Bethany Schaffer, Ph.D.
Favorite movie: Arrival
Hometown: Louisa, KY
Non-science activity: yoga, cycling, picnics in Central Park
Dream benchmate: Carolyn Bertozzi
One item from your bucket list: convince John Blenis that mTORC1 is just another downstream effector of AMPK
Your scientific interests: countering climate change so that cell signaling still matters in the future
Current research interests: unexpected mechanisms of regulation of the hexosamine pathway and their effect on glycosylation
Research
After completing my bachelor’s degree at the College of William and Mary, I worked as a research assistant in the laboratory of Julien Sage where I studied the tumor suppressive capacity of the Retinoblastoma family of proteins in mouse models of both non-small cell and small cell lung cancers. Intrigued by the underlying signaling networks, I went on to conduct my thesis work with Anne Brunet at Stanford University, where I used a chemical genetics technique in collaboration with Kevan Shokat to elucidate novel downstream effectors of AMPK, a major energy sensor of the cell. In addition to identifying additional metabolic substrates of AMPK, I found that AMPK regulated a number of proteins involved in cell migration and invasion and that AMPK phosphorylation of one such substrate, NET1A, inhibited degradation of the extracellular matrix, an important step in metastasis
Wanting my postdoctoral work to focus even more deeply on mechanisms of cell signaling, protein regulation, and metabolism, I joined the laboratory of John Blenis, where I currently work to elucidate how regulation of specific enzymes in the hexosamine pathway may impact glycosylation and cancer progression.
Honors and Awards
F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, NCI, NIH
Stanford Graduate Fellowship
National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
Selected Publications
Campbell S, Mesaros C, Izzo L, Affronti H, Noji M, Schaffer BE, Tsang T, Sun K, Trefely S, Kruijning S, Blenis J, Blair IA, Wellen KE. (2021) Glutamine deprivation triggers NAGK-dependent hexosamine salvage. eLife 10:e62644. PMID: 34844667.
Schaffer BE, Levin RS, Hertz NT, Maures TJ, Schoof ML, Hollstein PE, Benayoun BA, Banko MR, Shaw RJ, Shokat KM, Brunet A. (2015) Identification of AMPK Phosphorylation Sites Reveals a Network of Proteins Involved in Cell Invasion and Facilitates Large-Scale Substrate Prediction. Cell Metab. 22(5):907-21.
Schaffer BE*, Park KS*, Yiu G, Conklin JF, Lin C, Burkhart DL, Karnezis AN, Sweet-Cordero EA, Sage J. (2010) Loss of p130 accelerates tumor development in a mouse model for human small-cell lung carcinoma. Cancer Res. 70(10):3877-83.
Ho VM*, SchafferBE*, Karnezis AN, Park KS, Sage J. (2009) The retinoblastoma gene Rb and its family member p130 suppress lung adenocarcinoma induced by oncogenic K-Ras. Oncogene 28(10):1393-9.
*Authors contributed equally