Our Faculty

D. Allan Drummond, PhD

Dr. Drummond is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Human Genetics. His group studies how cells respond to stress at the molecular level, focusing on formation and dissolution of large assemblies of proteins and RNA during and after stresses such as heat shock. Drummond's lab uses a wide range of techniques, including in vivo imaging, in vitro reconstitution and mechanistic biochemistry, quantitative proteomics, and molecular evolutionary analyses. Because many features of stress-triggered assembly processes are shared across eukaryotes, including humans, the group employs budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model organism.

Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
- Systems biology
2011

California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA
Ph.D. - Computation and neural systems
2006

Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
B.S.E. - Mechanical and aerospace engineering
1995

Chaperones directly and efficiently disperse stress-triggered biomolecular condensates.
Chaperones directly and efficiently disperse stress-triggered biomolecular condensates. Mol Cell. 2022 02 17; 82(4):741-755.e11.
PMID: 35148816

Author Correction: Reversible amyloids of pyruvate kinase couple cell metabolism and stress granule disassembly.
Author Correction: Reversible amyloids of pyruvate kinase couple cell metabolism and stress granule disassembly. Nat Cell Biol. 2022 Jan; 24(1):123.
PMID: 34702981

Reversible amyloids of pyruvate kinase couple cell metabolism and stress granule disassembly.
Reversible amyloids of pyruvate kinase couple cell metabolism and stress granule disassembly. Nat Cell Biol. 2021 10; 23(10):1085-1094.
PMID: 34616026

Daily Cycles of Reversible Protein Condensation in Cyanobacteria.
Daily Cycles of Reversible Protein Condensation in Cyanobacteria. Cell Rep. 2020 08 18; 32(7):108032.
PMID: 32814039

Transient intracellular acidification regulates the core transcriptional heat shock response.
Transient intracellular acidification regulates the core transcriptional heat shock response. Elife. 2020 08 07; 9.
PMID: 32762843

Live Cell Measurement of the Intracellular pH of Yeast by Flow Cytometry Using a Genetically-Encoded Fluorescent Reporter.
Live Cell Measurement of the Intracellular pH of Yeast by Flow Cytometry Using a Genetically-Encoded Fluorescent Reporter. Bio Protoc. 2020 Jun 20; 10(12):e3653.
PMID: 33659323

Cellular sensing by phase separation: Using the process, not just the products.
Cellular sensing by phase separation: Using the process, not just the products. J Biol Chem. 2019 05 03; 294(18):7151-7159.
PMID: 30877200

An Escherichia coli Nitrogen Starvation Response Is Important for Mutualistic Coexistence with Rhodopseudomonas palustris.
An Escherichia coli Nitrogen Starvation Response Is Important for Mutualistic Coexistence with Rhodopseudomonas palustris. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2018 07 15; 84(14).
PMID: 29728387

Stress-Triggered Phase Separation Is an Adaptive, Evolutionarily Tuned Response.
Stress-Triggered Phase Separation Is an Adaptive, Evolutionarily Tuned Response. Cell. 2017 03 09; 168(6):1028-1040.e19.
PMID: 28283059

Heat Shock Factor 1: From Fire Chief to Crowd-Control Specialist.
Heat Shock Factor 1: From Fire Chief to Crowd-Control Specialist. Mol Cell. 2016 07 07; 63(1):1-2.
PMID: 27392142

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Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences
Pew Charitable Trusts
2012 - 2016

Sloan Research Fellow
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
2012 - 2014

Bauer Fellow
Harvard University
2006 - 2011