
PMID
16040801 .
^
Clifford Tabin's publications indexed by the
Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
^
Clifford Tabin publications indexed by
Microsoft Academic
^
Clifford Tabin publications ,
Google Scholar
^ Parada, L. F.; Tabin, C. J.; Shih, C.; Weinberg, R. A. (1982). "Human EJ bladder carcinoma oncogene is homologue of Harvey sarcoma virus ras gene". Nature . 297 (5866): 474–8.
Bibcode :
1982Natur.297..474P .
doi :
10.1038/297474a0 .
PMID
6283357 .
S2CID
4338225 .
^ Marigo, V.; Davey, R. A.; Zuo, Y.; Cunningham, J. M.; Tabin, C. J. (1996). "Biochemical evidence that Patched is the Hedgehog receptor". Nature . 384 (6605): 176–9.
Bibcode :
1996Natur.384..176M .
doi :
10.1038/384176a0 .
PMID
8906794 .
S2CID
4325188 .
^ McMahon, A. P.; Ingham, P. W.; Tabin, C. J. (2003). "1 Developmental roles and clinical significance of Hedgehog signaling". Current Topics in Developmental Biology . 53 : 1–114.
doi :
10.1016/S0070-2153(03)53002-2 .
ISBN
9780121531539 .
PMID
12509125 .
^ Tabin, C. J. (1991). "Retinoids, homeoboxes, and growth factors: Toward molecular models for limb development". Cell . 66 (2): 199–217.
doi :
10.1016/0092-8674(91)90612-3 .
PMID
1677315 .
S2CID
5269260 .
^ Johnson, R. L.; Tabin, C. J. (1997).
"Molecular models for vertebrate limb development" . Cell . 90 (6): 979–90.
doi :
10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80364-5 .
PMID
9323126 .
S2CID
16213729 .
^ Vortkamp, A.; Lee, K.; Lanske, B.; Segre, G. V.; Kronenberg, H. M.; Tabin, C. J. (1996). "Regulation of Rate of Cartilage Differentiation by Indian Hedgehog and PTH-Related Protein". Science . 273 (5275): 613–22.
Bibcode :
1996Sci...273..613V .
doi :
10.1126/science.273.5275.613 .
PMID
8662546 .
S2CID
27737023 .
^ Burke, A. C.; Nelson, C. E.; Morgan, B. A.; Tabin, C (1995). "Hox genes and the evolution of vertebrate axial morphology". Development . 121 (2): 333–46.
doi :
10.1242/dev.121.2.333 .
PMID
7768176 .
^ Burke, A. C.; Tabin, C. J. (1996).
"Virally mediated misexpression of Hoxc-6 in the cervical mesoderm results in spinal nerve truncations" . Developmental Biology . 178 (1): 192–7.
doi :
10.1006/dbio.1996.0210 .
PMID
8812121 .
^ Morgan, B. A.; Tabin, C. J. (1993). "The role of homeobox genes in limb development". Current Opinion in Genetics & Development . 3 (4): 668–74.
doi :
10.1016/0959-437x(93)90105-x .
PMID
7902151 .
^ Tabin, C. J. (2006).
"The Key to Left-Right Asymmetry" . Cell . 127 (1): 27–32.
doi :
10.1016/j.cell.2006.09.018 .
PMID
17018270 .
S2CID
1775936 .
^ Logan, M; Pagán-Westphal, S. M.; Smith, D. M.; Paganessi, L;
Tabin, C. J. (1998).
"The transcription factor Pitx2 mediates situs-specific morphogenesis in response to left-right asymmetric signals" . Cell . 94 (3): 307–17.
doi :
10.1016/S0092-8674(00)81474-9 .
PMID
9708733 .
S2CID
14375165 .
^
Profile of Constance L. Cepko, Ph.D , BioTechniques Vol. 36, No. 5, 2004-05-05, p. 737
^
Julius Tabin Obituary (1919-2012) Physicist helped develop atom bomb ,
Chicago Tribune , 2012-09-02
^
Clifford Tabin at
IMDb
International National Academics