Lubert Stryer

Lubert Stryer is the Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor of Cell Biology, Emeritus at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He was a Helen Hay Whitney Research Fellow from 1961 to 1964 before initiating his own research pro­gram at Stanford. Following a move to Yale in 1969, he returned to Stanford in September 1976 as the Winzer Professor and is a Professor of Neurobiology (at Stanford) since September 1993. Dr. Stryer received his B.S. from the University of Chicago and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Research Profile

As part of his research, Dr. Stryer discovered the light-triggered amplification cycle in vision and developed new fluorescence techniques for studying biomolecules and cells.

His laboratory's major interest is in the molecular basis of signal transduction by retinal rod cells using biochemical, biophysical, molecular genetic and electrophysicological approaches to elucidate the molecular basis of visual excitation and adaption. Current research in his laboratory is focused on the feedback role of calcium ion in recovery and adaption. The Stryer group cloned and expressed recoverin and neurocalcin, two new calcium-sensors in the retina and brain. A related interest is the molecular mechanism of calcium spiking.

Scientific Papers

Lubert Stryer has 130 scientific publications to his credit (according to PubMed), including several in Science, Cell and Nature.

Biochemistry Textbook

Dr. Stryer is the author of Biochemistry, a widely-used textbook published by WH Freeman which is now in its fifth edition. In the latest edition, Stryer is joined by Jeremy M. Berg (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine) and John L. Tymoczko (Carleton College)

Honors

• Election to the National Academy of Sciences
• American Chemical Society Award in Biological Chemistry
• Newcomb-Cleveland Prize
• Distinguished Inventors Award of the Intellectual Property Owners' Association
• Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Chicago
• Molecular Bioanalytics Award of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Other appointments

• Dr. Stryer also serves as a scientific advisor of Affymetrix, Inc. and Perlegen Sciences, Inc. In July 1999, Dr. Stryer took a full-time leave of absence from his professorship at Stanford University to found Senomyx and serve as Chairman of its board of directors and Chief Scientific Officer. In May 2001, Dr. Stryer returned to his professorship at Stanford University and resigned from Senomyx, but continues to be the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board.
• He is a member of the Advisory Board of Marian Koshland Science Museum in the Washington DC.

Famous students

• Tobias Meyer (postdoc), now Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Stanford University