D. Allan Drummond

Associate Professor
Research Summary
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.
Keywords
Cell Biology, Stress Response, Physiological, Heat Shock Response, Phase Separation, Molecular Evolution
Education
  • Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, B.S.E. Mechanical and aerospace engineering 06/1995
  • California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Ph.D. Computation and neural systems 06/2006
  • Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Systems biology 10/2011
Awards & Honors
  • 2006 - 2011 Bauer Fellow Harvard University
  • 2012 - 2014 Sloan Research Fellow Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
  • 2012 - 2016 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences Pew Charitable Trusts
Publications
  1. Chaperones directly and efficiently disperse stress-triggered biomolecular condensates. Mol Cell. 2022 02 17; 82(4):741-755.e11. View in: PubMed

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

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

  4. 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. View in: PubMed

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

  6. Transient intracellular acidification regulates the core transcriptional heat shock response. Elife. 2020 08 07; 9. View in: PubMed

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

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

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

  10. Heat Shock Factor 1: From Fire Chief to Crowd-Control Specialist. Mol Cell. 2016 07 07; 63(1):1-2. View in: PubMed

  11. Reversible, Specific, Active Aggregates of Endogenous Proteins Assemble upon Heat Stress. Cell. 2015 Sep 10; 162(6):1286-98. View in: PubMed

  12. Dying mRNA Tells a Story of Its Life. Cell. 2015 Jun 04; 161(6):1246-8. View in: PubMed

  13. Nephrocalcinosis in Calcium Stone Formers Who Do Not have Systemic Disease. J Urol. 2015 Nov; 194(5):1308-12. View in: PubMed

  14. Estimating a structured covariance matrix from multi-lab measurements in high-throughput biology. J Am Stat Assoc. 2015 Mar 01; 110(509):27-44. View in: PubMed

  15. Accounting for experimental noise reveals that mRNA levels, amplified by post-transcriptional processes, largely determine steady-state protein levels in yeast. PLoS Genet. 2015 May; 11(5):e1005206. View in: PubMed

  16. Sex differences in proximal and distal nephron function contribute to the mechanism of idiopathic hypercalcuria in calcium stone formers. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2015 Jul 01; 309(1):R85-92. View in: PubMed

  17. Correction: A nutrient-driven tRNA modification alters translational fidelity and genome-wide protein coding across an animal genus. PLoS Biol. 2015 Apr; 13(4):e1002150. View in: PubMed

  18. Current recommended 25-hydroxyvitamin D targets for chronic kidney disease management may be too low. J Nephrol. 2016 Feb; 29(1):63-70. View in: PubMed

  19. Activity of MM-398, nanoliposomal irinotecan (nal-IRI), in Ewing's family tumor xenografts is associated with high exposure of tumor to drug and high SLFN11 expression. Clin Cancer Res. 2015 Mar 01; 21(5):1139-50. View in: PubMed

  20. Mechanism by which shock wave lithotripsy can promote formation of human calcium phosphate stones. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2015 Apr 15; 308(8):F938-49. View in: PubMed

  21. Biopsy proven medullary sponge kidney: clinical findings, histopathology, and role of osteogenesis in stone and plaque formation. Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2015 May; 298(5):865-77. View in: PubMed

  22. A nutrient-driven tRNA modification alters translational fidelity and genome-wide protein coding across an animal genus. PLoS Biol. 2014 Dec; 12(12):e1002015. View in: PubMed

  23. Mechanisms of human kidney stone formation. Urolithiasis. 2015 Jan; 43 Suppl 1:19-32. View in: PubMed

  24. Micro-CT imaging of Randall's plaques. Urolithiasis. 2015 Jan; 43 Suppl 1:13-7. View in: PubMed

  25. Contrasting histopathology and crystal deposits in kidneys of idiopathic stone formers who produce hydroxy apatite, brushite, or calcium oxalate stones. Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2014 Apr; 297(4):731-48. View in: PubMed

  26. A test of the hypothesis that oxalate secretion produces proximal tubule crystallization in primary hyperoxaluria type I. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2013 Dec 01; 305(11):F1574-84. View in: PubMed

  27. Quantifying condition-dependent intracellular protein levels enables high-precision fitness estimates. PLoS One. 2013; 8(9):e75320. View in: PubMed

  28. Evidence for increased renal tubule and parathyroid gland sensitivity to serum calcium in human idiopathic hypercalciuria. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2013 Sep 15; 305(6):F853-60. View in: PubMed

  29. Role of proximal tubule in the hypocalciuric response to thiazide of patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2013 Aug 15; 305(4):F592-9. View in: PubMed

  30. Estimating selection on synonymous codon usage from noisy experimental data. Mol Biol Evol. 2013 Jun; 30(6):1438-53. View in: PubMed

  31. How infidelity creates a sticky situation. Mol Cell. 2012 Dec 14; 48(5):663-4. View in: PubMed

  32. Good codons, bad transcript: large reductions in gene expression and fitness arising from synonymous mutations in a key enzyme. Mol Biol Evol. 2013 Mar; 30(3):549-60. View in: PubMed

  33. Misfolded proteins impose a dosage-dependent fitness cost and trigger a cytosolic unfolded protein response in yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Jan 11; 108(2):680-5. View in: PubMed

  34. Signatures of protein biophysics in coding sequence evolution. Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2010 Jun; 20(3):385-9. View in: PubMed

  35. Protein evolution: innovative chaps. Curr Biol. 2009 Sep 15; 19(17):R740-2. View in: PubMed

  36. The evolutionary consequences of erroneous protein synthesis. Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Oct; 10(10):715-24. View in: PubMed

  37. Mistranslation-induced protein misfolding as a dominant constraint on coding-sequence evolution. Cell. 2008 Jul 25; 134(2):341-52. View in: PubMed

  38. Contact density affects protein evolutionary rate from bacteria to animals. J Mol Evol. 2008 Apr; 66(4):395-404. View in: PubMed

  39. A diverse family of thermostable cytochrome P450s created by recombination of stabilizing fragments. Nat Biotechnol. 2007 Sep; 25(9):1051-6. View in: PubMed

  40. Impact of single-chain Fv antibody fragment affinity on nanoparticle targeting of epidermal growth factor receptor-expressing tumor cells. J Mol Biol. 2007 Aug 24; 371(4):934-47. View in: PubMed

  41. Structural determinants of the rate of protein evolution in yeast. Mol Biol Evol. 2006 Sep; 23(9):1751-61. View in: PubMed

  42. Population genetics of translational robustness. Genetics. 2006 May; 173(1):473-81. View in: PubMed

  43. A single determinant dominates the rate of yeast protein evolution. Mol Biol Evol. 2006 Feb; 23(2):327-37. View in: PubMed

  44. Why highly expressed proteins evolve slowly. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Oct 04; 102(40):14338-43. View in: PubMed

  45. Predicting the tolerance of proteins to random amino acid substitution. Biophys J. 2005 Dec; 89(6):3714-20. View in: PubMed

  46. Why high-error-rate random mutagenesis libraries are enriched in functional and improved proteins. J Mol Biol. 2005 Jul 22; 350(4):806-16. View in: PubMed

  47. On the conservative nature of intragenic recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Apr 12; 102(15):5380-5. View in: PubMed

  48. Thermodynamic prediction of protein neutrality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Jan 18; 102(3):606-11. View in: PubMed